Columbus Crew SC was a picture of Major League Soccer success on Tuesday – but it was far from the full picture.

Zoom out on Crew SC's 4-1 MLS Cup playoff dismantling of big-money New York City FC, and the 14,000-some fans bunched in areas within view of the ESPN TV cameras.

What you'd see – what's actually happening to this charter member of MLS – is an American soccer empire possibly on the verge of being dismantled.

Hanging over the league's anticipated playoffs and the daily ebbs and flows to the stretch run of an intriguing, years-long MLS expansion race is the recent announcement that Crew SC has threatened a move to Austin, Texas.

Citing a struggling business and an aging stadium, Crew SC owner Anthony Precourt of Precourt Sports Ventures said he's exploring a relocation to Austin if he can't reach a deal for a new soccer venue in downtown Columbus.

Soccer fans around the country, and particularly in Ohio, are fighting the proposed relocation.

Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther is helping lead the fight against relocation along with business leaders in the city, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich has offered to join the conversation, too.

At a time when civic leaders and business magnates around America are fighting for the right to pay MLS $150 million to join the league, Precourt's power play has brought the league's business practices under scrutiny.

The situation has been described as a blight on MLS, a league that projects success on numerous fronts.

It also holds implications for the ongoing 12-organization expansion race, and Futbol Club Cincinnati especially.

“These things are traumatic,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in public remarks Oct. 25. “I respect and I understand that. No league, and certainly no leader of a league, wants to move a club... There are times when you make these traumatic decisions, that long-term, can be beneficial for the sport and the league overall.”

Garber, who was speaking at a Yahoo Finance's All Market Summit, emphasized that a final decision to move to Austin hasn't been made.

The San Antonio Express-News reported Monday Bexar County (Texas) Judge Nelson Wolff requested a district attorney there investigate whether any laws were violated by MLS, which reportedly advised county officials in 2015 to build a since-constructed soccer stadium for the purpose of expansion – two years after Precourt secured a legal right to move Crew SC to Austin in his purchase of the club.

ESPN soccer columnist Jeff Carlisle characterized the Crew SC situation as a public relations disaster.

"It's not fatal, but it's a blemish on the league," Carlisle told The Enquirer.

There are no absolutes in the Columbus situation, but stadium infrastructure has been the focus of a significant part of the discussion.

Within that discussion, there are takeaways for both current MLS organizations and aspiring ones like FC Cincinnati.

It's also a signal that MLS will consider franchise relocation, and that no markets are immune to facing up to the consequences of their financial shortfalls.

Crew SC's current venue, the revered Mapfre Stadium, holds a place in American soccer lure as the first-ever soccer-specific stadium on these shores. Known throughout most of its existence as Crew Stadium, it served as a fortress for trophy-winning Crew teams as well as the U.S. men's and women's national teams.

It was an industry standard and, at the time opened in 1999, pushed the American soccer community's ideas of what was possible.

But amenities haven't aged well and its location, according to some, has proved problematic. Situated on a corner of the Ohio State Fairgrounds, Mapfre Stadium is miles from downtown Columbus, although it's mere blocks away from a community of local residents and off-campus Ohio State University housing.

And while MLS has long sought a certain aesthetic with its stadiums, Crew SC now seems to lack both the stadium location and the much of the aesthetic.

“There’s a real recognition that because of what soccer represents and the type of people it attracts – the diversity that it attracts and the excitement – from a business perspective, having it be part of a destination and all the urban redevelopment that happens in places, that can be something that is incredibly beneficial," FOX Soccer analyst Alexi Lalas told The Enquirer. "I think even the staunchest Columbus Crew supporter would recognize that, from a business perspective, there are challenges… If a team were to stay in Columbus, things would need to improve.”

FC Cincinnati, a perceived frontrunner in MLS expansion, could be affected by a would-be Crew SC move more than most as the two clubs have overlapping soccer ecosystems.

The prevailing wisdom is that Cincinnati takes a net gain from a would-be Crew SC move to Austin.

Carlisle and Lalas agree on that.

"You certainly don’t want to gloat or celebrate someone else’s misery, and that’s really what it is in Columbus, but if you look at it from a detached and practical standpoint, I think that this is an opportunity for Cincinnati," Lalas said, "and in the grand scheme of things probably bolsters their bid."

The other line of thinking is that FC Cincinnati's MLS expansion bid could suffer because the clubs were already successfully playing off each other, but wouldn't be able to if Crew SC moved.

The clubs christened the "Hell is Real" derby with their first-ever meeting this past summer in a memorable U.S. Open Cup match.

An intense rivalry was instantly born. FC Cincinnati upset Crew SC in an open, entertaining match and fans of both teams thronged at the University of Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium.

Plenty of observers and pundits thought the rivalry could be mutually beneficial and translate well to MLS.

A move to Austin means the rivalry might never be realized, but that shouldn't be a determining factor in Cincinnati's MLS push, Carlisle said.

“I think it’s a consideration,” Carlisle said of the potential loss of the rivalry. “I don’t think it makes Cincinnati’s bid any less attractive. I think if the Crew move, it doesn’t change the fact that FC Cincinnati is drawing incredibly well and shown just fantastic support of the game, and that there’s a real appetite for the game in Cincinnati."