Real Salt Lake Lawsuit, New 400 South Trail, And Utah’s June Proclamation

A 16-year-old signs with a pro club, steps into an adult locker room, and says the people in charge never built basic protections around him. That’s the heart of the biggest Salt Lake City story we’re unpacking this week: a major Real Salt Lake lawsuit filed by former goalkeeper Jeffrey Duznup against RSL, Major League Soccer, and the U.S. Soccer Federation. We walk through the allegations, what’s being claimed about reporting and response, and why this isn’t just “sports drama” but a serious conversation about athlete safety, youth protection, and accountability in professional sports.

Then we pivot to something worth celebrating in local news: the new 400 South Viaduct Trail. If you’ve ever tried to cross those railroad tracks on foot or by bike, you know how sketchy it used to feel. Now there’s a protected bike and walking path connecting Poplar Grove and the west side through to downtown and the Granary District, plus nearly 2,000 feet of public art called Strut. We talk about why this project matters for safer commuting, better access, and what “good city infrastructure” actually looks like on the ground.

We also get into peak Utah politics with Governor Spencer Cox declaring June “Fidelity Month,” how that lands during Pride Month in Salt Lake City, and what it says about the growing gap between state signals and city culture. To round it out, we hit a fast stack of updates: the Salt Lake Bees’ big May, a long-running Salt City Inn case ending in a conviction, the Utah Arts Festival’s 50th anniversary lineup, and the Utah Mammoth gearing up for the draft and offseason decisions. Subscribe, share this with a friend who follows Salt Lake, and leave a review, and if you want ticket giveaway details, join the Discord via the show notes.

50% Off Minky Couture Blankets: softminkyblankets.com/SMALLLAKECITY

Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time 

Transcript

June Energy And What’s Ahead

SPEAKER_00 0:53

What is up everybody and welcome back to another weekly update with the Small Lake City Podcast. I'm your host, Eric Nilsen, and it is officially June in Salt Lake, which means the city kind of just decides to touch grass again. The patios are full, the parks are full, everybody wants to be outside. The mountains still have snow on top, it's warm enough to actually be outside, and there's a calendar full of stuff coming up. The arts festival, outdoor shows, baseball, summer just feels different here than anywhere else. And if you live here, you know exactly what I'm talking about. This week we've got a story out of the local soccer world that is seriously pretty heavy and important. We've got some great city infrastructure news that's genuinely worth celebrating. We've got a political story that honestly is just peak Utah recently. But before we jump into it, if you missed last week's episode, please go back and listen. The guest was Celeste Edmonds, the author of Garbage Bag Girl and the executive director of The Christmas Box International. Now, Celeste grew up in foster care and never lived anywhere more than six months, endured things no child should have to endure, and then built an entire organization to support kids in that exact same situation. It's one of the most moving conversations I've had on the show. It's honest, it's raw, it's ultimately really hopeful. So go check it out. Alright,

RSL Lawsuit Allegations And Accountability

SPEAKER_00 2:11

let's start with the biggest story of the week, and I want to give it the weight it deserves. Real Salt Lake is facing a major lawsuit. A former RSL goalkeeper named Jeffrey Duznap, who was the youngest player ever signed by the club at just 16 years old, has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the team, Major League Soccer, and the U.S. Soccer Federation. The allegations are serious. Duosnup claims that almost immediately after joining the senior roster, adult players subjected him to sexualized conduct, exposing themselves to him, making demeaning comments, targeting him in the locker room. He also says his goalkeeper coach, Ignacio Hernandez, was physically aggressive, forced him to train through injuries, and verbally abusive. Duosdup's family reported the behavior to coaches and the team's general manager, and according to the lawsuit, RSL did nothing. In April of 2022, Duznup attempted suicide. He left the club shortly after, at the age of 18, two years before his four-year contract was even up. He now lives with PTSD and says his soccer career was permanently derailed. The lawsuit specifically calls out RSL, MLS, and the USSF for never implementing any child protection policies for a minor they placed in a locker room full of adults. There was no training given to Duznup or his parents on how to report abuse. The suit uses the phrase, quote, a silence culture, unquote. Named players include Aaron Herrera, David Ochoa, Tate Schmidt, and Justin Glad. None of the players or the club have made any public statement since the filing on May 20th. This is painful and it's complicated because these are players a lot of local fans have rooted for. But the core issue is simple. A 16-year-old kid was put in a professional environment with no protections, was abused, reported it, and was ignored. That's the story, and it matters that we talk about

400 South Viaduct Trail Opens

SPEAKER_00 4:00

it. Okay, let's shift to something that is genuinely good for this city. Last week, Mayor Aaron Mendenhall cut the ribbon on the new 400 South Viaduct Trail, a protected bike and walking path that now connects Poplar Grove and the west side all the way through to downtown and the granary district. Here's why this is a bigger deal than it sounds. That stretch of 400 South over the railroad tracks, it was one of the worst crossings in the city for anyone not in a car. Six lanes of traffic, no buffer, no protection. Mayor Mendenhall literally said that as a pedestrian up there, and I'm paraphrasing here, pretty terrifying. Now it has a dedicated protected lane, a concrete barrier separating bike and walkers from traffic, and this is the part I love. The longest continuous piece of public art in Utah history. It's called Strut. It runs nearly 2,000 feet along the corridor, designed by a Seattle-based artist team. The art draws from the colors of the Poplar Grove neighborhood, the Great Salt Lake blues and purples, the mountain greens, and on the west side, a full peacock, because of course it does. This trail is one of only two routes in the entire city where you can cross from east to west without waiting for a train. That's wild. And it's a direct connection for west side residents to get to work, go to downtown, go to the farmer's market without needing a car. There is a small wrinkle. A state law passed this session requires the city to negotiate with UDOT over some project mitigations. City officials say they've been meeting weekly and nobody's asked for a trail to be removed. But negotiations will continue through the end of this year, so fingers crossed it stays exactly as it is. This is what good city infrastructure looks like. So go take it for a ride. This

Fidelity Month And Pride Tension

SPEAKER_00 5:43

one I'm going to handle a little more carefully, but I think it's worth talking about because it tells you something real about where Utah is right now. Governor Spencer Cox declared June, quote, Fidelity Month in Utah. The proclamation calls for a rededication to, quote, faith, family, country, and community. It follows a national conservative trend. Arkansas joined Utah, and states like Tennessee and Indiana went with, quote, nuclear family month, unquote. Here's the context that makes it interesting. Cox has actually shifted positions on this multiple times. Backed in 2021, he declared June LGBTQ Plus Pride Month. Then in 2024, heading into a primary, he pulled back and called it a month of bridge building. Last year he said nothing at all. And now this year, Fidelity Month. Supporters say it's a return to core values. Critics, including a lot of the LGBTQ Plus Utah's who felt like Cox was actually in their corner, say it's a political move that walks back years of goodwill. June is also Pride Month in Salt Lake City, and the city has its own events, its own community, its own celebrations happening, regardless of what the governor's office says. So, as always in Utah, you've got the state going one way and Salt Lake being very much its own thing. So make of it what you will, but it's a story worth knowing about.

Quick Hits From Around The City

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Alright, let's run through a few other smaller stories before announcing this week's guest.

Salt Lake Bees Hot Streak

SPEAKER_00 7:01

First, shout out to the Salt Lake Bees. They just wrapped up the best month of baseball the club has had since before the pandemic. A 16-10 record in May, a 302 batting average, the highest single-month batting mark in franchise history, outfielder Denzer Guzman led all of the AAA with 42 hits in the month. They're home all week against the Albuquerque Isotopes at America First Square in South Jordan, if you want to go catch a game. Next,

Salt City Inn Trial Verdict

SPEAKER_00 7:27

a six-year-old case finally wrapped up in Salt Lake City this week. A jury convicted Samir Sied, the manager of the Salt City Inn, a downtown motel, of money laundering and exploiting prostitution. This thing goes back to 2020 when the Utah Attorney General's Secure Task Force and SLCPD ran a joint undercover investigation after getting multiple tips that the motel was being used for commercial sex work and drug trafficking. Investigators found that Sied and the motel's owner weren't just aware of what was going on, they were allegedly encouraging it, collecting what they call, quote, visitor fees, unquote, from people coming to see sex workers on the property. Minimum 10 bucks a visit. The owner pleaded guilty back in 2023. Sied took it to trial and just lost. He's facing up to 15 years on the felony charge. Sentencing is set for August 12th.

Utah Arts Festival 50th Anniversary

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Also, be sure to mark your calendars. The Utah Arts Festival is back June 18th through the 21st at Liberty Square downtown. And this is not just any year, it's the 50th anniversary. Headliners include Jiza, Shaky Graves, and YOLA. The Vertical Dance Performers group, Bandaloop, returns for the first time since 2018. And this year's theme is Go with the Flow, Rivers and Streams. 35,000 people typically come through over four days. Amazing local and national artists. This is one of the best weekends of the summer. And just to give you a little insight into something, I have some tickets to give away, so stay tuned.

Utah Mammoth Offseason Outlook

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Lastly, the Utah Mammoth are in full offseason mode after their playoff run ended against the Vegas Golden Knights back in May. The NHL draft is June 26th. The Mammoth have around $13 million in projected cap space and a handful of UFAs to re-sign or replace. The front office says nobody left satisfied, which is exactly what you want to hear heading into year three. And it is pretty satisfying to know that the team that gave the team that's projected to win the Stanley Cup the biggest headache in the playoffs. So, lots of reasons to be excited for next year.

Next Guest Thane Rich Preview

SPEAKER_00 9:25

This next week, my episode with Thane Rich goes live. Now, Thane is a professional skier, born and raised right here in Salt Lake City, like genuinely homegrown. We're talking about what it actually looks like to build a career as a pro skier from the early days chasing runs in the Wasatch to making it on the world stage and what life looks like on the other side of that. Hometown Hero Energy, real talk, you're not gonna want to miss this. Also,

Ticket Giveaways, Discord, And Wrap

SPEAKER_00 9:49

coming up is the Salt Lake Twilight concert series that's been going on forever now. And I have one more pair of tickets to give away that all you have to do is join the Discord and like a post in the general channel. So check the show notes for the link to the Discord so you can see if you and a friend will be going to all the concerts this year. Alright, so that's this week's weekly update, Salt Lake. And as always, follow the show over on Instagram and TikTok, YouTube at Small Lake Pod. Leave a review wherever you're listening right now. I seriously appreciate it. And make sure to go outside, touch some grass, enjoy some time with friends, and whatever you need to do before it gets too hot. And I will see you this week with Thane Rich. So yeah.