Columbus will be Cincinnati's rival as long as both are in MLS. Nashville and Atlanta seem like more natural match. Of course, all it takes is some high stakes and controversial matches and we may develop a healthy dislike of one another.
Winner from last night's game. I've been to 2 matches now... it is a blast! https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=476049069495704
That is great to see. Were there a lot of traveling fans from Cincy or were they mostly a home crowd?
No idea. After 18k+ for their debut Nashville have been getting 8 or 9k. So maybe it's a combination of excitement about MLS combined with traveling support.
Yeah, not only did they have their own supporters' section in the northeast corner, but I noticed quite a few sprinkled in here and there amongst the rest of the crowd.
Greetings! Welcome to the MLS Supporter's family & congrats on the expansion win & (fairly) recent disaster averted! Sorry for the slow welcome, been embroiled in local....issues here in Columbus & have not been out in the other teams news much. So, I am hoping your main rival will be ATL, and we will take Cincy. But we have to still exist. But rivalries sometimes happen naturally. You just keep bumping into a team come PO time. So, you guys are set to join in 2020, correct? Is the stadium supposed to be done by then or are you gonna play at Vandy for a year or two?
I don't think the year has officially been stated, but 2020 seems to be the target. Nissan Stadium is more likely if they could work out the deal. I doubt they would play at Vandy unless they absolutely had to. It's not an ideal place for soccer.
Yeah I think, sadly, the MLS is counting on you not existing in COL anymore. We played Cincy a few weeks ago and from my understanding the match was held at Nissan Stadium in hopes of drawing a bigger crowd and encouraging a big rivalry between us and them.
We should have some clarity fairly soon. At least in terms of 2019. MLS/PSVs motion to dismiss our lawsuit has oral arguments Sept. 4th. Decision soon after. If denied, the trial starts in March so we will have to stay at least one more year. Wednesday council vote in Austin is more iffy than I ever thought it would be. And a possible referendum on council's vote after that. Optimism high in Columbus right now. Mainly on strength of local ownership groups & stadium sites/plans stepping up & a meeting with MLS. We will find out soon if they were just playing nice until Austin gets a green light. Yep, Nissan makes more sense than Vandy. But football tears up grass fields pretty bad for soccer. It is grass, correct? Gonna need some creative scheduling.
I (semi-)regularly check the thread on the Crew forum and have been following the ups and downs of the situation. I am hoping for the best for you guys. Pointyball would be an issue at Nissan as TSU still plays a few games there and of course the Titans. For the period the season overlap I suppose they could play mid-week and road matches on the weekends. Not ideal, but MLS has done other weird scheduling (DC United this season for example). The field does start to look bad as the NFL and NCAA seasons go on, but MLS would be done by then. The other thing to schedule around would be other events like CMA and other concerts. All of this said, it would still be better than Vandy. The seats are bad and the pitch isn't great for soccer. It does okay in a pinch, but a whole season there would not be good.
So, I am just thinking ahead if the fairgrounds site falls through. There is what appears to be an abandoned large baseball stadium with a lot of parking just south of downtown. It is on Chestnut street, beside Fort Negley Park. It is just north of the fairgrounds and closer to downtown. just over a mile from fairgrounds so it is possible some parking there could be used too. What is this stadium and is it in use? It has a guitar shaped scoreboard so i am wondering if it is an old stadium for Nashville Sounds. It is one of the few spots I can identify as a possibility by just using google satellite imagery (I know this is a very unscientific method). P.S. I am not suggesting the baseball stadium itself be used. Just the land. Edit: I found it. Herschel Greer Stadium. According to Wikipedia it is abandoned. Seems like a very likely spot to be used. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Greer_Stadium
I don't want this to come off wrong, but you aren't from around here are you? Or maybe new to town? There have been several ideas as to what to do with that site. There are some issues with the sight, one of which is that it butts up against historic Fort Negley in addition to being bounded on the other side by a rail line. It was many years ago that I had been to a Sounds game there but IIRC there isn't a whole lot of parking there either. The fact that the stadium is there now doesn't really factor into anything. That old structure would have to come down anyway. A soccer stadium would be a tight fit that I'm not sure would work.
I am not from Nashville. That is why I asked. Thanks for the info. As I stated clearly...I was not suggesting the baseball stadium be used. Just the land. Wikipedia states it had 22k at a game before so those people parked somewhere. There appear to be several hundred/thousand parking spots and there appears to be a good amount of land there that is currently wooded that could be cleared for more parking pretty easily. Also the fairgrounds a mile away with more parking. If it won't work it won't work. I was just curious. Based on the Tennessean articles I am worried about the current plan. I think they need to be looking for alternatives. They likely are.
That's cool. Thanks for your support. I don't know about that 22K thing. That was a long time ago and I don't know what the surrounding area was back then. I doubt they ever got anything close to that in more recent years. Like I said, it is a tight squeeze. There is space behind the current stadium that was used for parking but ingress and egress was tough. One way in and out. They could build a road on the other end but I don't know who owns that property and it would still be a small entrance. Despite the current issues I would still bet on the Fairgrounds site going through, even though it would not be my first choice. IMO, what we are seeing is mostly politicking. There are those who never want to do anything with that site and others who question the financing.
I think the fairgrounds site looks pretty tight too. Also once you put a stadium in there it doesn't seem like there will be a ton of parking there either.
To follow up my previous post..using google earth measuring tools Fair Grounds currently has around 10 acres of parking. That will go down with a stadium taking space. Old baseball stadium has 7.4 acres of parking currently. If you include some of the wooded area you can easily add another 5 acres. I don't think that site is as tight as you think. The access in and out is a very valid concern however.
Nashville in for more speed bumps......getting a little nervous for them. Its getting harder and harder for prospective owners to push teams through. Nashville was an exception to the rule that was a good surprise for the league, even arguably a fallback option that came plausible after pretty much every other city on the expansion list fell flat. So its disappointing that even MLS's insurance policy city is starting to wobble. https://www.tennessean.com/story/ne...s-disapproval-mls-stadium-project/1046096002/
Well, like the article said: "The committee is stacked with several of the council's most ardent stadium critics, meaning its action might not be a completely accurate preview of Tuesday's full council vote." The full council ended up approving both measure the next night.