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Don Garber: FC Cincinnati announcement has ‘no effect’ on Crew future

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Ohio is guaranteed to have an MLS team next season with the introduction of FC Cincinnati, but Don Garber insists that the newly-admitted expansion side will have no impact on the future of the state’s current team.

Cincinnati was introduced as the league’s newest member on Tuesday with the announcement that FC Cincinnati will begin MLS play next season. While FC Cincinnati’s 2019 future is sorted, the Columbus Crew’s is currently up in the air with a proposed move to Austin still looming.

The potential move remains a controversial one as the city of Columbus and Ohio attorney general recently sued MLS and Precourt Sports Ventures as the process remains ongoing.

“It really has no effect on [the Columbus situation] at all,” Garber told ESPN. “We believe in this city. We believe in the state of Ohio.”

“No league ever wants to move a club but we’re going through a process,” Garber added. “There is a lawsuit — we believe, by the way, that’s a lawsuit without merit. You know we’ve met with the city, we’re meeting with the mayor, we’re meeting with the Columbus partnership — we’re going to try and do everything we can to come up with a solution that makes sense for everyone.”

Comments

  1. “Come up with a solution that makes sense for everyone”? What does that mean? The only thing that makes sense is to not kill the Crew. Let’s see if Austin is interested in soccer–prior minor league teams didn’t last there but they have a new team starting in 2019.

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  2. my two cents: crew supporters, serious suggestion: you can become cincy fans. it’s only two hours away. a combination of attending selected home games in cincy and watching the other ones in pubs in columbus and you’re good to go. not sure who let you guys down. what’s your theory?

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  3. These cities are less than 2 hours away from each other. While I think what has been done with Columbus is terrible, I just don’t see 2 teams in Ohio so close together. It doesn’t make sense for the league as a whole.

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  4. Get the Crew to a place where fans will actually show up. I don’t care if that is a new location in Columbus or a new location outside of Columbus, but the support they get now as one of the most attractive teams in the league is pathetic.

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    • 2016 had record sell-outs for Crew Stadium – then Precourt started tanking the team before his announcement.
      .
      In multiple polls done by @EmptySeatsPics 80% of people said that they would not go to games if the owner announced he wanted to relocate the team. People don’t want to give this man any money to buy MLS2ATX scarves and hats (which is where all of Crew marketing money is going right now – no marketing in Columbus at all).
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      The fans are there, and they will return when Precourt sells to local owners. Look at the crowds for SKC before they had vested, local owners who actually cared about the team. That is the path laid out for anyone to use instead of relocation.
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      MLS needs to balance expansion with supporting the teams that got the league to where it is right now, and that is not happening. MLS 1.0 teams are being neglected instead of rising with the tide. Relocation is the lazy way out, destroying history in it’s wake. Respect your R96ts!
      .
      Save The Crew
      Garber OUT!!

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