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It seems everyone wants to leave Ohio these days. Whether it’s LeBron James leaving for Los Angeles or Urban Meyer facing trouble at Ohio State, sports in the Buckeye State are having a rough go of it recently. So Wednesday’s vote down in Austin, Texas, just piles on the bad news for fans of the Columbus Crew.
Columbus Crew owner and most-hated man in the city Anthony Precourt, along with his Precourt Sports Ventures, scored a major victory on Wednesday when the Austin City Council voted 7-4 to approve a term sheet for a stadium to be built in North Austin. The $200 million, 20,000-seat venue will be built at McKalla Place, which is owned by the city.
But Ohio politicians immediately jumped in to declare the fight is not yet over.
Columbus mayor Andrew Ginther sent out a Trumpian level of tweets on Wednesday, calling out Precourt and Major League Soccer for conspiring to take the Crew out of Columbus.
Major League Soccer chose Columbus as the home of the Crew SC. We were the first city in the U.S. to build a soccer-specific stadium that hosted hundreds of games and international soccer competitions. 1/5 pic.twitter.com/CzF3rRJnqW
— Mayor Andrew Ginther (@MayorGinther) August 15, 2018
2/5 When MLS and PSV indicated they wanted a downtown sports stadium, we entered into negotiations in good faith, rallying private investors and public support – including commitments for 10,000 season ticket holders for 2019 - to develop a comprehensive stadium plan.
— Mayor Andrew Ginther (@MayorGinther) August 15, 2018
3/5 Unfortunately, MLS and PSV have not operated with the same intentions. The McKalla Place site proposal in Austin, for example, sits more than 10 miles from the city’s center – three times the distance between the Columbus Crew’s current stadium and downtown.
— Mayor Andrew Ginther (@MayorGinther) August 15, 2018
4/5 Clearly, the decision to move Crew SC to Austin was made long before today’s vote in Texas, with no consideration to the history of the team or the integrity of soccer in the U.S.
— Mayor Andrew Ginther (@MayorGinther) August 15, 2018
5/5
We will continue our fight to keep the Crew where it belongs – in Columbus. #glorytocolumbus— Mayor Andrew Ginther (@MayorGinther) August 15, 2018
In addition to Ginther’s Twitter storm, Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine noted the state still has an ace up its sleeve.
By Ohio law, a sports team must provide six months notice before relocation to allow local investors the ability to acquire the team and keep it in town.
Precourt Sports Ventures and @MLS still have an obligation under Ohio law to provide notice and a reasonable opportunity for local investors to purchase the rights to keep the Crew in Columbus. Our lawsuit will continue. #SaveTheCrew
— Ohio AG Mike DeWine (@OhioAG) August 15, 2018
Will it be enough to #SaveTheCrew? At this point, it’s hard to tell.
Momentum is building for Precourt with Wednesday’s vote. While the Austin location isn’t exactly ideal, a new stadium would draw plenty of fans — at least for a while. There’s only one pro team people in Austin really care about, and that’s the Texas Longhorns, the Arsenal of the college football world.
There was hope Mark Wahlberg might take over the Columbus Crew after opening up a car dealership in town recently, but reports suggest he was merely pandering to local media.
Maybe LeBron James can step in to buy the team. Sure he’s an Akron boy, but he loves Ohio State and probably likes Columbus more than Cleveland. Plus, he’s clearly got a charitable side to him, opening a school in Akron recently because the government has failed to provide quality schools for young people in the area.
Better yet, maybe Precourt can just sell the team to The18. We prefer green over yellow, but we're willing to offer a fair price of one superstar match-predicting chameleon for the club. So Anthony, how about it?
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