Making Of A Moment

Brian Dunseth played for six different MLS clubs over the course of his career including a season with the Real Salt Lake. “Dunny" is one of the most recognizable people in soccer in America. He was the captain of the 2000 U.S. Olympic soccer team and is an MLS analyst for TNT, Apple TV, host on Sirius XM and co-host of the Week in Tackle podcast.  In this conversation with Amy Donaldson, Dunny talks about what it was like adjusting to life after professional sports and he reflects on the aftermath when RSL owner Dell Loy Hansen sold the team.  

Professional soccer got its start in Utah thanks to the visionary leadership and relentless will of an NBA executive. It was Utah native Dave Checketts who bought an MLS franchise and decided to put it in his home state. He fought political and financial battles to establish a club that would do what no other professional sports franchise in Utah has ever managed to do - win a championship. But while sports aficionados are fond of saying “there is no problem winning can’t solve”, that turned out not to be true for RSL and Dave Checketts.

August 27, 2020 is a day Real Salt Lake faithful and staff remember well - but not for what happened on the pitch. That’s the day the smallest Major League Soccer team was thrown into chaos by the man who once saved the club from financial ruin - their billionaire owner.

But what most fans didn’t realize is that when Real Salt Lake made an unlikely playoff run in 2021, the seeds for that moment were planted during that 2020 crisis. A crisis that led to the owner’s downfall.

In sports there are moments that transcend a single game. What if you knew all that went into how that on-field moment was created? The Real Salt Lake is an iconic soccer team. It wasn't always that way. This season, host Amy Donaldson looks at the RSL's unlikely 2021 playoff run. That post-season performance from a team expected to finish last is much more than the Cinderella story witnessed by RSL faithful. It’s the story of an underdog club engaged in a fight for survival off the field, while trying to prove they deserved to compete for a championship. Coming October 21st, 2024.