As a Crew SC fan I'm far too biased to give an objective opinion. So I'll ask you, the supporters of the 23 other MLS clubs (and counting) as well as any USL fans... What are your feelings on Austin FC becoming the latest member of MLS? Are you welcoming them with open arms? Are you giving them the middle finger? Are you indifferent?
Ambivalence. I am glad for Austin fans they will get a team. I am sorry for Austin fans as to who their owner is.
As an MLS fan living in Austin, im thrilled. I hope that the rest of the league can understand the fans never asked for the Crew fiasco and we dont get to choose our owner. However, its what we are given and if the other option is no team. Its a clear choice. I hope Precourt can turn around and become a good owner, or he makes his money and sells to a local owner who is. Either way, Austin needs to be successful and i will be supporting them.
I think it's a joke that the league/DON had this set up prior and then pulled the grand expansion extravaganza on several cities. I think it's criminal, what they've done to the actual expansion markets that are/were vying for this and the future spots. I think it's pathetic that they've pulled this stunt and essentially flipped everyone the bird while simultaneously shitting everyone. I think it's an indictment on every other owner that they've haven't even as much as uttered a peep about Precourt and being in bed with him. I think the entirety of this is a farce and feel sorry for the TRUE fans in Austin that will never be given a fair shake due to how this came to be.
This. Any genuine footie fans in Austin are now lost in the red mist, unfortunately, because you couldn't really be neutral on the matter considering HOW PSV engineered all this, yet they were used by PSV and his abettors. (The same could be said about any city PSV chose, with a possible lighter feel if he picked someone who had already been involved in the expansion reviews.) Austin was ushered to the front of the line while a host of other communities, through no fault of their own, are forced to wait and see the number of entries allowed cut by one. Not exactly a process that endears itself to the fans and reminds everyone their teams are equally as "disposable." Yay. Sorry for any real fans in Austin but for my money the team is stained and represents the opposite of what I want for a supposedly fan-driven league. I cannot root for their success in any way, shape or form.
Shit, why not welcome the fans? I'll never meet Precourt and my team will probably beat Austin the first few times we play them.
FC Austin is the Team MLS and its' Fans deserves, but not the Team they NEED right now! This describes Don Garber and Precourt perfectly........... You've never seen Precourt and Batman in the same place at the same time!! In all seriousness though, the Crew are staying in Columbus. That's all that matters. If there were other markets that met all of the expansion team criteria they'd be in by now.
At the very least Precourt should have to pay the expansion fee. I believe he paid 68 million to buy the Crew, so he should have write a check for 82 million.
There is a SMALL section of people I'm ecstatic for (Eberle's Army for example). That's it. EVERYTHING else about this is beyond fake, contrived, and bullshit. I have to disagree. I feel there's been/are 2-3 that absolutely met the criteria. The agenda and falsity of the process has been exposed with BrocFC/Precourt/Garber.
Who? Sacramento doesn't have the cash behind it. Does SSE really want to be in MLS? Detroit doesn't have a desirable Stadium Situation. Anyone I am missing?
Same here. Now that C-bus is staying in C-bus, I'm just happy for the city of Austin where I spent some time at UT, and not so much for Anthony Precourt. But a deal was made and the Crew fans deserve praise for their efforts as well as the assist from MLS fans all over and fans from FC Cincy who fought to preserve their state derby...
Since there's little chance that expansion does not continue beyond 28 teams, I'd say that the only real victims in all of this is San Antonio, whose chances have just gone down to nearly nil after this move by the league...
The owners are unfortunately not going to turn on one of their own. If you want that type of accountability in sports ownership, that would only happen if we have an entire league full of Green Bay Packers style publicly owned clubs and that only really exists in Germany... even that may not last much longer and the NFL forbids anyone else besides the Packers having it...
I'd say there is a very good chance that it goes past 28 team to 32. https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2018/12/10/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/MLS.aspx
60% 40% -I don't like the owner, and wonder how this will work. -I hate the process for how we got here. It shafts the other teams who are doing expansion and paying the fees. -I guess it is okay for Austin... that is a wait and see. -I'm glad the Crew got their team, and finally got support from Columbus.