Columbus Crew to Austin Texas?

Well, they do have local ownership. That said, there were a lot of local businesses supporting the team. Wendy's, Acura (Honda has a huge Central Ohio presence), Barbasol, Ohio Health, Kroger, among others. But what we've heard that is some sponsors dropped out recently. Why? One large one wanted a face to face with Precourt. He sent a low level staffer.

Second, one fair critique of the Columbus business community is that they are a bit insular. They are used to being big fish in a medium market--and expect folks to come to them rather than the other way around. That may have not sat well with Garber. NFL guys are used to folks coming to them. That's not the way it works here. And let's be real--while perhaps a bit of a small town attitude, Columbus has some really big name top companies. Borden, Wendy's, Victoria's Secret, Limited Brands, Abercrombie and Fitch, Bob Evans, Nationwide Insurance, Huntington Bank, AEP, Cardinal Health, and more. Budweiser has a major presence. According to Forbes, #11 in the best places for business and careers--yet #114 in cost of doing business. Five companies on the Fortune 500--which is more than Austin.

So maybe Precourt and Garber screwed up? Or their egos got in the way?
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True, but I'm not sure how interested KSE would be in selling and losing that component of their Denver operation. Obviously everyone has a number, but is that number for KSE low enough to make it worth an outside investor buying the team and moving it?

 

It's rarely correct to impute personal rather than business motives.

But you guys keep ********ing that chicken.

 

Garber's contempt for the Crew goes back years. If this were something nee, then sure, I would think business is the primary motivation. But this is clearly not strictly business. Don is all too happy to make a lateral franchise move and shoot down any attempts by Columbus people to keep the team here.

 

Eh, you should talk to my brother sometime about CEOs....

[he's a CPA and has been a CFO in a number of orgs]

They are just as human as the rest of us, and some have huge egos.

 

Exactly. Not to mention dates at their stadium, drive for the hopeful economic development around the stadium (that KSE will charge high rents for) etc.

Doesn't mean KSE won't sell, but the Rapids value to them is probably higher than the estimated value of the team.

 

When the asserted business rationale is false, or at least flimsy, as in the case of forsaking Columbus for Austin, it's fair to ask whether different reasoning explains the apparent absurdity.

 

Dave seems to enjoy forgetting this. I mean, in the abstract, his admonition is fantastic advice. The mitigating factor for Dave is that he hasn't been in our shoes, lo these many years. On the gripping hand, Dave appears completely disinterested in attempting to put himself in our shoes.

 

That's it--Garber went Crazy Eddie!

 

Just FYI, I highlighted the truly weird part of all this. Moving to Detroit or Cincy or Phoenix or the losers in the expansion decision coming up is within the bounds of rationality. The ONLY REASON I can think of to move Columbus is the wish to wipe off the stench of MLS 1.0, something only the guys in KC have been able to do. But see, that's a reason to leave Columbus. I can't think of a reason to move to Austin.

Back to what don wrote.

Right, but in that case, we're talking about Precourt, not Garber. That's my point.

Maybe I haven't said it enough, but in my opinion, Crew fans are making a tactical error making Garber the issue. In my opinion, their best play is to work with the supporters of other clubs so that those supporters put pressure on their owners. As difficult as that would be, I think it's the best pressure point for them to exploit.

I don't live in DC so they scarcely care about the 2 tickets every 5 years I'm good for. But if I did live there, I would sincerely, honestly tell management in DC that while I understand that sometimes teams have to move, this specific move stinks to high heaven and if this move goes through, it will undermine my fandom.

I think that argument would be extra salient for fans of the other problem franchises, which I'm guessing are Dallas, Colorado, and Chicago. (Maybe Philly? In a few years?)

Maybe San Jose fans want to tell their owner that they don't want to be the Washington Senators of MLS.

 

Yeah, that opt-out-of-Columbus clause in Precourt's buy-in contract is a dead giveaway. It's sort of a lateral move but for the fact that Austin in a growing high tech area and has some serious hipster cred. But, Columbus - on the whole - isn't much different from Indianapolis as a location site for a MLS team. Both Indy & Columbus are banking, insurance & warehouse towns. The Indy Eleven has competition for the corporate sponsorship with the NBA Colts and the NBA Pacers while Columbus has competition for the corporate dollar with THE B1G Ohio State Buckeyes college football team and the NHL Blue Jackets.

My guess is that it's just about the coolness factor and long term population growth. Otherwise, it's hard to figure.

 

You've made a number of assumption here, and responded to those assumptions as if they were true, and the entirety of the argument. One only need to spend a couple of seconds outside the hothouse of the BS forums to see that there are pressure campaigns on a variety of fronts. BS is primarily a place to bitch about the asshole in charge of the league and his role, which is only a portion of the overall movement as I have observed it thusfar.

There's a word for what you did in that post above that I described. If only this wasn't a regular feature of your posting habits...

 

There is a fair amount of high tech in Columbus, actually. Where I work the average degree level is likely about the MS level. Then there's Battelle--where the photocopier and bar codes were perfected among many other scientific achievements. Modern computer graphics were pioneered at tOSU (Chuck Csuri). There are other examples. Again, puzzling.

 

Glad to see you agree with me.

 

I can believe that. The KSE model seems to be based on having a monopoly on top level sports in Colorado. If you want to watch one, you come to them. It means they don't spend as much on the front office, roster, or advertizing, but the teams may have more value to them than to a random buyer.

If that holds true, then it probably puts Vancouver at greater risk of relocating next, but they have money to spare, are local, and Greg Kerfoot loves the sport.

 

For a number of reasons, I doubt Silent Stan knows Precourt even exists.

 

Chicago might sell or move to a new location within the metro area, but thats about it. It's a far too large and significant media market for MLS to just strait up abandon.

 

Eh, the NFL abandoned LA for quite a few years--and that's the second largest media market in the country. So it's hard to be definitive like that.

 

As a Twins fan, I appreciate the hell out of that reference.

 

When the NFL left LA, it was in a much different position than MLS is in now.. NFL has a nationwide fan base with teams getting support from people that don't live in the home markets, while MLS's fan base is almost exclusively tied to the market the team is in. One anecdote that I saw recently is that the NFL's popularity in LA has actually dropped since the Chargers and Rams moved in.

 

The NFL's popularity has dropped everywhere, not just in LA, which suggests perhaps its short-sighted greed is catching up to it and MLS should be more cautious about emulating it.

 

My company (a SaaS company) bought another SaaS company in Columbus earlier this year