Real Salt Lake owner to sell his soccer teams amid reports of racism

Real Salt Lake owner Dell Loy Hansen will sell his soccer teams in the wake of reports that he made racist comments, Major League Soccer said Sunday.

Hansen’s Utah Soccer Holdings includes his MLS club, the Utah Royals of the National Women’s Soccer League and the United Soccer League’s Real Monarchs.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced Hansen’s decision. Both MLS and the NWSL had said they were investigating Hansen after a report Friday in the Athletic quoted former employees and others who said Hansen had made racially insensitive comments and used a racial slur. The Salt Lake Tribune also reported on comments made by Hansen, who took a leave of absence amid the investigations.

“I want to acknowledge Dell Loy Hansen’s significant efforts to build the sport of soccer in the state of Utah and for his commitment to Major League Soccer,” Garber said in a statement.

Players for Real Salt Lake and other MLS teams did not take the field for scheduled games Wednesday night to protest racial injustice and the shooting of Jacob Blake by a police officer in Kenosha, Wis.

The next morning, Hansen criticized the players’ decision to sit out on a Salt Lake City radio show, saying, “It’s like someone stabbed you. The disrespect was profound to me, personally.”