re: Columbus Crew possibly moving to Austin, TX if a stadium deal can't be reached

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They didn’t even put a bid in for MLS expansion

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why pay the extortion fee when you can just get someone to move their team to you?

That's so odd all these cities are ponying up big bucks for expansion and new stadium and Austin may circumvent the whole process.
Also, I know Cbus is huge for US soccer, but everytime I watch the Crew the stadium is damn near empty.

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why is it odd?

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Because they never bid for expansion, or really seemed to be on the radar for serious interest.

There is one thing that makes the whole expansion team dynamic interesting in American soccer compared to our other major sports. The fact that well-run soccer clubs can produce their own talent with academies, and the fact that soccer in the United States is nowhere close to meeting its development potential. There are massive areas of the country that don't have fully professional teams, and that will remain the case for some time.

The MLB (or any other league) could declare tomorrow that they plan to expand to have 40 top-league, professional teams by 2030, and we would all justifiably think that would be incredibly stupid. There aren't magically enough MLB-caliber players to fill out the rosters for 10 more teams without suffering a massive dilution in quality.

However, with soccer in America, the leagues have steadily improved, despite mostly experiencing a net addition in the number of teams. This is because soccer is so underdeveloped still in this country, and there were massive markets like Atlanta not being tapped into even 5 years ago. I think we can expect to see more and more professional teams established in the country over the coming decades to the point where we have several dozen of them and some system of partial or full promotion and relegation becomes implemented. There is a hunger for local professional soccer in this country that won't be satisfied for a long time. That doesn't really apply for the other sports. I'm not gonna make the 4-hour trip to Houston to watch the Dynamo play, but you better believe I would support a pro team in South Louisiana.

Link to MLS Article: MLS Article

Columbus Crew SC owner Anthony Precourt announced on Tuesday that the club is looking at strategic options to ensure the long-term viability of the club, including a new stadium in Columbus or a potential move to the city of Austin, Texas. 

Precourt Sports Ventures (PSV) acquired Crew SC in July 2013 from Hunt Sports Group, the original owners of the club since its founding as an MLS charter club in 1996.

While there's been an uptick in season tickets and corporate partnerships since Precourt assumed control of the club, Crew SC still rank near the bottom of the league in both areas and in a Tuesday statement PSV cited a "growing disparity in attendance and corporate support compared to its MLS peers and other midsize markets, such as Kansas City, Orlando, Portland and Salt Lake City."

Precourt Sports Ventures indicated that the group has been in communication with city and community leaders in Columbus regarding its concerns since early 2016. Last October the club also hired a firm to look at the feasibility of a new stadium in Columbus.

“Despite our investments and efforts, the current course is not sustainable,” Precourt said in the statement. “This club has ambition to be a standard bearer in MLS, therefore we have no choice but to expand and explore all of our options. This includes a possible move to Austin, which is the largest metropolitan area in North America without a major league sports franchise. Soccer is the world’s game, and with Austin’s growing presence as an international city, combined with its strong multicultural foundation, MLS in Austin could be an ideal fit.”


“As attendance League-wide continues to grow on a record-setting pace, and markets across the country seek to join MLS, Columbus’ situation is particularly concerning,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said. “Despite PSV’s significant investments and improvements on and off the field, Columbus Crew SC is near the bottom of the League in all business metrics and the club’s stadium is no longer competitive with other venues across MLS. The league is very reluctant to allow teams to relocate, but based on these factors, we support PSV’s efforts to explore options outside of Columbus, including Austin, provided they find a suitable stadium location.”

In stressing the "paramount importance" of the stadium site, Precourt also made it clear in the statement that "private funding will be key in any stadium solution."

It's worth noting that team relocation isn't just limited to MLS within the American soccer pyramid. This is simply the most high-profile case since San Jose in 2005, and a lot of current MLS fans don't even know about that.

The team we now know as Orlando City actually began when the aforementioned Austin Aztex moved to Florida in 2010. Technically, the older Orlando City franchise from the USL dissolved, but it's basically the same club for all intents and purposes.

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Just so we’re clear, this kind of thing could still happen in an open system without franchises. (Especially in relocation-mad America.)

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Yes in theory but then you are also supposed to start over in the football pyramid

I consider myself a big MLS guy, but this really sours me on the league if this goes through. I hate everything about the way we do soccer in America, and this is a manifestation of our values. I find it repulsive, personally. But I’m sure that for most Americans, this is acceptable. I’m the outlier, I guess.

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why is it odd? it happens in other American sports all the time, and MLS has gone out of their way to make it clear they want to be like those leagues, not traditional soccer leagues in other countries.

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Which is shittty bc it’s a game of clubs

The closest thing we have to that in America is college

College Atheltics don’t just up and move. Just like soccer clubs they are a part of the community and it’s culture.

MLS is some bullshite if this happens, letting the first team named in the league to move all bc the owner wants a new ground and doesn’t want to pay for.

Tax payers should not be subsidizing billionaires