Last Thursday, the city council of Austin, Texas, was supposed to vote on a new soccer stadium proposal for the Columbus Crew SC’s relocation to their town.
During the meeting, there were literally hours of heated discussions from residents, lobbyists and council members themselves on whether using the 24-acre track of McKalla Place for a stadium was of best use for the city.
Subsequently, new amendments were added to the proposal and the vote was pushed to a special work session, closed to the public, scheduled for Wednesday morning, starting at 9 a.m.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler, a supporter of the proposal, called some of the amendments “poison pills” and was generally frustrated he couldn’t rush through the process. Without even reading some of the new amendments, Adler said he was ready for a vote right then and there.
For opponents of the stadium proposal, put forth by Columbus Crew owner Anthony Precourt through his ownership group Precourt Sports Ventures (PSV), it wasn’t a matter of soccer, but about the best use of land for the McKalla Place site.
Affordable housing and green space is a huge issue in Austin, and residents told council the vacant parcel could dramatically increase the quality of life for the residents if developed. Three mixed-use plans were presented to council in the last meeting as alternatives to the stadium.
Residents also scoffed at the proposal details, where PSV wouldn’t have to pay property taxes and would lease the city-owned land well below market value.
There were also major concerns about the city entering into a business agreement with PSV, who is currently being sued by the City of Columbus and the State of Ohio under the “Model Law,” which states sports teams can’t relocate if they’ve used public funds for their operation.
Trust is hard to come by when dealing with PSV. Last October, PSV announced it was exploring options to move the Major League Soccer (MLS) team from Columbus to Austin. “Business metrics” were cited as the main concern — PSV wanted a new, downtown stadium, and argued attendance wasn’t enough to make a profit.
It can be argued the relocation was Crew owner Anthony Precourt’s plan from when he first bought the team in July of 2013.
The Crew’s original owner, Lamar Hunt (of NFL notoriety), was a true pioneer of soccer in America and Ohio. He self-financed the first soccer-specific stadium in the United States, Crew Stadium, giving the national team a true home, which lead to the four infamous “dos a cero” (2-0) victories over Mexico at Crew Stadium in World Cup qualifying from 2001-2013.
But none of that seemed to matter to Precourt. The Hunt group, however, was adamant about ensuring that the Crew would stay in Columbus when they sold the team, and mandated a 10-year no-relocation clause in the contract.
PSV countered with an “escape clause,” where PSV could move the team to one, and one city only: Austin.
It was never about business metrics and attendance. Precourt wanted to own an MLS team in Austin, so instead of going through the expansion bid process and paying the $200 million expansion franchise fee to the league, he bought the Crew for $68 million with the plan to relocate, a savings of $132 million.
MLS has been surprisingly complicit with Precourt’s deceit, considering MLS is now driving on the roads the Crew paved. Columbus was the league’s first club, the first to provide a successful business model and it’s the city is our national soccer team calls home.
Commissioner Don Garber approved lobbyists in Austin back in 2016 and has publicly supported the move, despite clear metrics showing Columbus’ sustainability, such as having 40 percent more corporate sponsors than the average MLS team.
Since Precourt has owned the team, the Crew were the only MLS club to go three years with only one designated player. TV deals were reached to exclude half the market and promotions have dropped from 14 in 2014 to 8 in 2017. Attendance has slowly declined as a result. Columbus used to lead the league in attendance and has never been last.
Garber said last week, “We want our stadiums to be downtown,” and “We want local owners.”
Yet Precourt lives in California and McKalla Place is 10 miles from downtown Austin, while Crew Stadium is only 4 from downtown Columbus.
The local “Save the Crew” movement just unveiled plans for a new downtown stadium in Columbus and it has over 10,000 pledges for season tickets for 2019 if PSV sells the club to local ownership.
Since Austin City Council didn’t pass the proposal on Thursday, the league must extend PSV’s deadline, once again, for the team to play in Texas in 2019. If the move were to happen, the team would still need a temporary home while construction was underway, but without a clear plan for a stadium, the relocation would be killed for the foreseeable future.
Beyond the issue of Precourt, the son of an oil billionaire, removing pro soccer from millions of Ohio residents is a personal issue for many Crew fans.
I went to the inaugural Crew game at the Horseshoe in 1996 with my father. I have been a season ticket holder every single year, did the coin flip at a playoff game, attended both MLS Cups the Crew were in, and now, I take my two sons to games.
On Wednesday, I hope Austin City Council looks not only at what is best for its city, but takes into account the ethical issue of stealing entertainment and joy from thousands of people, to service the greedy desires of a billionaire.
Ohioans already lost the Cleveland Browns in 1996. This shouldn’t happen again.
