Crew to Austin in 2019..(Maybe)

That's the amazing part about all of this. It's been 11 months and People who are unaware of the weeds we wade through daily are wondering why the Crew is still in town!

I had someone ask me yesterday why the company had a ticket code for the game this weekend for discount tickets. They thought they were already in Austin.

People thought they would be playing in Austin this season. It's unfathomable to them that they're selling tickets for next season. This entire thing is a master class on what not to do.

 

Yes, but the league likely would have been doing things differently. For the most part, the only time MLS has mentioned Austin has been when asked a direct question about the situation. It's remarkable how uninvolved - at least publicly - MLS has been in the effort to get things lined up in Austin. Now, I'm not saying that the league being more invested in the PR game in south Texas would have suddenly made Fatass Tony's collection of PSV stooges competent. But it would have provided a veneer of legitimacy to the effort.

 

Of course you would be.

And this most certainly is not the longest this thread has gone without serious news.

 

The Ballad of Don Garber
Come and listen to my story about man named Don.
A poor commissioner barely running a long con.
And then one day he was shooting down the Crew,
When up from the city came a ‘passionate few’.
Fans that is, black and gold, STC.

Well the next thing you know ol’ Don is running scared.
The legal code said, “You can’t move the team from there.”
Said “Columbus is the place they ought to be.”
So Don lawyered and came to Franklin County Pleas.
Courts, that is. Legal motions. Sidebars.

 

Bolded middle paragraph for emphasis.

I'm prepared for people to jump down my throat, and that's fine. But for every re-tweet, every fan that we already have told, for every sticker that is in a window or on a car bumper, there are probably a half dozen people in Columbus like the one mentioned here.

Even in the best of Crew times the team struggled to get through to the masses or make a dent even the likes of the Blue Jackets. And despite Save the Crew and other volunteer's best efforts, we still are going up against that malaise in addition to the active sabotage by our owner and the league.

 

I have no idea what this is or what it means. Anyone want to help?

 

The easy answer is to point out how extraordinary mass ignorance is just the way things are, how the overwhelming majority of people don’t know why it’s colder in winter than in summer, or the name of the Vice President or their states governor.

The more dangerous answer is the way people fit individual new facts into a pre-existing paradigm: a sports team announces a move, the old city and fans fight, there’s a lawsuit, and the team moves.

 

Allow me to counter you unrelenting pessimism with two key points.

1. A huge problem with the lack of general awareness of the team throughout most of its existence has been due to a serious lack of marketing by the team, especially over the last 5 or so years. You can't expect casual sports fans to decide out of nowhere to seek out information about the team. The team has to shove their product in everyone's face and make it difficult for anyone to be unaware of when they are playing and what's going on with the team. The Blue Jackets, Clippers, and OSU sports blow the Crew out of the water when it comes to marketing.

2. STC are a group of volunteer fans working almost exclusively through social media and working with very little budget. Of course they aren't going to break through to the non fans. The goal all along has been to rally the current fans into fighting for the team. Attracting brand new fans requires a significant budget, which STC certainly does not have.

Oh, and one final point. People are brutally ignorant of many different things. Some people have absolutely no idea what is going on the news. Heck, back when the big terrorist attacks happened in Paris where the bombs were set off outside the soccer game and the people at the concert were slaughtered, I had a friend who had no idea the event ever took place. I mentioned it to him a week after the attack happened and he had no idea what I was talking about. Some people can't even tell you who is playing in the Super Bowl when it is occurring. This past Super Bowl Sunday, I asked my wife who was playing in the Super Bowl and she said.....the Cleveland Browns.....because that was the only NFL team she could name. People are brutally ignorant about many things, even when it is happening in their own backyard.

Somebody being unaware of the status of the Crew is probably the least surprising thing I will hear all day.

 

You're begging the question by saying the previously given notice is "false".

Fine, use MLS/PSV. But they claim that not only has the case delayed the move, it's imposed irreparable damage to them. I don't buy the latter point, but if they moved tomorrow (remember they've already played the majority of their 2018 home games at Mapfre), they'd be facing contempt of court proceedings for jumping the gun since there is a case underway as to whether or not they've complied with the Modell law or whether it is valid or applicable to them.

 

Well the prospect of the state and city winning the case certainly makes it harder for MLS/PSV to sign contracts in Austin since they may not be able to deliver the promised team.

 

It's really not unrelenting pessimism to point out challenges in the market and to point out that the owner and league have tried to sabotage us. I've lost track of how many times I've given Save the Crew and other volunteers credit for the work they've done.

Other than that I agree with most every other word of your post, and I don't even consider you a pessimist.

 

Yeah, apparently not many Crew fans are aware of the CGAC proposal to impose a 7% tax on entertainment and sports events, including Crew games, to fund arts organizations and bailout Nationwide Arena.

 

Stranger Things big baddie

 

You are unrelentingly pessimistic about everything. Everyone knows it. It's ok. I'm simply countering your arguments which arise from your pessimism.

 

I think it’s Soccer United Marketing coming to collect tv money.

 

I believe it’s a special effects shot of an alien attack in the (awful) War of the Worlds remake.

 

Maybe yes, maybe no.

You could certainly pitch it that a) MLS has our back, b) the lawyers tell us that ORC 9.67 is unconstitutional and every similar case ever brought was deemed so by the courts, c) even if we somehow don't win, MLS will simply hand us an expansion team so, one way or another, there will be a PSV/MLS entry in Austin, d) we won't ask for a dime on the downstroke, so if for some unknown reason we don't field a team all bets are off e) we're talking with a lot of people now, really getting some strong, positive reactions, plus just look at this utterly bogus survey which shows overwhelming local support - and those youth soccer numbers, wow! We're going to hit the ground with a big splash and if you drag your feet on this there's a good chance that somebody else will have grabbed your product category.

But you can reserve your place now, won't cost a thing.

 

Cool. Thanks for making the same arguments as me, and expanding on them even further.

 

CybrSlydr is Correct. It's from a Netflix show called Stranger Things. (Which is a really well done 80ies sci-fi romp, maybe we can compare it to a bit darker version of E.T)

Speaking of people who are unaware; I can't believe that everyone doesn't have the entire Netflix library memorized. /s

 

That's not Demogorgon.

THIS IS DEMOGORGON.

 

I always tell my wife, I didn’t marry you for your sports knowledge. We have a solid working relationship.

 

If they can argue that they are selling tickets under a conditional clause about 2019 play in Columbus I would argue that they can sign sponsor agreements and contracts under a conditional clause of 2019 play in Austin.

 

They likely intended to move the team back in 2013 but accepted season ticket renewals every year thereafter, and played games at Mapre every year thereafter, including 2019 in all likelihood. It does not matter what they intend, or even what they say, it matters what they do.

 

No, they would not.