It was a surreal scene inside the Upper 90 club at Crew Stadium that day in late July, 2013. A surprise press conference that promised significant news for the Crew revealed that, for the first time ever, the team that would later self-describe itself as the first in Major League Soccer had been sold. The Hunt family, without whom the league would certainly no longer exist, was selling the stadium where Lamar Hunt’s statue adorns the south end of the concourse.

In their place was a new face: the previously unknown Anthony Precourt, a San Francisco native from a family that had made its wealth by investing in the energy sector. In short: nobody knew who this dude was, and Clark Hunt said he had initially resisted the thought of selling the team to him.

The publicly stated hope had been to find additional minority investors, not to sell the team. But then…

“It was really all about the person,” Hunt said on July 30, 2013. “It was not something we were looking to do, but once we got to know Anthony Precourt we knew that he was the right type of individual to lead the Crew and be an owner in Major League Soccer.”

The Hunt family had been introduced to Precourt, he said, and minority ownership wasn’t in the cards.

“Anthony came to us and during the summer said … I want to own the whole team and run and operate it,” Hunt said. “We were initially very taken aback by his interest, but after we got to know Anthony we concluded that he was the right guy to lead the Columbus Crew, that he would be a great fit for the city of Columbus, that he would be somebody that would push the team to be successful on the field and ultimately be a great partner for the other investors in major league soccer. Over the last 4-6 weeks we’ve continued those discussions.”

Mayor Michael Coleman was on hand for the event, and he lauded the new owner as well.

“Anthony, you are now officially a part of the city of Columbus,” he said. “You will come to love this great city as much as I do and many others do. We’re delighted to have you here.”

Of note: current Columbus mayor Anthony Ginther was part of a special delegation sent by the Crew to Kansas City later that summer to see what kind of situation Sporting Kansas City was enjoying. The trip had actually been scheduled by team president Mark McCullers under Hunt’s watch, but it left an impression on Ginther.

When I asked him what he took away from the experience, Ginther, then the Columbus City Council president, said, v“Three things (from the trip) came out for me: opportunity, opportunity and opportunity. It really helped open my eyes to all of the economic development opportunities that you can leverage with a professional sports franchise that has a commitment from corporate Columbus as well as government and community leaders. Nothing disparaging about Kansas City, but if they can do this we certainly should be able to leverage the same type of economic development opportunities that they’ve been able to realize here in Columbus.”

That made my story. This quote from Ginther didn’t.

“Anthony Precourt is very interested in helping move the franchise forward and help the team be more successful on all fronts here in Columbus and he is very, very committed to Columbus,” Ginther said. “Both the mayor and I had very direct conversations with him. It’s an opportunity for us to really take advantage, embrace the change that new ownership brings and try to take the franchise and the commitment from corporate and government leaders to a new level in supporting the Crew and helping them be successful.”

On the day of his unveiling, Precourt described himself as having grown up in Denver, gone to high school in Connecticut, college in Los Angeles, business school in New Hampshire and worked in Texas before moving to the Bay Area.

“But I’m here in Columbus today because we saw a fantastic opportunity to get involved with Major League Soccer and with a club that’s got tremendous history and great success on the field and a culture that we were really attracted to – consistency, the familiar, family-like atmosphere,” he said during the press conference. “The Hunts have been great stewards and that’s the kind of opportunity we were looking for.

“I do live in Northern California now and do intend to be here on a regular basis. We do not intend to be absentee owners. I’m not sure we’ll be moving here full-time but I’ll be here very, very regularly and have a second home here.”

Precourt was asked if he knew anything of Columbus. As he gave an answer involving “The Ohio State University,” the state capital and importance in presidential elections, Coleman chimed in with a very mayoral, “The first thing you’ve got to learn, which you’re learning right now, is it’s the best place in the nation to live, work or raise a family.” He delivered it with a gleam in his eye and the perfect grin.

After the smiling and posing was complete, I got Precourt for a brief moment or two on the outdoor patio for two quick one-on-one questions. And when I asked him if there was any language in the deal binding him and/or the club to Columbus, he acted offended and gave a curt reply, repeating what he said publicly about being committed to the city.

What a day.

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy

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