On a more positive note, the city or the Columbus Partnership, I forget which, had said that they had 2 different downtown sites that they could make available to the Crew, but Precourt clearly isnt interested.

 

If thats true.....does anyone have an idea what those sites likely are?

On a more positive note, the city or the Columbus Partnership, I forget which, had said that they had 2 different downtown sites that they could make available to the Crew, but Precourt clearly isnt interested.

 

If thats true.....does anyone have an idea what those sites likely are?

 

The most likely downtown stadium location has been posted in the Columbus Crew development thread at https://www.urbanohio.com/forum/index.php?topic=7699.msg824545#msg824545.  It's the original casino site located west of Nationwide Arena and Huntington Park (Clippers baseball stadium) at 560 W. Nationwide Boulevard.  After the casino got moved to the city's west side, Nationwide Realty Investors - the developers of the 75+acre Arena District - purchased the site.  The previous owners even prepped the site for future development.

 

Nationwide previously did a similar deal with the owners of the Clippers (Franklin County) to relocate the AAA baseball team from an older stadium to their current downtown location at Nationwide & Neil.  And it's had a very positive effect on attendance and profitability for the team.  It's quite likely that a deal between local leaders, Nationwide and Crew ownership could broker a similar deal at this 560 W. Nationwide Boulevard site for a new downtown Crew Stadium.

 

But since current Crew owner Anthony "The Snake" Precourt has shown his true colors, this deal likely won't be happening with him.  Remember that 2014 deal that moved the Crew's USL-affiliate from Dayton to Austin Texas?  It made no sense at the time, but now makes perfect sense if Precourt bought the Crew in 2013 for the express purpose of moving to Austin.  Only the Austin USL team getting their stadium flooded and then disbanding in 2015 plus the Columbus Crew making that amazing playoff run into the 2015 MLS Cup, likely postponed Precourt's relocation plan.

 

Here's what the #SaveTheCrew campaign and the Crew's 2017 playoff run need to do.  Shine a bright hot spotlight on Precourt and MLS' Commish Don Garber.  It's already getting uncomfortable for them.  San Antonio's MLS expansion bid was backed by city and county officials, who purchased the existing USL-team's soccer stadium for that expansion bid, on the basis that they would be getting a fair shot in that expansion process.  San Antonio is considering suing MLS if Austin gets the Crew and SA is passed over. -- And what about all the other expansion cities?  How will they react to Precourt buying a team for $68 million for the express purpose of moving it, and bypassing the $150 million expansion fee that the expansion team owners will pay?  Would they also want to sue MLS?  Will Precourt's actions totally mess up the league's expansion process?

 

This can of worms might not be what the other 21 MLS owners or MLS want to deal with.  And if the other owners or MLS block the Crew's relocation to Austin, then it's a brand new game.  I wasn't kidding about wanting to "Major League" current team owner Precourt.  It's got to be so uncomfortable for him, that he wants to sell and move on.  And with the Columbus Partnership already on the record as having made offers to purchase a majority or all of the team, maybe the Crew will finally get the local ownership that it deserves.

 

(Sorry for the ramble, but there's lots of moving parts to this.  And we're fighting the fight!  It's not over!!!)

 

In some happier on-field Crew news, here is the today's second game of the NYCFC playoff series.  Oh how I remember these charts from the Crew's amazing 2015 playoff run to the MLS Cup.  It's a two-game total-goal series.  But with a twist that if the total goals are tied after those two games, then road goals serve as the tiebreaker. 

 

For NYCFC, their "easiest" path to advance would be shutting out the Crew tonight and winning 3-0.  The total goals would be tied 4-4, but NYCFC would have the only road goal and would advance.  --  Otherwise, if the Crew get one goal tonight, NYCFC would need to match the 4-1 result in Columbus to force extra time, or win 5-1 tonight!  --  If the Crew get two goals tonight, NYCFC would need a 6-2 win to advance(!)

 

 

WHEW!!!  NYCFC scored two goals - one via PK and one via a Mensah own goal.  But the Crew hang on to deny NYCFC a third goal that would have been enough for them to advance to the conference final.  Instead, it is the never-say-die Crew who will face Toronto in another two-game series for the Eastern Conference Championship!

God that was tense as hell. We made it though and thats what matters. A couple weeks of rest will do us good. Toronto will be an even tougher task......but at least in our initial home game, theyll be without Altidore and Giovinco. I just hope we dont take them lightly because we played them without those two before and we got punched in the freakin face. Ricketts and Hamilton will start and we better respect them. We need another solid cushion like we had with NYC, if anything a bigger cushion. Keeping them from scoring an away goal is essential.

 

The most likely downtown stadium location has been posted in the Columbus Crew development thread at https://www.urbanohio.com/forum/index.php?topic=7699.msg824545#msg824545.  It's the original casino site located west of Nationwide Arena and Huntington Park (Clippers baseball stadium) at 560 W. Nationwide Boulevard.  After the casino got moved to the city's west side, Nationwide Realty Investors - the developers of the 75+acre Arena District - purchased the site.  The previous owners even prepped the site for future development.

 

Nationwide previously did a similar deal with the owners of the Clippers (Franklin County) to relocate the AAA baseball team from an older stadium to their current downtown location at Nationwide & Neil.  And it's had a very positive effect on attendance and profitability for the team.  It's quite likely that a deal between local leaders, Nationwide and Crew ownership could broker a similar deal at this 560 W. Nationwide Boulevard site for a new downtown Crew Stadium.

 

Thats the most sensible site in my opinion. Hope it can get done. I know I had heard Nationwide was initially interested in doing mixed use type of development there, but that plot of land is honestly big enough that they could still probably do a little bit of that. I could picture having some streetfront buildings along Nationwide Blvd, and just having a pedestrian plaza stretching from the street back to the stadium, which would be visible from 670 and 315. It would be nice if they could make Nationwide Blvd continue across the Olentangy and curve around back over to Spring/Long St. for better traffic flow and accessibility. I also think it would be useful if the side road that would go north off Nationwide alongside the hypothetical stadium, could continue on under 670, and connect into the new White Castle development plan and Goodale St, but that might be asking a lot.

 

But if Nationwide is interested in creating goodwill with the people of Columbus, making this deal would be quite wonderful.

 

https://www.massivereport.com/2017/11/7/16616714/massive-report-podcast-best-loss-ever-2017-columbus-crew-sc-mls-cup-playoffs

 

Really fun Crew podcast from Massive Report.  It's a little lengthy at over an hour and 15 minutes, but they covered alot of ground.  Starting with the two-game playoff series with NYCFC, the drama of the first home game in the #SaveTheCrew movement, #SaveTheCrew Precourt and MLS news, a look ahead at the Nov. 21 game hosting Toronto, and some joyful chaos at the end of the podcast.

Here's a bit of news that didn't make it into the MR Podcast: 

 

Interesting...

 

Columbus Crew might move because 'business is struggling.'  Financial records suggest otherwise:  The biggest thing wrong with the Columbus Crew is ownership.

 

https://www.sbnation.com/2017/11/8/16618962/columbus-crew-relocation-austin-financial-records

 

 

---

Twitter discussion of article: 

From that article...

 

Thus, if the Crew move to Austin, it won’t be because “the business is struggling.” The Crew have a serviceable stadium, very low rent, and field a really good team. This botched PR ploy smells like a taxpayer cash grab. We've seen this form of exploitation before in American sports. Now it has come home to roost in MLS.

 

Indeed.

Columbus Crew will move to Austin not because Col is not a viable soccer market or has a bad business community or bad stadium (yes they need a new stadium, but not the reason they are moving).

 

The sole reason they are moving is that the owner never liked Columbus, he bought the team with the intent to move them to Austin in 5 years and he was just biding his time until he could get the move done. Once he bought the team, they were on borrowed time.

Columbus Crew will move to Austin not because Col is not a viable soccer market or has a bad business community or bad stadium (yes they need a new stadium, but not the reason they are moving).

 

The sole reason they are moving is that the owner never liked Columbus, he bought the team with the intent to move them to Austin in 5 years and he was just biding his time until he could get the move done. Once he bought the team, they were on borrowed time.

 

I don't disagree with your assessment of the current Crew owners, Precourt Sports Ventures (aka Anthony "The Snake" Precourt).  But I don't agree with the verb tense of "Columbus Crew will move to Austin".

 

It's not over!  Not by a long shot!  PSV's announcement has become a huge PR blunder for Precourt and MLS commish Don Garber.  The Crew might get moved to Austin, but only after a long tough fight from the #SaveTheCrew movement.  Or, in the words of another #SaveTheCrew leader, Alex Stanek:

 

Columbus Crew will move to Austin not because Col is not a viable soccer market or has a bad business community or bad stadium (yes they need a new stadium, but not the reason they are moving).

 

The sole reason they are moving is that the owner never liked Columbus, he bought the team with the intent to move them to Austin in 5 years and he was just biding his time until he could get the move done. Once he bought the team, they were on borrowed time.

 

The attendance woes and emergence of FC Cincy probably didn't help.

I don't think it made a difference at all. Precourt wanted to own an MLS team in Austin from the start if he did not buy the Crew, he would have bought some other team to move them instead.

I don't think it made a difference at all. Precourt wanted to own an MLS team in Austin from the start if he did not buy the Crew, he would have bought some other team to move them instead.

 

I'm just saying, I don't think he would have moved the Timbers to Austin.

 

But I do agree, he wanted to change the Crew immediately when he bought them, and the resistance to changes sealed the deal to him.

That would have been a tougher call to make given the money Portland generates. However, if they started struggling at the gate, I would not be surprised if he took that opportunity to move them too. It was all about being patient for the right opportunity.

I don't think it made a difference at all. Precourt wanted to own an MLS team in Austin from the start if he did not buy the Crew, he would have bought some other team to move them instead.

 

It certainly looks that way now.  And that is one of main points of the #SaveTheCrew movement - "If Precourt/Garber can do this to one of the MLS' original pioneering teams, they can do this to anyone in MLS".  Something #SaveTheCrew is reminding to all MLS fans: 

 

And this should be important to MLS management as well.  Because MLS has been marketing their league as something different on the American sports scene.  MLS fans are a much younger average age than the big four's average fan age.  And MLS has been selling them on "authenticity" and "Your City, Your Club" kind of marketing.

 

But if a league original like Columbus Crew can disappear, then any team can disappear.  No matter how authentic.  And then MLS just becomes "NFL with soccer balls".  And then the attraction to this younger fan base starts to erode away.  And that's not a good situation if you're MLS.

 

If MLS thinks that won't happen, just look at these analytics on the #SaveTheCrew movement: 

 

Yep, it's support your city and team and stand together until we decide to move your team, then fuck off.

 

ARTICLE LINK:  http://www.dispatch.com/news/20171108/columbus-partnership-ceo-hopes-crew-meeting-brings-answers

^ For those non-subscribers who can't view this article, here's an excerpt:

 

---

Columbus Partnership CEO hopes Crew meeting brings answers

By Andrew Erickson and Rick Rouan, The Columbus Dispatch

Posted: Nov 8, 2017 at 5:14 PM - Updated: Nov 9 at 6:41 AM

 

Columbus Partnership CEO Alex Fischer said during a Wednesday lunch-hour interview in front of about 50 chamber members at the New Albany Country Club that Crew investor-operator Anthony Precourt turned down an offer to purchase all or part of the team that would have given him “a great profit on his investment.” ... Local investors, though, are more concerned with keeping the team as a community asset than on making money, he said.  “I’m not sure the MLS wants that,” he said. “I’m afraid the league is becoming like the NFL: billionaires trying to make a buck.”

 

Fischer and Mayor Andrew J. Ginther are scheduled to meet with Precourt and MLS Commissioner Don Garber on Nov. 15.  Fischer expressed frustration with MLS and Precourt ... but he said he still wants to make a deal to keep the Crew here.  Fischer said he wants the two sides to “align interests” at the meeting.  Local officials have said they don’t know what Columbus needs to do to keep the team, and Fischer said Wednesday that he hopes that will become clear during the meeting next week.

 

“We don’t want to be pitching ideas until we understand directly what the problems are,” he said. “I think the discussion starts off with both sides saying what the needs are. If they say the needs are X, Y and Z it’s from there that we determine whether there are opportunities.” ... “I can’t imagine we go into the meeting and come out with some magical solution,” he said. “I think undoubtedly any solution is going to take many, many meetings and lots of time and effort. To me, this is a starting point.”

 

MORE:  http://www.dispatch.com/news/20171108/columbus-partnership-ceo-hopes-crew-meeting-brings-answers

Caught this via the excellent #SaveTheCrew website.  This Seattle-based podcast focused its entire episode on the Columbus Crew situation and the #SaveTheCrew movement.  There is some salty language - so its definitely NSFW - but its a really good deep dive into the history of relocation in MLS and why this proposed Columbus Crew relocation is so different.

 

Below is the podcast link.  They don't get to the Crew/MLS talk until the 9th minute and Alexis from Columbus (aka @NordeckeNanny) gets interviewed at around the 53th minute:

 

PODCAST LINK:  http://handsfreefootball.com/2017/11/06/ep-64-savethecrew/

 

Also caught this via https://savethecrew.com/.  Since the MLS Playoffs don't play this weekend (thanks international friendly window) the #SaveTheCrew movement has something to keep them busy:

 

 

#SaveTheCrew + OSU Football Saturday  ;D

 

 

 

Article below from the Massive Report about a resolution passed by Austin City Council to identify MLS stadium sites for Precourt Sports Ventures:

 

https://www.massivereport.com/2017/11/10/16632876/twitter-reacts-precourt-sports-ventures-meets-with-austin-leadership-thursday-2017

^ The Massive Report article detailed a Thursday night Austin City Council meeting attended by a Precourt Sports Ventures lawyer.  However, this city council resolution is more formality than big news at this point - as it basically confirms PSV's intent to relocate the Crew to Austin and Austin's intent to identify potential stadium sites and get back to them for future decisions.

 

However, the more interesting part in the reporting of the Austin City Council meeting is an emerging theme since PSV's announcement of their intent to move the Crew.  That theme being the growing ineptness of the "professionals" at PSV.  Here were a few examples from Thursday night's Austin council meeting:

 

1) Since the October 17th announcement, PSV officials, such as PSV President Dave Greeley have been criss-crossing Austin trying to gin up support.  Many of Greeley's statements, as reported on the #SaveTheCrew website and twitter feed, have come back to bite him.  Such as this one:

 

 

That image is from a #SaveTheCrew rally held in front of Columbus City Hall only a few days after the PSV's Oct. 17 announcement.  The #SaveTheCrew movement only had a few days to organize this rally for MLS' Decision Day Sunday on 10/22.  But they got 2,000 attendees, multiple speakers, a large #SaveTheCrew banner to be signed by those attending the rally and used in later events, and a ton of media coverage.

 

PSV had over two weeks to organize a gathering outside Austin City Hall to show support for MLS in Austin at Thursday's resolution vote.  And this was their attendance:

 

 

This report showing a "decent-sized crowd" at Austin was widely mocked on twitter:

 

 

 

 

Two thousand at the #SaveTheCrew rally versus two dozen at the PSV-sponsored MLS2ATX rally - which also did not go unmocked by the twitterverse:

2) Speaking of MLS2ATX, which is a website and twitter address owned and operated by Precourt Sports Ventures to gin up support for MLS in Austin.  That it is an astroturfing campaign by PSV to show supposed "grassroots support" for MLS in Austin has been previously reported and is well known to those following PSV's actions.  --  That the "professionals" at PSV are so bad at hiding this, is quite surprising however.  Another example from Thursday where MLS2ATX is replying to an Austin local who wanted a free t-shirt:

 

 

On multiple Thursday tweets, the MLS2ATX account was recorded as tweeting from Columbus(!) - since apparently these savvy PSV pros failed to turn off their location identifier!  Something that the soccer twitterverse did not miss:

 

3) And then there was this bone-headed statement from the lawyer representing PSV at the Austin council meeting:

 

 

Although it may have been an open secret that PSV was avoiding the MLS expansion process (and the $150 million expansion fee) by purchasing the Crew for $68 million in 2013 - PSV probably doesn't want their lawyer admitting this - on the record - in a public setting!!!  Particularly since you've got 12 cities spending money to go though this MLS expansion process with the understanding that this was the only way to obtain an MLS team!!!  Particularly since you've got neighboring San Antonio as one of those 12 cities that PSV, Austin and MLS are "cutting in front of" with this proposed relocation!!!

 

Or, as this twitter response put it:

 

And there's even some in Austin that are beginning to doubt whether Precourt is the right owner for an Austin MLS team:

All of this Precourt/PSV buffoonery is just stoking the #SaveTheCrew movement.  Comparing how the volunteers of #SaveTheCrew are acting more savvy and professional than the paid professionals in Precourt Sports Ventures is amazing.  This is still an uphill battle.  But it is a battle that more and more people in Columbus, throughout MLS and the rest of the soccer world feel is worth fighting:

 

BrewDog wants to buy the Crew and sell it back to the fans

 

A Scotland-based brewery is pulling out all the stops to keep the Columbus Crew SC from leaving town.

 

BrewDog Plc, which calls Canal Winchester its American home, has all kinds of experience with crowdfunding and wants to use that model to buy the Crew and sell some of it back to fans.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2017/11/13/brewdog-wants-to-buy-the-crew-and-sell-it-back-to.html

^MLS doesn't allow fan-owned teams, though. I believe a single owner worth $X must own a majority of every team. And most professional sports leagues in the US have this rule. The only exception is the Green Bay Packers who are grandfathered in.

It's hard to say whether MLS would permit such an ownership model but its extremely impressive and even promising that BrewDogs prepared to get involved in a game changing way. I would just be happy to have such community and fan oriented stakeholders steering our team.

It's hard to say whether MLS would permit such an ownership model but its extremely impressive and even promising that BrewDogs prepared to get involved in a game changing way. I would just be happy to have such community and fan oriented stakeholders steering our team.

 

Couldn't agree more.  As surprising as BrewDog's offer is, it is in keeping with the way their company operates.  Community-minded and disruptive.  The BrewDog company slogan is "We Blow (Stuff) Up"!  It might get shot down by MLS commish Don Garber (aka @thesoccerdon on twitter), but with BrewDog's track record, I wouldn't bet against them.

The BrewDog offer also reminded me of some more Precourt/PSV buffoonery that got mocked.  I think it was PSV President/Flunkie Dave Greeley who said that soccer fans should "respect their ambition" in moving the Crew to Austin.  That got the #SaveTheCrew treatment during the Halloween night playoff game in Columbus:

 

Where was all this enthusiasm for the team when attendance was second worst in the league?

I think there's also hope that it would mean a new stadium Downtown/AD rather than being out in the DUI zone like it is currently.

Where was all this enthusiasm for the team when attendance was second worst in the league?

 

There was always enthusiasm for the Columbus Crew.  The regular season attendance this year was 15,439 - https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2017-mls-attendance/ - which is ahead of Colorado and FC Dallas for third worst in the league, but is also over 77% of Mapfre Stadium capacity.  The attendance took a hit in the early 2010's when the team record was at a low ebb.  But it rebounded and has been steadily over the 16,000 mark since 2013.

 

But this isn't about the Crew's attendance.  That's a red herring.  This is about MLS salivating over the attendance numbers that Seattle and Atlanta are generating in their NFL football stadiums.  MLS commish Garber thinks that every franchise should be getting those numbers.  He doesn't care that the Columbus Crew was a founding team of MLS, that Columbus fans supported MLS when many other cities couldn't give a damn, or that Columbus led the way to building soccer-specific stadiums that helped the financial viability of MLS.  He doesn't care that Columbus helped build MLS!

 

MLS commish Garber and his California carpetbagger Precourt are just another in a long line of people that has underestimated Columbus.  I will say that Columbus has taken the Crew for granted.  Much like Cincinnati likely takes the Reds and Bengals for granted, much like Cleveland likely takes the Indians, Cavs and Browns for granted, much like many other cities have taken their teams for granted - because they thought they'd be around through the up years and down years.  But no more!  The enthusiasm of the hard-core supporters is being added to with this #SaveTheCrew movement!!!

An update and expansion of the BrewDog business support story to keep the Crew in Columbus:

 

Area businesses joining to help keep Crew in Columbus

By JD Malone / Gatehouse Media Ohio

Posted: Nov 14, 2017 at 8:45 PM

 

There might be some bite behind Save the Crew’s bark.  James Watt, the co-founder and CEO of BrewDog, wants to help buy the Columbus Crew, which owner/investor Anthony Precourt is looking to possibly relocate to Austin, Texas.

 

As always with BrewDog, there’s an interesting twist.  “We would love to facilitate and be involved in a potential purchase of the Columbus Crew from its current ownership structure,” Watt wrote in a blog post on the company’s website recently, “and then immediately look to sell at least half of it back to the fans through crowdfunding.”

 

Watt’s gesture is the latest in what Morgan Hughes, a spokesman for the Save the Crew effort, called a correction of the narrative told by Precourt and Major League Soccer of the city’s corporate apathy toward the team.  At www.savethecrew.com, 90 businesses have given their support.

 

“Every day there is a new thing that proves that wrong,” Hughes said.  “It has been heartwarming and exciting to see the support that we are getting from every corner of the world and every industry inside and outside of Columbus. This thing is massive and we are going to fight for what is right.”

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/zz/news/20171114/area-businesses-joining-to-help-keep-crew-in-columbus

I am constantly surprised and amazed by the resources of the #SaveTheCrew movement.  This well-documented and well-researched report makes a pretty good case that Precourt/PSV and MLS actively worked to make the Crew's 2017 attendance as low as possible, for the following reason:

 

 

What's the Truth report:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hJHhTQol1RbNkvjQWpk2kruY8kwVRbGN/view

 

Part of the twitter conversation about the What's the Truth report from the previous post at

 

And here's the report author's twitter feed with much more conversation: 

 

Report from the Dispatch on yesterday's meeting between city/business leaders and Precourt/MLS commish Garber in NYC:

 

---

City officials ‘disappointed and frustrated’ after meeting with MLS

By Andrew Erickson, The Columbus Dispatch

Posted: Nov 15, 2017 at 6:48 PM

 

Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and Columbus Partnership CEO Alex Fischer entered a meeting Wednesday in New York with Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber and Columbus Crew SC investor-operator Anthony Precourt hoping to align interests and find out what it might take to keep the MLS team in central Ohio.

 

Both sides left the meeting frustrated.

 

In a joint statement Wednesday night, Ginther and Fischer said the league and Crew ownership “did not come to the meeting willing to commit to staying in Columbus.”  “We know this is heartbreaking for the dedicated fans in Columbus and across the country who have shown unwavering support for the Columbus Crew SC,” the statement read in part.

 

Ginther and Fischer said Wednesday they were “united in putting all options on the table with the expectation that PSV would cease its pursuit of a potential relocation to Austin.”  “Great American cities do not get into bidding wars over sports teams to benefit private owners,” the statement said. “Garber and Precourt were not willing to do that.”

 

Ginther and Fischer said once MLS and Precourt commit to Columbus, “We stand ready, willing and able to support the team’s success.”

 

MORE:  http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20171115/crew-sc--city-officials-disappointed-and-frustrated-after-meeting-with-mls

Commentary from Dispatch sports columnist on yesterday's report about the meeting between city/business leaders and Precourt/MLS commish Garber in NYC:

 

---

Crew fans are doing themselves proud

By Michael Arace, The Columbus Dispatch

Posted: Nov 15, 2017 at 8:49 PM

 

Crew players are gearing up to meet Toronto FC in the first leg of MLS’ Eastern Conference finals at Mapfre Stadium on Tuesday.  The playoff game at Mapfre is a sellout. ... This is a ringing testament to the #SaveTheCrew movement — and to the generations of Columbus soccer fans and the hundreds of local businesses, large and small, who feel victimized by the team’s proposed move to Austin.

( . . . )

The problem here is ... the owners don’t want to sell.  The Columbus Partnership has already made a handsome offer to buy a half-stake in the franchise.  The idea behind the offer was to invest the community and work toward a workable solution on a new, downtown stadium.  Precourt was not interested.

 

There exists a mountain of evidence that says Precourt has long been bent on taking Columbus’ team to Austin, and that MLS — commissioner Don Garber, in particular — has been swooning over the idea, and for years.  ...  Everyone involved understands that the case being made by Precourt and MLS is built on specious claims — central among them, that Columbus fans and local businesses are insufficient partners for the league now, after three decades.  The available evidence, often brought to light by intrepid citizen-journalists, is much to the contrary.  I highly recommend a visit to www.crewnotdoneyet.com, or a Twitter click on the “What’s the Truth” study compiled and disseminated by @timmyers15.  Also, www.SaveTheCrew.com is a local treasure.

 

#SaveTheCrew is Columbus’ best chance for justice.  Whatever happens, Massive doesn’t move.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/sports/20171115/michael-arace--crew-fans-are-doing-themselves-proud

https://www.massivereport.com/2017/11/15/16658826/alex-fischer-andrew-ginther-disappointed-following-meeting-with-anthony-precourt-and-don-garber-mls

 

Precourt is sounding like an entitled douche.

 

We were extremely disappointed that no concrete offer or proposal was presented and that the City of Columbus then told us that it would not communicate with us past today.

 

The city doesn't owe you ****, jackass.

I wonder if this could eventually lead to a sort of "day of reckoning" among sports franchise owners when talk comes up of trying to get a city to pay for a new stadium. Maybe the dynamics are different with MLS vs. the NFL, but I'd like to hope that Columbus saying "we aren't going to be held hostage by you" would send a strong message to other cities to stand their ground. Alternatively, if the City manages to essentially "call Precourt's bluff", other team owners won't have as much of a leg to stand on when trying to extort money from a city.

 

But of course, it's all a racket anyway and I'm sure teams would come up with some new way to steal money from taxpayers.

Either the MLS wants to be like the NHL which invests in its markets long term (see: Arizona) or it's going to be the Arena Football League and bounce from city to city depending on which cities are "sexy" (aka new market = increase in attendance for ~10 years).

I wonder if this could eventually lead to a sort of "day of reckoning" among sports franchise owners when talk comes up of trying to get a city to pay for a new stadium. Maybe the dynamics are different with MLS vs. the NFL, but I'd like to hope that Columbus saying "we aren't going to be held hostage by you" would send a strong message to other cities to stand their ground.

 

As a former Charger fan and a proponent of fiscal responsibility, who believes that Dean Spanos is a spoiled, cowardly, idiotic, lying snake, I wish the city of San Diego would have bent over backwards to keep the team there.

https://www.massivereport.com/2017/11/15/16658826/alex-fischer-andrew-ginther-disappointed-following-meeting-with-anthony-precourt-and-don-garber-mls

 

Precourt is sounding like an entitled douche.

 

We were extremely disappointed that no concrete offer or proposal was presented and that the City of Columbus then told us that it would not communicate with us past today.

 

The city doesn't owe you ****, jackass.

 

SI soccer reporter Grant Wahl agrees: 

 

To be fair, I think I ripped off the sentiment from him lol.

Crew season ticket push began as MLS lobbyist emailed Austin officials about 'unbelievable opportunity'

 

On Aug. 3, Columbus Crew SC season ticket holders got a "save the date" email to drum up interest for "priority list" 2018 packages.

 

What they weren't told was that 2018 could be the team's last year in town.

 

Six days later, Richard Suttle, a registered lobbyist for Major League Soccer in Austin, Texas, was sending emails to Austin City Council members.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2017/11/16/crew-season-ticket-push-began-asmls-lobbyist.html

 

Crew season ticket push began as MLS lobbyist emailed Austin officials about 'unbelievable opportunity'

 

On Aug. 3, Columbus Crew SC season ticket holders got a "save the date" email to drum up interest for "priority list" 2018 packages.

 

What they weren't told was that 2018 could be the team's last year in town.

 

Six days later, Richard Suttle, a registered lobbyist for Major League Soccer in Austin, Texas, was sending emails to Austin City Council members.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2017/11/16/crew-season-ticket-push-began-asmls-lobbyist.html

 

Crew fans don't need any more reasons to despise Precourt and his MLS enablers.  But if they did, this would certainly do it!

 

That's some good reporting from the Austin media and Columbus Business First to expose some shady af business dealings from MLS and an unbelievable stab-in-the-back to Crew season ticket holders!