As you say, time will tell. Still, he had a pretty solid pro career himself, and he's coached at the youth level for long time: I agree that there's a difference between U23 and U17 coaching. But I can se that this would be a logical next step in his coaching career. That his resume justifies the move.
Actually, lots of good info here: https://www.massivereport.com/2022/...schedule-is-coming-together-mls-next-pro-2022 - 10 players under contract; names to start being released next week - "Rounding out the rest of the roster will potentially be players from the MLS SuperDraft, players released by other MLS clubs and members of the Crew Academy..." - team starts practice on Monday - Crew 2 will not practice with the senior side: "There’s only so much room in the OhioHealth Performance Facility and there’s still growing pains in having multiple teams — the Academy also uses the space — occupying one facility."
No. The equipment from Obetz was moved to the new faculty last summer. The lease had been month-to-month for a long time.
No, academy will use Fortress Obetz for a 10 day period when the bubble is being taken down and that’s it
I’m a little surprised that Obetz would be in shape to host any kind of activity. I assume it’s a pretty barebones venue at this point. Like just some overgrown grass fields? Anyway, regarding space use at the new facility, I seem to recall that the “community sports park” part of the Mapfre development was to include a field that the Crew academy would share with the public. Of course, that park hasn’t happened, which to be honest kinda pisses me off. I know there are various local, regional and state entities that have to come together to get it done, but the park is an important part of the project, a clear commitment to the community. It damned well better happen. But I digress. In initial designs, there were several fields that will eventually run parallel to the three grass fields the Crew use, past HCS, though not all are full-sized. The field at the far SW corner of the site is the one I recall referenced as being shared with the Crew academy teams. Or maybe I’m just imagining the whole thing. While I don’t think so, fact is, the park development is lacking any real detail right now. Hopefully, this year, the land will be acquired and construction will commence.
Did I miss the team announcing the signing of Farsi? On transfermarkt hes the only person signed to Crew 2.
They still haven't agreed on land for the park, and when you force a dysfunctional city government to negotiate with an even more dysfunctional weird appointed state board to negotiate land cost and parking issues, it will be held up. Last update was a hack job on the dogpatch in December that was mad the park was overbudget and hasn't started, but it was also mad they were even building a park. This is what it will look like for now.
Yeah, I saw that. Standard Bill Bush bullshit. I learned nothing from it. I get it that the team played in HCS until last summer. That the stadium bubble project wasn't completed until late autumn. Beyond the city and state, I believe Franklin County is also part of this, as is the state fair commission (or whatever it's called). So, yeah, it complicated. As a city resident, I think this sports park would be a great asset. Not to mention, it was a promised part of the overall training facility/downtown stadium/Astor Park project. While I can accept the delays to this point (I'm sure Covid didn't help), I very much expect it to start this year.
"The space" the park will inhabit is currently paved parking lots. The Crew won't use it. And by park, I mean sports park; lots of soccer fields, mostly. They better damned well build it. It was referenced as the main reason why public funds went toward the training center project.
Wait, what? How could they have just built a new training center and it doesn't have room for the reserve side? That makes no sense.
They built like locker rooms for the academy and reserve side at the place, but there's only two fields right now. I think there were supposed to be four non park fields, but they compromised over the location of black and gold Blvd.
The academy was using the Obetz training facility as late as November. Aiden Morris tweeted about it while attending a game. Beyond the OHPC faculties they also have access to 2 locker rooms in HCS. I would think they can figure it out. Lots of players to account for that’s for sure. .@ColumbusCrew’s @AidanZMorris checking in 🏡 #Crew96 pic.twitter.com/FdZAfEitHI— Crew Academy (@CrewAcademy96) November 20, 2021
It has locker room space; there are 8 of them. I think the issue is limited field space, especially if the weather is shitty. The senior team uses the two grass fields with the same underground technology as the stadium. The academy, as I understand it, has used the third grass field. Then there’s the seasonal bubble.
The issue is not lockerooms it’s field space. Unlike the first team and crew 2 they can’t practice during the day because all of the players attend school and some of them have long commutes after school. So in the winter while the bubble is up they have to have 4 teams share a field from 5pm and after and all four teams train a minimum of 4 nights a week. During the the warmer parts of the year the 4 teams use two fields at OHPC Until the park, which is still happening, gets built field space for the academy will be an issue. If the academy potentially launches a u13 team next year then there will be 5 teams that share 2 fields for 8-9 months of the year and for the 3-4 winter months those 5 teams share one field. The first and second team fields are off limits for the academy which adds additional strain because that would immediately solve the problem
Has anyone heard updates about how tickets will work for Crew2? Curious to see if they see Crew 2 as any sort of revenue generator. My assumption is that attendance will be minimal to the point that it's hardly worth charging $5 for a ticket, so I would love for admission to be free, especially for STHs.
Bingo. Practices in particular really destroy the fields. The first team and second team trainings you get like 30 players over a 2 hour period a day in them. Academy players have 100 over a 4 hour period. The fields at Obetz during our December training sessions were almost unplayable and we used both ours and the old first team field there
“First team is going to be a work in progress. I can always hope, or pencil in, but our goal is that if they’re doing well they play on the first team and we’re here to support them with any extra development minutes”#Crew96 GM Corey Wray— Thomas Costello (@1ThomasCostello) January 31, 2022 Forecasting 16-18 players to be signed directly to Crew 2.- GM Corey Wray #Crew96— Thomas Costello (@1ThomasCostello) January 31, 2022 About 2-3 Academy players signed to the second team. 3-5 signed to amateur contracts that allows them to develop and keep their college eligibility.#Crew96— Thomas Costello (@1ThomasCostello) January 31, 2022 Entry medical evaluations happening today.First team has some players in and among that group but there are still discussions on if they’ll stay or go back to the first team.#Crew96— Thomas Costello (@1ThomasCostello) January 31, 2022