Crew to Austin in 2019..(Maybe)

Look at the likes and what it follows....

 

Here's a link to a Google Drive.
Two things I got from this:
1) Knowing the increased attendance, the club limited access into the stadium for the playoff games.
2) The club should have done something to prevent the lines of fans from backing up into the parking lots.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x0GJo0LZ2OVXzlvn0zsuq1JZs2a7F4IP/view

Personally, I'm a bit sick of that whole tinfoil hat.

Gates were opened 30 minutes earlier. IIRC, things like "crowds expected, come earlier" were announced. Let's not forget that the first home playoff game was on Halloween. Did the FO deliberately sabotage things and not call in as many staff or was it at all possible that potential gate employees were a bit tied up that night? I didn't make phone calls to event staff, so I can't answer that question. What I can say is that I got into a FB discussion with someone who thought:
Gate 3 was only for people with banners/flags for inspection.
Gate 6 (stadium club) was only for certain ticket holders
Gates 4 and 5 were the only two gates available for the general public and that several others were deliberately unused.


I think some of us have to be a bit careful with our emotions. I've seen Precourt take heat for the TW-exclusive TV deal when I'm pretty sure that was all on Mark.

Going back to the 30-minutes-earlier gates opening, we Crew fans have always been a "tailgate until the last moment" group. I remember many times tailgating until 7 and rushing on in.

This might be fine for a random game against RSL in August, but it's asking for trouble on a night when gates open 30 minutes earlier due to increased attendance.

 

I ain't got time for that shit. I barely understand Twatter enough to view first-person Tweets and replies.

Hold my hand.

 

Saul Alinsky baby!

I still can't get over the Applebees waitress being named Randall.

 

Interesting quote from Suttle in that AAS piece, "Yet the uncertainty can make owners and the league uneasy."

Here I am expecting nothing but fecklessly bullish optimism from PSV's henchmen, and then he goes and says something like that.

 

The latest reports are that Precourt is showing procedural incompetence for his Austin bid. Still, somehow he is not in any way responsible for Columbus' "business metrics."

Save The Crew.

 

He means it as a threat or warning.

 

My favorite part of all these reports are the constant references to "PSV officials"

 

Reading both the memorandum and the Statesman article is a roller coaster of highs and lows. After I have finished reading the two, I am now nauseous.


With regard to the memorandum, the italicized part is interesting i.e. no definitive feedback from the Vultures.

I hate this part of the Statesman article: "Suttle also said PSV is devoting considerable time to finding a temporary stadium solution while a new facility is built. He indicated there could be multiple options, without revealing details."


****** this Suttle guy. I have tried to stay away from reading much of this baloney because it never fails to feel like I am getting text messages from an ex whom is telling me his potential plans with his new girl.

 

Since when aren't 3 guys and a bank account official? Geez, Archer, you're too tough on them.

 

I'm with you on the roller coaster.

I am flabbergasted by the incompetence of "PSV Officials." I wish I could understand their thinking. Nothing about Austin makes sense to me. It's so similar to Columbus it's eerie for one. It has some very dubious history with pro-soccer. I'd be hard pressed to come up with a non-top-10 sized city that has more competition for entertainment $ than Austin.

"PVS Officials" have no successful experience running a sports franchise, no history with a successful public/private real estate deal, no track record of business partnerships and only cursory knowledge of the local communities in which they do business. I can't see a single reason why any city would give them the time of day much less 20 acres of parkland.

If "PSV Officials" were moving to Sacramento, Cincy or Detroit or St. Louis or Miaimi or Charlotte I'd sort of get it. Texas already has 2 near the bottom of business metrics teams.

 

The proles' nature is to remain docile and to not question.


The Thought Police will find you.

 

Two comments:

We *were* warned in plenty of time before both games. Now, do I put it past PSV that they also sabotaged things? No. That said, given the emotions surrounding that first playoff match, extra security was not stupid. Nor was it anything worse than what I've experienced at European matches. Mrs KG and I were there early (but after gates had opened) and had little trouble getting in.

Precourt signed off on the TV deal. That means that he deserved at least some of the heat. And I'll have to admit, some day I'd like to ask Mark what really happened with that deal..... I still think they got lowballed by FSO and that led them to looking at the option they chose. But that's a debate for another place.

 

I am re-posting these two sentences because they need to be highlighted again and again. Mail it to every Austin official.

 

Try this one:

http://andymead.photoshelter.com/ga...GspVvfMQPK0/I0000M1JAllhreY8/C0000sZnA1r7vP4U

 

Interesting development. NSR--but just another point about Columbus business metrics.

http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180118/columbus-makes-amazon-first-cut-for-second-hq

 

Well, for one thing I do think that maybe these cities like Cincy, Charlotte or Detroit or other MLS vying cities/municipalities would look at PSV's track record and think they would be better off with virtually any other group running the show. Thing is PSV sprung themselves on Austin, and Austin doesn't even seem entirely impressed.

I think that our greatest hope in this whole mess is the continued incompetence of Anthony Precourt and Precourt Sports Ventures. I think this is very much a longshot, but the ideal situation is that PSV's incompetence delays the anticipated move beyond Garber's stay as commissioner. That combined with Save The Crew's continued efforts in the community, and a new commissioner's wish to avoid a PR nightmare leads to the new commissioner brokering a sale to some local ownership group.

Very much a longshot, but it's the only conceivable way I see Columbus keeping our team.

 

Had we been owned by HSG or even local ownership on that day, I still see the long lines occurring. It's just that some people want to be blamed PSG for every. little. thing.

Looking back on the TV deal, I think Mark got hosed by FSO, either deliberately or possibly (maybe also) by his own ignorance. By the time he realized what he did, it was too late. He was at the table and made the deal...but PSG also had final say. (And part of that goes back to TW not having proper capacity to run multiple channels of FSO like every other provider.) Recently, it seems like Mark's role in that mess has been re-written due to recent emotions.

 

When HSG screwed stuff up it was invariably because they were trying to do it on the cheap. Why spend a dollar when 50 cents will work almost as well. As fans we almost expected it.

With PSV this stuff seems honestly to come down to malice. There is and can be no doubt whatsoever that anything which pisses off or screws with CBus is just what they want.

It's natural to hate the guys who hate you
The Hunts never hated us. Precourt certainly does.

 

I have seen no indication from Precourt or MLS that they have any intention of keeping the Crew in Columbus. They have spent far more time and energy courting a city that does not seem remotely interested, instead of working with the one with an actual established fan base and history of supporting soccer. It is unfortunate that #SavetheCrew and Columbus could literally offer everything that Precourt says he "needs" to make the metrics work, but he will still take his ball to Austin. Crew fans are literally dependent on Austin saying "No thanks" to keep the Crew.

 

Something else that's interesting or amusing or something: I read a piece from someone in Austin a few days ago wherein the author was waxing on about the new big money ($15 million, reportedly) player signing in Atlanta and how it "raises the bar" for MLS going forward into the bright new Austin TX future.

The people down there - and I agree, they are not the enemy here but they could make just a little more effort at getting a clue or two if they want to be taken seriously - do not get that Anthony Precourt is not an owner who is going to splash out that kind of money for players. He just doesn't have it.

Arthur Blank is insanely wealthy and can afford to take the hits to build an instantly credible team. He could hire Precourt to detail his car. Frat Tony isn't even close to that kind of money and if Austinthinks he is, they're not paying attention.

Any more than they're paying attention to the fact that he himself cannot afford to build a $200 million stadium. They seem to feel he's the second coming of Bill Gates.

 

I still believe his intention is to move the team and flip it for a profit. Easier to sell something shiny and new. Plus once he sells, the new owner wouldn't be a league wide enemy to the fans like Aces would be.

 

Not to mention Blank got 45K fans for 17 games, even at a conservative $40 per person revenue, that's $30M. Of course MLS takes a cut, but he's left with a lot of cash to put back into the team. It is fantastic that he's doing that. Last season, his outlay was a risk, this season it's just reinvestment of profits.

Now the same can't apply to a 20K stadium, it just doesn't work unless the owner in question is willing to burn cash. You don't see Portland or SKC paying huge transfer fees and enormous DP contracts. We know Frat Tony doesn't have deep pockets and really no other revenue generating business. (like an NFL team for instance).