Article by Matt Lichtenstadter
Amidst the celebration in Cincinnati that FC Cincinnati would become MLS’ 26th team (though 24th to take the field), a realization this that this expansion club was a more secure franchise for MLS in Ohio than the one that has been in the state capital since the league was founded in 1996. As MLS plans to (at least for now) double its presence in the Buckeye State, there are conceivably more questions to ask about the future of a foundational franchise for the league than an expansion team who is entering the league a year earlier than expected.
Every league at some point goes through relocation controversies, and MLS is dealing with its first major one with the Crew. After reports leaked on the eve of a critical playoff game that Anthony Precourt was planning to the move the Crew to Austin, the controversy has only swelled further. And as MLS presses on with its expansion march to Cincinnati, Nashville and (maybe) Miami, it seems that the Crew are being almost criminally left in the lurch. MAPFRE Stadium is in disrepair. Attendance has plummeted. It appears that Ohio’s current Attorney General and Republican Gubernatorial nominee Mike DeWine has more invested in the Crew’s future than Anthony Precourt does. And all of this obfuscates how the Crew are tied for the lead in the Supporter’s Shield race.
MLS’s treatment of Columbus in this controversy has been rather shameful. The aesthetics of the situation obviously look bad, but when the league and team are being sued by said Attorney General for breaking a law put in place after another Ohio team left the state under controversial circumstances, the Browns, and then expands to another city in the state with nary a whisper of what is going on in Columbus, the whole situation reads terribly for a league that otherwise is doing well. Precourt has made no secret about his desire to move the Crew to Austin; a desire the league is seemingly agreeing with even though there is no concrete stadium plan available in Austin and the main argument for why the Crew can’t gain traction (being second fiddle to Ohio State) is not a problem they’ll escape in Austin. And the idea that Precourt loves Austin so much that he held his bachelor party there isn’t really going over well with the fans in Columbus, and for good reason.
Don Garber was not going to escape Crew questions at the FC Cincinnati gala, especially after earlier in the day, Cincy native son Jason Sobell wore a #SaveTheCrew hat to an event. His answers to those Crew questions weren’t exactly convincing either.
On the subject of a potential Crew vs. FCC rivalry, Garber said: “It’s hard for me to say what I expect, but I will say, that there’s no doubt Columbus and Cincinnati would be great rivals together. But we’ve got work to do to see what our future is in Columbus.” But by every indication, the league isn’t working all that hard to cement a future in Columbus, or not nearly as hard enough as they should.
AG DeWine’s lawsuit is proceeding in Ohio court but will take a long time to sort out. Precourtwill still try to lay the groundwork for an Austin move even though the city isn’t really in love with Precourt’s ideas as much as he seems to be. MLS will continue to march on with its expansion push, even though Crew SC are in limbo and Miami’s stadium malaise continues unabetted.
But amidst the celebrations in Cincinnati for a well deserved promotion for FC Cincinnati, focus still should be on where MLS has been and should be for years to come: Columbus. And with each passing day, and every passing piece of expansion news, the Crew story gets shamelessly shoved aside by a league that should be doing more to protect a foundational piece of its young history, instead of trying to quietly nudge it out the door with an owner who never really planned to stay there in the first place.
No amount of news elsewhere can hide what isn’t happening in Columbus, or the shame that many feel about how a great soccer city is being treated.
