Please help us Save The Crew

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Hello Whitecaps fans. Please don’t think I’m coming to troll, I’m simply coming to ask for your help. Many of you have publicly expressed your support of for the situation that we Crew fans are finding ourselves in. For that we thank you.

I ask that you give us just 60 more seconds of support to go to https://savethecrew.com/letter and sign the letter. You can select your club at the bottom and I believe that the more fans from around the league that sign this, the louder the collective voice will be.

Selfishly, I say “thank you” for helping support us in this time of need. But also, I remind you to think about the other teams that this could happen to. Some day in the future, this could happen to your team as well. Please don’t let the league start a bad precedent.


Thank you,

Ian Fontaine

 

First, thank you for your response. I'll try to answer each of your points as best as I can.

The letter is actually for Don Garber not Precourt. AP is an idiot businessman who hasn't earned a dollar his entire life. He's a trust fund baby whose job is to run his family's investment portfolio. He's never built or created anything.

First, Crew Stadium is 4 miles from downtown. Not "on the outskirts"Yeah, the average is about 15,500 true. but with any team that's played 23 full MLS seasons (and there are only 8 of those around) you can look at the history and see six true iterations.

• Crew 1.0 if you will was 96-98. Three years average was 15,422. 96 and 97 averaged 17,000. 97 season attendance dropped hard as there were serious concerns about a home after Ohio Stadium started renovations in 98. Same with 98 attendance of 12,275. League was struggling. Chicago and Miami were added, but long term concerns of the Crew weren't solved until part of the way through the season.
• Crew 2.0 99 - 04: were the golden years part I. We opened a new stadium, and with all due respect, it's an erector set stadium, not a lego stadium, won two major trophies ('02 US Open Cup, and '04 SS). Average attendance was 16,900 at a time where we contracted two teams (TB, Miami) and were close to relocating San Jose Clash to Houston (2005). During this time, our erector set stadium was THE model for how a MLS club was supposed to run. After 2004, we lost several star players.
• Crew 3.0 05 - 07: these three years are probably the darkest years in the history of the club. both in terms of attendance, and in chaos. We fired a coach, lost several stars, transitioned to a new general manager who really didn't know much about soccer, 05 + 06 were particularly bad seasons. 12,900 and 13,300 average respectively. Truly dark times. On top of all that, we lost Lamar Hunt in December of 2006. Also in 2006 we hired Sigi Schmid. We finished last in the conference but you could tell things were changing on the field. 2007 attendance rebounded too. 15,200. With Lamar out of the picture, GM McCullers was allowed to run the club as he sit fit, and as long as he was able to return a modest profit to Hunt Sports Group, they were happy. To be honest, we started to lag behind the league at this point. We also signed Guillermo Barros Schelloto in the summer window of 2007.
• Crew 4.0 08 - 10: Glory years Part II. With Sigi having total control over the soccer operations, seasoned veterans like Hejduk, Ale Moreno, and GBS, we bossed the league. We won the double in 2008. But attendance was lagging. Season ticket memberships were up but corporate involvement was down. The recession played a VERY big part in this. Average attendance was 14,735. After 2008, Sigi bolted for Seattle (tampering was never admitted, but SS had to give us either a pick or $$, I can't remember). Warzycha took over and we repeated the SS in 09 but due to inept coaching/managing, we lost in the first round. After another first round loss in 2010, Warzycha and McCullers decided to gut the entire team. As a fact, any player that had worn the captain's armband over the last three years was let go after the 2010 season. Hejduk, Hesmer, Moreno, Carroll, O'Rourke, GBS. All fan favorites, all gone.
• Crew 5.0 11 - 13: With no fan favorites on the squad, and fan vitriol at an all time high, fans refused to show up for for games. The team was terrible, but managed to make the playoff wildcard game which we lost. 12,185 is the all time worst season attendance in Crew Stadium. 2012 was slightly better in attendance but our performance still sucked. Halfway through 2013, Precourt Sport Ventures purchased the franchise from Hunt Sport Group for $68MM which include the team, the stadium, the lease, and the training center. Attendance started to rebound immediately. Average was 14,221 with 2013 coming in at 16,080.
• Crew 6.0 14 - 17: These have been the most consistent years in team history in terms of results and attendance. 2016 was a record for attendance in terms of total numbers and number of sellouts. All this while the field on the team was terrible, but we were coming off an MLS Cup in 2015. What we've found out in the last three weeks is that PSV 1. Let go of the Hispanic Outreach Coordinator, 2. Reduced the marketing staff to 1, 3. Cut the sales staff by (some allege as much as) 50%, 4. Raised ticket prices by over 10%, and 5. Doubled sponsor pricing (primarily on smaller sponsors who couldn't afford the jump). Average for these four years is 16,490 (16,840 if you ignore this crap year)

No doubt. And a new stadium downtown would be amazing and crucial in that metric. There's no doubt that it's a key. I love Mapfre stadium. There's plenty of room to tailgate, there's not a bad seat in the house truth be told, and then there's an amazing history there. Added to the fact that it was THE model of how the league could survive is immeasurable.
However, there is no one denying that it's reaching it's end of lifecycle. The locker rooms are utilitarian (despite AP's claims that he's invested millions in the stadium), the suite boxes haven't been improved in years really. There IS an economics problem with the stadium. No one is denying that a new one is needed.

[/QUOTE]its been done in all the big leagues- NFL, MLB, NHLand NBA- with franchises moving- when the owners/whistleblowers make it public, its almost game over and there is little chance to stop the move to a perceived better market- if austin ponies up with a great SSS deal in the DT area- which i think has already been set in motion- then 2019 is a certainty[/QUOTE]
I have a hard time with the "All the big leagues do it" qualifier that's bandied about. Soccer was supposed to be different in this country. The league was set up differently than those leagues so that it wouldn't fall upon the same fate as previous top tier leagues, and wouldn't be ravaged with the same issues those other leagues have had (relocation, labor issues, etc)

I truly do appreciate the perspective, and honestly, I don't disagree on some of the points. In fact, I think you'd be hard pressed to find people saying that we're the cat's ass or anything close to it. The reality is, there IS a lot of work still to be done to maximize revenue. The problem is, the investor/operator refuses to do the work necessary. He intentionally circumnavigated the expansion process, and quite possibly (it certainly looks like he did anyway) interfered with the expansion process by being on the expansion committee while he was looking at relocating the team to a market that would be "owned" by an expansion applicant. AP is shady as f*ck and people are starting to realize it. What they haven't seen before is just how complicit and involved in the process Garber has been. The letter is meant for him to realize that it's just not Columbus Crew fans that are upset about this. It's fans of every team around the league, and in some cases other leagues in this country, and around the world. This is why I'm begging for your support to sign the letter.

As you alluded to with your Grizzlies experience, it's a painful thing to go through. I didn't know I could feel emotional pain like I do now. But the lesson is that if it can happen to Columbus (who weren't last in any openly verifiable and quantifiable metric), who's to say it can't happen to Dallas or Dynamo or Chicago next? Allowing Columbus to move sets a TERRIBLE precedent for the league.

Again, thank you for your input, critique, and passion. I truly appreciate it.

 

lol.... appreciate the memo. Seriously, Thank you for your thoughts. Honestly, I don't disagree with a lot of what you say. In fact, it's not uncommon for me to alternate between unmitigated despair to rage and determination within a period of hours. We will continue to fight until the very end, let there be no doubt.

Also, completely agree about the need for a sellout on Tuesday. Good news, is that we've achieved that. Well, kind of. If you go to ticketmaster and look up the game, all they're selling now are standing room only. It's been this way since Thursday. But no one can get out of Clark Beacom or Andy Loughnane (VP sales, and president of biz ops respectively) why they won't call it a sell out. The last game's attendance was listed at 14,500, but even Justin Meram has come out and said it felt like there were more people there than that. So MLS touts and brags on Houston's sellout, but have not uttered a peep about Columbus. They are afraid to offer up any news that might view Columbus in a favorable light.

But I agree with a lot of your point. I think most I/O's plus Donny G were in agreement with the move prior to it being announced. I have some anecdotal evidence that suggests SKC was royally pissed off at Gregg and co when we played hardball on the Kristian Nemeth allocation spot. At one point yelling why are we being so difficult after all they've done to help us with Austin. Nonetheless, we will keep fighting.

thanks again.

 

Thanks man. I appreciate that. We are for the most part, a pretty cool bunch. That whole "midwestern nice" thing you know. There are of course, idiots. Trust me, I hope the FO isn't playing games with the ticket availability. After the last game, several fans have been tracking the available tickets on TM like hawks. I was pretty amazed to see that Meram openly commented on the attendance. There are rumors of many players being REALLY unhappy with this situation and really don't want to move. Of course, that's all rumor. None of them would be caught dead making on the record statements.

Cincy.... boy that's an interesting situation isn't it? I've only started following their stadium situation in the last 2 weeks. A lot of people seem to think it's an either/or but not both kind of a situation. The owner is on record saying he'll spend $200MM+ of his own money to build the stadium. He's asked Hamilton County (Cincinnati's county) for 15-75MM in public funds for infrastructure support. Personally, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask the government for help with roads, utility construction, etc. I can't speak to the need for $75MM of it, but the request doesn't seem to be out of bounds in my mind. Apparently though, Hamilton County Commissioners, who previously agreed to the single worst stadium deal in modern history with the Bengals and Paul Brown Stadium, balked. They seem to think that FCC can use Paul Brown to play and don't need a SSS at all. MLS is like, "woah... we need to talk about this". So we'll see if that kills there bid or not.

As for co-existing, I think both franchises can not only exist, but actually thrive off each other. I don't have the data to support this, but I seem to have the impression that the Crew doesn't have a big following outside of Central Ohio. Just after Precourt bought the team he agreed to the worst TV deal in club history. Limited to a single provider's specialty channel (Time Warner Cable) and with an MLS Live blackout within 75 miles of the stadium. That turned a lot of fans off. If you didn't have TWC, you couldn't watch the team's games at all. There are a few fans that come north from Cincy, or south from Cleve-burg, but I don't think it's many. And that is a pretty big failing of Precourt's business management as I can cite. FCC has done a great job marketing their team and they've developed a great following of fans. I don't know how many of those fans are still coming when tickets are $30 and not $5 or when their season tickets are $650 instead of $340.

I can't speak for other fans, but I will say that I've seen others share the same sentiment as me. If the Crew move to Austin,I'm done with MLS. And maybe soccer in the US. This has hurt so bad, it's hard to describe. I know you guys went through the Grizzlies. Do y'all support other NBA teams?

MLS was created in a different mold than the other leagues. Single entity was supposed to prevent one owner from going rogue and creating a shitstorm that the league couldn't recover from. Judging by the response from many national media outlets, as well other fans around the league, there seems to be quite the pushback against the move. The guys that run #SaveTheCrew have been absolute godsends for the fanbase. They have been critical in keeping me from losing faith, and allowing me an organized outlet to recognize that there are others that feel like I do and that our collective voice WILL be heard. Will it make a difference? Chances are no. But as long as there is a chance, I'm going to fight. Our city is going to fight. Hopefully the cards fall the right way.