So is the conspiracy here that the Haslams leveraged the Modell Law and invested ~$500m to buy the team and construct a stadium and training ground in order to keep the Crew in Columbus only to quasi relocate them to Cleveland where there is virtually zero fanbase for the team and the pro sports market is already overly saturated?
The Crew aren't going anywhere. But we should probably get used to the idea that they might play a match or two every year in Cleveland. Hopefully, it'll be some meaningless friendly against an EPL team or something, but it wouldn't surprise me if they pick one highlight MLS match. If it helps pay the bills...
Here's a short list of issues if they're going to put all of the premium matches in the Browns stadium: 1) What's the point of being a STM? A big perk of those packages is getting access to the games with highest demand that have ticket shortages (HiR, playoffs, etc). There will be a ton of non-renewals because people will likely be able to save money by just buying at secondary prices. 2) Home field advantage in the biggest matchups would essentially mean nothing, in a league where home teams usually enjoy a huge advantage. Currently, the away supporters allotments for HiR are only a couple hundred tickets, to ensure 80-90% of the stadium is supporting the home team. If the Crew plays that game in Cleveland, it's going to be a couple thousand tickets allotted to FCC supporters, plus another 5,000-10,000 Cincinnati fans buying from the public market. 3) The Nordecke is not a traveling circus. It takes a lot of money, effort and coordination to transport drums, equipment and people safely. All things the Crew takes for granted and tends to expect volunteers to do for them without reciprocation or support. The supporters section would not function well, if it functions at all, in an NFL stadium. It sounds great to think you'll have 50,000 Crew fans all chanting together. In reality, it would be discordant at best and more likely a similar atmosphere as an NFL game where noise is piped in through speakers. In a word: inorganic.
I'm sure there will be PSLs for that stadium too. Not sure how you reconcile STM with the Browns PSL holders. I imagine you just don't include that game in the STM
Yes, and if that's the plan then any games up there will effectively be neutral site or away matches since most Browns fans will sell their tickets to whomever is buying rather than to Crew fans. And stripping out premium games strips out the value of a STM. It would be like OSU trying to sell ticket packages that only include Akron, UAB, Rutgers, and Northwestern while excluding Michigan and Texas tickets.
Relax. If they put some random Crew game there, they will be lucky to get 5k people to show up, Crew fans will rightly raise holy hell, and it will never happen again. If they put some cash grab friendly against Real Madrid there, who cares? If they put a Messi game there, they might get 30k people to show up, Crew fans will raise holy hell, and it will never happen again. I totally agree that it should never happen for the reasons you stated. I just think people are working themselves into a tizzy over nothing. They were showing numerous different events that could be hosted in a new stadium, soccer being one of them.
Hang on a second. Didn't the Ohio legislature just pass an overreaching law saying that pro teams in Ohio have to play on natural grass? How do they expect to play on natural grass in that stadium? Is there supposed to be enough sunlight through the transparent roof to allow grass to grow on the field?
Doubtful. I don't think they'd bother putting a Crew game in Cleveland if they hadn't looked into it first and found there was enough interest in it to make it worthwhile. And I doubt a Messi game would have a hard time selling. I DO agree that they're showcasing the idea that a soccer game would work there as well. If the owner of a soccer team is building a big stadium, it would be stupid to NOT make it amenable to soccer, as it opens up the opportunity to host USMNT and USWNT matches down the road.
Just listened to Speakeasy…sounds like Arace is about to blow the whistle on the whole thing. FINALLY.
Have you seen Tottenham and Madrid stadiums? Who needs the sun And it was only introduced. It's not a law. They don't come back til November 18.
So how many years before this thing theoretically is built? Ownership, and MLS more broadly has this Messi hard-on and, for reasons unknown, think that there always will be MLS matches the routinely sell 40, 50, 60k seats. Uh-huh. Messi is on the brink of retirement, after which that bubble pops. Hell, it’s got quite a few leaks already since he misses so many matches. As others have said, if they want to play a big name Euro club in an exhibition match up there, fine. But if they steal meaningful matches from Columbus, they can go ******** themselves. Bad enough if they’d do so by leaving those matches off of the Crew season ticket package. But if you sell a Crew fan a full season package, add a little fine print, then relocate a big game to Cleveland, you’re really, truly, ********ing over your fan base.
The stadium has to be built by 2028 as the lease expires, and there are structural concerns that all parties acknowledge. In the Speakeasy, Mac Kay said the Crew confirmed to her they would not move any leagues cups games to Cleveland.
This is one of the most asinine moves in sports ownership history. All the goodwill and support that the Haskins/Edwards have built up is about to go out the window, and for what? You’re making money! You’re selling tickets and apparel like hot cakes..who told them this was a good idea?
Calm the eff down. You're freaking out like they're going to start playing half the season up there. You don't even know what they're planning yet. The 20,000 people in this town who love soccer aren't going to stop loving it because one or two matches go north. Can we just wait, just once, to find out what's actually going to happen before freaking out about something that may or may not happen that we don't have any details on?
They mark up ticket prices for next season and then possibly move one of the games two hours north. No. I’m not gonna calm down.