Kyle Beckerman may have shed his dreadlocks, but the Real Salt Lake legend won’t be cutting off his team ahead of the 2018 season.

RSL has re-signed Beckerman, the club announced Tuesday, extending his long legacy in Utah. The team did not disclose the terms of the new multiyear deal, which Real Salt Lake and its captain began negotiating before the end of the regular season.

“This is home,” Beckerman said in a team release. “It’s where we wanted to be. What we built in the second half of the season was so exciting to be a part of. To be able to be here for a couple more years and build with these young guys — they are going to be another year older and a little bit more experienced — there is a lot of upside for this team. To be here and be a part of it is exciting.”

Beckerman, whose last contract expired after the 2017 season, has already spent 10.5 seasons of his 18-year MLS career with RSL. The veteran holding midfielder leads all MLS field players in all-time minutes (36,017) and was the first field player to break the 400-games-played mark.

“I cannot imagine an RSL team next year without Kyle here,” Real Salt Lake coach Mike Petke said in the release. “Without Kyle with the armband on. Without Kyle leading the charge. I think that he is iconic here in Salt Lake. I think that he is one of the best players in the history of this league. And I think he deserves and will earn anything that he gets. As far as him, there will be a statue here of Kyle one day. It’s a no-brainer that Kyle is back. I couldn’t do this without him.”

Beckerman began his legacy at RSL thanks to a summer 2007 trade from the Colorado Rapids. That year, not unlike this past season, Real Salt Lake was reinventing itself.

Beckerman arrived just two months after then-RSL owner Dave Checketts hired Jason Kreis as head coach, essentially pulling him off the active roster to do so. The overhaul, with Beckerman as a key addition, would launch RSL into its glory years.

RSL made the playoffs for seven years in a row, and its fiery captain (the all-time MLS foul leader with 654) became a quick fan favorite. Beckerman led his team to the 2008 Western Conference final in its first-ever playoff berth and to an MLS Cup victory the next season. Real Salt Lake again advanced to the Cup in 2013, but lost to Sporting Kansas City in a 10-round penalty kick shootout.

“Kyle is a player that leads by example and is vocal,” RSL general manager Craig Waibel said in a team release. “He does his job and inspires people around him with his performance. Along with a few other guys, he has defined our organization for quite some time. He also defines and embodies the movement of where we are going. He has embraced this evolution and he’s excited about the moments to come and the moments to share with fans. All that added up makes it a really special thing for us to be able to re-sign him.”

Another RSL rebuild began last year with the hiring of Petke, and, after a slow start, his young team responded, came together and made a serious playoff run before falling short on the final weekend of the season. When Beckerman signed his new contract, he committed to leading RSL into this new stage as well.

This story will be updated.

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