Good for the Crew fans (although it sounds like there are some details to be ironed out). http://www.espn.com/soccer/major-le...negotiations-with-mls-to-buy-columbus-crew-sc https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/10/12/columbus-crew-saved-austin-move-precourt-haslam-mls If nothing else, the League didn't repeat the mistake of 2005 with our San Jose Earthquakes. It looks like they made an effort to actively look for/work with local investors. Irony is not lost on me that one of the lead investors is the owner of Cleveland Browns....
MLS did not look for local investors. The legal regime in Ohio forced their hand. The league is as evil as ever.
Good news, although the "build a downtown stadium" part is frustrating. 10s or even 100s of millions spent on something that's not really needed, with very few profiting from it.
Looking like it’s the Quakes/Browns deal but better. Columbus looks to be getting an immediate expansion club that will have all the records, names, logos AND players of the current Crew. Precourt takes the empty husk of Crew 1.0 as planned to Austin. MLS pockets the extra expansion profits from the Browns owners for Crew 2.0
Agreed when you consider the fact that the current stadium isn't that far from downtown Columbus to begin with.
I can’t open the link. Do the existing players stay in Columbus or do they move to Austin next year? If they are moving their players, then they will be in the Quakes same boat. I for one don’t believe the club ever recovered from it and their 8 out of 11 season record proves it.
I highly doubt there will be a team playing in Austin next year. Regardless, my understanding is that the Columbus "expansion" team keeps its existing players.
Yeah, I guess the question is how much is MLS asking the new Columbus investor group for the "expansion" fee? (I believe neither Carlisle or Wahl were able to get that info). Are they being given a discount (like when we came back to the league) or are they being asked to pay the current market price that the other expansion franchises like Cincinnati or Nashville had to pay?
Austin may be innocent here but Precourt is not. If Austin ever has a MLS team and plays the Quakes, and the team is owned by Precourt at that time, I may dislike them as I dislike the Houston Dynamo as a team. It just leaves a very bad taste in the mouth after seeing these schemes to steal a team.
I agree completely with that sentiment. I hope the Austin team will get booed at every away game. Although, I doubt Precourt will stick around. As soon as he gets the okay to move ahead in Austin, i’ll bet he sells part or all of the franchise at the current expansion fee price. I doubt he will even stick around to build the stadium, because I don’t think he has deep enough pockets. He is just looking for a payday, and it feels like this deal is a way for him to get a big expansion fee discount at the expense of his fellow owners. Sure the new CLB owners will have to pay a compensatory expansion fee, but I would guess the successful owners who are putting in big bucks will see him as a guy who fleeced them a little.
Certainly doesn't seem that way. Not with St. Louis seemingly jumping them. Nevermind having been passed by Cincy, Memphis and Austin.
Don, Don! You got mentioned in the NY Times again (well, without your name tho...) M.L.S. Claims Progress in Effort to Keep Columbus Crew From Moving "The movement quickly spread to other cities; in San Jose, one fan set to be honored in an on-field ceremony turned up for it wearing a #SaveTheCrew scarf."
MJ, you may recall that it's the scarf you gave me, so you are namelessly referenced (indirectly), as well !! Planning to wear that scarf today to the Cruz Azul game in honor of the Crew being saved.
So Don Gagliardi is a girl?! In that case, I confess: I am guilty of assuming Don Gagliardi's gender, which by today's society's standards is a very serious crime. Hopefully my family won't receive death threats and I won't have protesters picketing my work place.