Real Salt Lake owner Dell Loy Hansen will take a leave of absence as Major League soccer investigates allegations he used racist language, the club said Friday.

Hansen, who also owns United Soccer League club Real Monarchs and the Utah Royals of the National Women's Soccer League, will step away from the operations of all three clubs while the investigation is pending, Utah Soccer said in a statement.

"As MLS and NWSL commence their investigations, Utah Soccer will ensure full cooperation, including seeking to answer any questions the leagues may have about the statements made by Mr Hansen regarding athlete boycotts and allegations in a resulting article," the statement said.

"As an organization, our priority is our employees, our teams, our players, and our fans, and Mr Hansen in particular cares deeply for each of these individuals who works so hard to make Utah Soccer the success that it is."

The allegations that Hansen made racist remarks surfaced in a report by The Athletic on Thursday, which cited former Real Salt Lake scout Andy Williams.

When that article was published, Hansen was already under fire for comments he had made about Real Salt Lake players' decision to sit out a game on Wednesday in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.

Real and visiting Los Angeles FC decided not to play about an hour before their scheduled kickoff, following the lead of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and several Major League Baseball and MLS squads who sat down in protest of police shootings of African-Americans, including that of Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Five of six scheduled MLS matches on Wednesday were not played.

Hansen called the players' actions a sign of "disrespect."

"It's like someone stabbed you and then you're trying to figure out a way to pull the knife out and move forward," he said in comments to a Utah radio station.

MLS commissioner Don Garber said he "strongly disagreed" with those comments, and the MLS and NWSL said they would investigate the claims in The Athletic article.

"Major League Soccer has zero tolerance for this type of language or conduct and will immediately commence an investigation," the MLS said, while the NWSL said the allegations "run counter to everything the NWSL stands for."