Watch: Real Salt Lake signs exec Kurt Schmid, head coach Pablo Mastroeni to multi-year extensions
The veteran duo received a show of support, continuity and longevity Wednesday with new contracts under RSL's third ownership in five years.
For any speculation to the contrary that has arisen since Real Salt Lake was eliminated from its fifth consecutive MLS Cup Playoffs with a 3-1 loss at Portland two weeks ago, the organization made sure to send a message about its top soccer leadership Wednesday.
Head coach Pablo Mastroeni and Kurt Schmid aren’t going anywhere.
The veteran chief soccer officer and son of former U.S. men’s national team manager Sigi Schmid has signed a multi-year contract extension with the club, along with the fifth-year head coach who was with the franchise when Schmid arrived in Utah in 2021.
Additionally, the club also promoted former RSL right back and front-office veterann of a variety of roles Tony Beltran to assistant sporting director, where he will continue to report to Schmid in working with both the Salt Lake first team and its third-division affiliate, Real Monarchs.
“Continuity and longevity are two things that do really well in this league. Continuity, longevity, consistency; for me personally, it’s great to have that here. On a personal note, my family loves it here, I love it here, and we’re very happy here — and happy to stay here longer.
“I’m really excited to be a this club longer-term to continue to build something here and work towards competing to win championships.”
Consistency and longevity is important for a club that has been through three ownership changes in five years, most recently moving under the arm of Miller Sports + Entertainment, the group that previously owned the NBA’s Utah Jazz and currently own Triple A baseball’s Salt Lake Bees.
“I think the Millers and Steve Starks have come in and part of it has been an education process,” Schmid said. “Myself and Jason, we’ve had a lot of conversations about what can happen in this league and ways you can find success in this league.
“One of the interesting things about this league is that there are multiple pathways; it’s a little bit of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure. There are many ways to be successful. It’s not a league where spend correlates 1-for-1 with results.”
Schmid continues in a role where he’s helped guide RSL’s longstanding “winning through development” model, the one that fostered one of the early full-time Academies in Major League Soccer. More than 30 Homegrown players have signed with Real Salt Lake in the past 18 years, with even more opting to begin professional careers overseas and around MLS and lower divisions such as the USL Championship.
For his part, Schmid has also led a recent wave of player signings both from within MLS and abroad, with $30 million-plus spent coming in and $15 million in sales abroad over the past nine transfer windows.
Not all of them have been successful, and the jury is still out on a few, including current DP striker Rwan Cruz. But success stories like Andrés Gómez, Fidel Barajas and Jefferson Savarino shouldn’t be ignored, either.
That, of course is all while continuing to field a Playoff-caliber roster — which is as much a credit to Mastroeni as anyone else.
“With Jason coming into the fold, he’s had a really good beat on what he’s been able to witness the last couple of years,” Mastroeni said. “We’re in daily conversations — Kurt, Jason and myself — and it’s been given me a lot of space to focus on the staff and the players downstairs.
“We’re united in everything we do moving forward. That’s why this is really exciting for me.”
The speculation around Schmid’s role came, of course, from last week, when Real Salt Lake moved club executive Jason Kreis — RSL’s former first player signing and MLS Cup winning head coach in 2009 — into a new position as President of Soccer Operations, essentially giving him top say of sporting decisions.
But the move is simply a modified role for Kreis, who joined the club in a newly created director of operations and special projects role when he returned to Utah in 2023 after coaching at New York City FC, Orlando City and the United States’ U23 men’s national team, among other stops.
“Jason obviously didn’t show up a week ago; he’s been here since the start of ‘24. He and I have developed a very good working relationship,” Schmid said.
“His ability to support me in my job and what I’m doing, trying to build a roster and put the team together in a position to succeed has been enhanced with this new role and the connection with ownership. Having a soccer person and needing that really helps me and will help us moving forward.”
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