Crew to Austin in 2019..(Maybe)

I had an uneasy feeling about Precourt and his intentions from day 1 of his involvement with the club. As clownish as he seemed at first, he did seem engaged and interested in plugging into the city and personally promoting the club. This season I noticed that he has not been visible at all, I started smelling a rat-like scent around Mapfre.

Let's see how this all plays out. If it's a done deal I will be shattered. I have been a season ticket holder since day 1 and supporting the club, and the sport, is one of my passions.

If this is some sort of Precourt powerplay to squeeze money out of the city, county, and/or local business leaders then there may be ways for it to work. Most of us know that a stadium that is fully financed and/or owned by the city or county will not fly in Columbus(Nationwide Arena debacle). Maybe there are some other creative ways to pull in partial public and/or quasi public financing. This seems unlikely but I will hold out hope.

If the move to Austin is a done deal and was, as some have asserted, Precourt's plan all along, then we have been sCrewed. Will the community and powers to be make a commitment to returning MLS to this city? Could we lure in another struggling club? Losing the Crew is not just a hit for supporters like us, it hurts the city overall. We know that chances are that Columbus will never get a NFL, MLB, or NBA franchise. A city and region the size of Columbus needs amenities, activities, events and major league sports to bring people together. Maybe a total reboot with local ownership happens long-term and we end up better off than we have been with out of town ownership.

This may turn into a really sad day in Cbus.

 

At least leave the name and history; if there is no team in Columbus then MLS should always have a missing star.

 

I'm just going on what I've read on this board over the past couple of years--and we are not casuals or would-bes. It's not the factor of course. But it did have some impact.

 

I think silence would be better. Total silence.

 

A story from the Austin Statesman.

http://www.statesman.com/sports/soc...-barring-stadium-deal/gXduiAnet8xFjLuFuUGWPP/

 

This team has been a cornerstone of the time our son and I have spent together, since the moment he understood what soccer was. I am sorry that he'll have to know this kind of pain.

Small solace to think that AP will one day be roasting in hell next to Walter O'Malley and Art Modell. What a classless, self-serving douche.

 

I just texted my ticket guy:

******** Anthony Precourt, ******** MLS, ******** the playoffs and ******** your seats.

I was at the very first game the Columbus Crew ever played; I will not be at the last.

 

I'm not sure I'd hold onto any hope that someone will be able to convince him to stay or be able to buy the team from him. He paid $68M in 2013. The expansion fee is now $150M and according to forbes the team is only worth slightly more than that. You've got 22 mls teams about to split 6x$150M expansion fee so that's another $40M in Precourt's pocket. So it's going to take an out-of-the-park type offer to get this done. Other than hometown pride, what's in it for someone willing to give up $250M+ to keep them in town? They're still going to get the same stadium situation that isn't getting it done now. I'd give up your false hope and be done with them like they are with us. I'm just thankful tax payers aren't on the hook for another stadium. Ohio has made that mistake too many times already.

 

I wish that I shared your optimism.

I few thoughts, after a generally sleepless night.

I knew all along that the current stadium situation was untenable, that before this 25 year lease was out a negotiation would commence, and that Columbus and the franchise would either get a deal done for a new downtown stadium, or the team would be gone. My naïveté was in believing that that negotiation would actually happen. We'll know more after the press conference, but this appears to be a fait accompli. The preference was always to leave Columbus. We've been had. At least it feels that way now.

For all the bad mouthing of Columbus's stats - attendance, revenue - the fact remains that most of the original franchises from '96 (and we can toss in '98, as well) suffer from a similar malaise. But, of course, KC managed a brilliant re-launch. LA did it right, out of the box, when they built a great stadium several years after Crew Stadium came on-line, and they've been in the top half of MLS attendance figures ever since. After years of misery in RFK, I think even DC might pull it around when heir new stadium is finally built. But Dallas? Colorado? Chicago? New England? (not to mention the franchises that failed completely) Places that either built half-assed stadiums in the burbs or are stuck in perpetual second class stadium situations; they're not that much different from the Crew. We're all languishing in the bottom of the attendance list most years. A club like KC shows that it can be done, older clubs can successfully relaunch. But they can't do it on the cheap. It's nauseating to think we might not even have the chance, after Lamar built the stadium that, one could argue, saved the effing league.

On that last point, having the chance, personally (and I didn't live here when the first stadium vote failed), I'm not convinced that the club and city couldn't work together to get a terrific stadium built downtown. I moved here in 2004, love the place. But it feels almost unrecognizable from the Columbus I moved to 13 years ago. Fastest growing city in the Midwest; a booming local economy (our local economy is now larger than Cleveland's); appearing for years now on all sorts of Top 10 lists; beating out cities like Portland, San Francisco, Denver and (effing) Austin in competitions like Smart Cities. A city with a deserved national reputation for public/private collaboration. Columbus is a city ascendant. Which makes me wonder how the city responds to this. Not saying that losing an MLS franchise knocks us back down to provincial capital status again. Then again, I'm not saying it won't, either.

God, I feel sick to my stomach.

 

You really believe that? After AP himself and numerous others on other social media outlets have repeatedly trashed this venerable institution?

It's like the crazy uncle at the holidays. Either you sit and listen him to all day or you leave the room and everyone snipes at him from the kitchen. AP and his peanut gallery don't put an ounce of credence in what gets said around here, haven't done the entire time.

 

Just so I can accurately picture your text, did you text fvck or did you star it out?

 

Don't forget Don Garber. He's behind this as much as Art Precourt.

 

You know me well enough to answer that yourself.

 

I was not sure if you had changed much in your old age.

 

My point is that it's hard to ignore butts in the seats. A number of folks on this board by their own admission stopped attending games for any one of a number of reasons. Now it's their money and they are free to do what they wish with it. But if you don't buy product X, for whatever reason, then it should come as no surprise that product X might not be available anymore when you do want it. Simple economics.

 

Yes he is. He reportedly sent a letter around to all the owners a month ago giving them the heads up that the Crew waa moving to Austin.

He's a piece of shit.

 

The comments there dont look promising....texas is not a place to public fund a California trust fund baby. After this team moves it will be funny to see how shitty it does.

He sure did play it like we thought he would....he rebranded the team and then say he tried to invest and it didnt work......he only bought the new scoreboard cause it burned down the day he bought the team........its like the stadium knew its fate that day.

 

I'm sorry guys. This is terrible news

 

And The Don puts out his statement as well. Blah blah blah hard to consider move of a team yadda yaddaits what has to be done.

 

the USMNT isn’t going to a World Cup and now this. Am I in hell?

 

You mistake denial for optimism.

 

CSA for Cleveland and is a whole different animal, since it pulls in Akron. Neither Cincinnati nor Columbus see huge population gains when you compare MSA and CSA. Based on current population estimates, Columbus is projected to be the biggest MSA population in the state in the next 20 years or so. But Cleveland will be the biggest CSA for a long, long time.

Not exactly that you asked, I know. I'm just venting to try and hold off sinking into a deep depression.