Columbus Crew to Austin Texas?

I hate this kind of stuff and I hate that the sports watching public at large accepts it. I don't believe it should be part and parcel with sports in this country. At the very least, if they do move, leave all the history and name in Columbus.

 

This is a reason I increasingly hate the American system.

Relocation and the threat there in.

My Kings saw the owners try to move the team to Seattle, Anaheim and Vegas. Was a miracle they stayed. Supersonics fans weren't so lucky.

But now the Raiders are in fact leaving, my NFL team. Now the NFL is dead to me.

I despise owners moving a team.

 

A team using relocation as the bargaining chip to gain a new stadium?

MLS is now officially a major league in the U.S.

 

this is spectacularly effed up, especially considering the timeline

 

Now?

 

He should have to sell the Crew and purchase new Austin rights. So for entity and all.

 

Hopefully the story will answer these questions, but...

1. What exactly does he want from the City of Columbus? If he wants money to build the stadium, I think he has overestimated the Crew's importance. If it is working on getting the land and the Crew would pay for everything, then maybe this would work.

2. Where on Earth would they play in Austin? UT's stadium?

 

If MLS were to leave, they'd never be welcome back.

 

UT owns everything and hates competition.

 

I always figured that once expansion was done, there would be a spat of franchise moves. Has to figure Columbus was going to be under threat to be enticed away by a bigger market, especially one that losses out in the expansion lottery.

The surprise is that it’s now and that it’s Austin. I’m a little familiar with Columbus and thought there was an intriguing idea about bringing the team downtown. I don’t know what the roadblocks were. Assuming this is brinksmanship - is there a chance of a deal happening?

 

All we need now is for a really good Crew team to win MLS Cup in Columbus. This is some shitty stuff.

 

Noooooo

I don't want an MLS without a Columbus team

 

Uh-oh:

“it also included an escape clause in the case Precourt wanted to move it to Austin.”

And for the conspiracy theorists among us:

“Cincinnati’s case would be stronger if the Crew were no longer in-state.”

 

Columbus + Cincinnati + Nashville is the problem. I don't see how you get around that issue. That's too many teams in that region. Cincy & Nashville have monster ownership groups and $150+ million stadiums in the works. Hard to see Columbus winning this battle.

 

Isn't this also known as Liga MX Pro/Rel?

 

Columbus has one of my favorite crests and color schemes in the league, so I would hate to see it go. As someone mentioned, I hope the brand identity stays in Columbus in case a potential future owner wants to resurrect it in some form. I understand the future upside that makes Austin (along with Vegas) the "hot" expansion/relocation market in sports at the moment, but I also feel this is MLS' chance to position itself as the league that won't rip teams out of their cities. Other than Wimbledon FC, clubs aren't supposed to relocate--they are supposed to be so entrenched in their cities and communities that they live and die in them. As insufferable as the pro/rel zealots can be, this is definitely one of the drawbacks of the North American franchise model that irks me to no end.

 

Complete and utter garbage. I forgave the initial contraction because it was essentially clubs going out of business. I forgave the next relocation because in the end the Quakes revived themselves. And finally I forgave the Chivas contraction because it essentially amounts to a replacement by LAFC.

But relocating the Crew for stadium politics would end my interest in this league. There would have to be something dire for me to be OK with a contraction ... bankruptcy, attendance collapse, city disappearing in a asteroid hit or something like that. If it's just a case of an owner that doesn't want franchise anymore, the league needs to buy it and keep it in business for a number of years to give time for new potential ownership groups to come in. If you want Austin, sell Columbus to the league first and then go in the back of the expansion line, just like everyone else.

 

Poor Columbus, this kills San Antonio's bid as well. Maybe that's why no info has been coming out of SA if this move has been in the works for a while.