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Austin City Council approves soccer stadium, clearing way for Crew relocation

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The Austin City Council cleared a major hurdle for Anthony Precourt as he attempts to move the Columbus Crew to Austin, Texas.

The Council voted 7-4 in favor of a term sheet that details a $200 million project to build a 20,000 seat stadium at McKalla Place in North Austin.

The 24-acre site is currently owned by the city, and this vote authorizes the negotiation and eventual execution of agreements on construction, a lease of the land, and the specifics of the venue, slated to be completed for the 2021 MLS season. It’s unclear where the team would play should they move before the stadium is complete.

“Precourt Sports Ventures [PSV] is extremely pleased that Austin City Council has voted to authorize negotiations and execution of agreements with PSV for a privately funded Major League Soccer [MLS] stadium and park at McKalla Place,” Precourt Sports Ventures said in a statement. “We wish to express our gratitude to the Austin City Council for passing today’s momentous resolutions. We thank council for acknowledging the groundswell of support to help bring MLS to Austin.”

This doesn’t mean the Crew are a sure bet to leave Ohio, however. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and the City of Columbus are still suing PSV until the Modell Law, which requires professional sports franchises to provide six months notice and allow local investors the option to purchase the team before it relocates.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther also tweeted his support of keeping the Crew in his city. He touted the history of the franchise as a founding member of MLS and the first to build a soccer specific stadium in the United States.

The Crew, for their part, are keeping things focussed on the remainder of the 2018.

“Precourt Sports Ventures has been clear that identifying and working toward a solution for the sustainability and viability of this Club has not been merely an option or goal, but in fact a necessity to achieve long-term stability and success in Major League Soccer,” a club spokesperson said in a prepared statement. “As we have stated before, normal business operations continue in Columbus for 2018, and Crew SC remains focused on winning an MLS Cup title.”

Comments

  1. While i’m not a fan of any city losing it’s team. I feel this was the only way another team would come to Texas. It sucks for San Antonio who were already low on the list for MLS expansion.
    I will be going to Austin though anytime they host the Dynamo.

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  2. well, it’s almost time for anthony precourt, don garber and the mls board to take that hot poker out of the fire that that they’ve been stoking and #screw_the_crew_!_

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  3. the way that the mls board (via their spokesperson don garber) are going about this is so UNBELIEVABLY BAD.

    they should do something like this. 1)
    the mls franchises are not eternal. they are up for review periodically. for example, maybe every five years. 2) the league needs to make known some standards that all clubs will be held to for franchise renewal. for example, attendance, sponsorship deals, tv contracts, stadium and jersey sponsors deals, etc. (basically, the list of business “metrics” that garber has publicly said that columbus falls short on.)
    3) and the actions that the league will take if any club does not meet franchise renewal requirements. these actions might be: the ownership group loses the franchise and the league will run the club (chivas usa) temporarily until a new owner buys it. or it might be putting the club on “probation” for a fixed/limited amount of time in order to meet the requirements.
    i love mls and they do so many things right in my opinion. i think salary negotiations and dealing with financially underperforming clubs are two areas where mls needs improvement. mls can do right by everyone if they simply put into place clear requirements for club owners to renew their franchises and then being fair about applying the new requirements equally to all clubs.

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  4. see what cincy and phoenix and sac republic are doing? it’s exciting, right? well that’s what i’m sure garber and the mls board want to see in columbus, too. i realize that garber, the mls board and precourt have gone about this in the most appalling, offensive and stupid way possible, HOWEVER i still think that there is a clear pathway for action available to the city of columbus and that is to “rise above” this mess and basically try to replicate the excitement that we are seeing in so many other soccer hotbeds in the usa today. is the fix in? YES. are they getting screwed? YES? but having said that, if i am the
    city of columbus, i’m going to never quit fighting and continue to do everything in our power to keep the crew in columbus.

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  5. i like the way this was done with houston/san jose. the earthquakes name stayed in san jose. the mls franchise moved to houston (kind of like a club trading a dp slot or a foreign player slot to another club). houston branded themselves as the dynamo and started operations as the dynamo. later, san jose got another franchise slot and resumed operations in san jose as the earthquakes. later (a bit of historical revisionism) the houston club was proclaimed to have been a NEW EXPANSION CLUB. in retrospect, the result is (more or less) the same as if the earthquakes had never moved and
    houston was simply a new expansion team. neat and tidy (almost).

    so if the league continues to expand and columbus gets one of those future expansion slots, then i guess it could be like san jose/houston, yes?

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    • i mean what i liked was that the earthquakes name stayed in houston. i think the crew name should stay in columbus.

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    • correction:

      i mean what i liked was that the earthquakes name stayed in san jose. i think the crew name should stay in columbus.

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    • Obviously, PSV Austin shouldn’t have any records, stars (on the jersey), etc.–it would be a new club. MLS (Garber) gave Precourt permission to kill the Crew and start a new franchise. I hope that this will be treated as an expansion and that none of the players/coaches will be forced to move to Austin. I’d expect some to make the move to Europe, some to retire, while others will decide based on who the coach will be.

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    • Considering The Crew already have a stadium and all the infrastructure in place in Columbus, this should be a very different case than SJ/Hou.
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      Sell the team locally, they keep the players, coach, history, and continue on in 2019.
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      Precourt has nothing in place right now to field a team in Austin. No stadium. No temporary stadium. No practice fields. No temporary practice fields. Nothing.
      .
      Let him take his time to get set up. Take the field in 2020, or maybe the year after when he has a stadium.
      .
      Just keep the Crew in Columbus. As-is. Period.

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      • reconstitute crew stadium by eliminating that abysmal massive concert stage and have one continuous lower blow of 16k seating. Then get rid of upper bowl area, and just have suites/enclosed seating that line the entire stadium for another 1.5k seating.

  6. I just realized that even if this wasn’t already grand larceny of a franchise committed in public, for which they will be rewarded rather than jailed, that as my in state rival i will be duty bound to hate them with all of the cells in my body anyway

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    • Sadly for Austin they will be the most hated team in MLS. Precourt is so bad for soccer. He has screwed up three cities by doing nothing right. Columbus, Austin and San Antonio are all worse off due to Precourt.
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      All this traces back to Garber. He was the one who brought Precourt into the league. He was the one who authorized/wrote in the Austin Clause to begin with.
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      Precourt has no business being in MLS, he doesn’t even have the money to back any of this. I’m so done with Garber. He needs to retire.
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      Make your last action a good one Garber. Sell the Crew to local owners!

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