The potential move of Columbus Crew SC to Austin, Texas, would not only deprive the Fire of their closest league rival, but it would send a damaging message to supporters of all 22 teams.

MLS is treading in dangerous, self-destructive territory. Much of its success to date has been built on the back of a faux club mentality designed to entice support for an upstart league with no history or community attachment. The league has painstakingly and slowly built up support to the point where it is today. That point is still well below the levels of the least popular of the “big four” professional sports in this country.

The path MLS and Crew owner Anthony Precourt appear to be taking should offend not only supporters of the Columbus Crew, but it should raise some ethical questions for even the most steadfast of MLS defenders.

What the league has enabled Precourt and Precourt Sports Ventures to get away with in terms of underhandedly attempting to woo Austin, Texas, as a potential new home for the Crew undermines everything the league has struggled to build up to this point in its relatively short history. MLS and its single-entity ownership group, represented by commissioner Don Garber, has not only stood by, but encouraged Precourt to exploit that very ownership structure for his own short-term gain at the expense of one the league’s original teams, its fans and potentially the reputation of MLS itself.

As a member of the expansion selection committee named in December of 2016, Precourt had access to information pertaining to “1) Ownership – Structure and financial informations; 2) Stadium – details on proposed site, financing, approvals and support; and 3) Financial Projections, Corporate Support and Soccer Support – a business plan, projections and commitment letters for naming rights and a jersey-front sponsor, along with an overview of support from the soccer community” of every potential expansion applicant hoping to land a future MLS team. Garber included Austin, Texas as a potential future MLS city as early as August of 2016.

The optics here provide for the assumption that Precourt used the knowledge and information made available to him via the committee to surreptitiously plot lining his own pockets via relocating the Crew to Austin and in turn helped that city jump the line for a new MLS team. That may not be an entirely accurate portrayal of what took place, but it is the perception that MLS and Precourt has fostered via their actions and public stance on the matter. The fact that MLS has guided this along may be worse than just Precourt acting on his own to escape from Columbus.

Precourt and Precourt Sports Ventures have done nothing to dissuade anyone from believing that something underhanded took place. Former Fire president and now president of Precourt Sports Ventures Dave Greeley was duped by a hoaxer into an email exchange discussing the potential move, which didn’t help matters.

Questions are being asked of MLS commissioner Don Garber’s motives in a potential Crew move. (Jason Getz/USA Today Sports)

Precourt, who knew full well what he was getting in to when he purchased controlling interest in the Crew from Hunt Sports Group in August of 2013, blamed fans for his duplicity by citing low attendance at Mapfre Stadium and a lack of interest from the city’s corporate community as reasons for exploring the move.

A group looking to keep the Crew in Columbus has also cited a publicly unknown escape clause in the 10-year agreement that MLS and Hunt Sports Group agreed to in 2013. PSV committed to keeping the team put for at least a decade, but the clause allowed him move the team to Austin if he desired. Precourt even took offense to any insinuation he would move the team out of Columbus after buying them in 2013. He claimed then that he was committed to keeping the team in Columbus and even talked about buying a second home in Ohio.

He has since rejected overtures from local groups to purchase the team from him in order to keep one of MLS’ original clubs in their original home. Instead, PSV has pushed for a new stadium to replace the outdated Mapfre Stadium, which was the first soccer specific venue in MLS in 1999, and has essentially blamed fans and sponsors for not supporting them enough. MLS apparently initiated discussions with Austin this summer, according to a spokesman for Austin Mayor Steve Adler. That led to conversations with Precourt about the Crew.

Conveniently, Precourt removed himself from the expansion selection committee at some point this year after being named to it last December. Austin had not submitted a bid for expansion in the most recent race to get into MLS earlier this year, but Garber had them in his sights well before that.

Precourt claims that no decision has been finalized on relocation but his company, PSV launched an “MLS2ATX” website in August. A supposed Austin-based MLS supporters group has posted pro-move comments on social media with a location stamp in Columbus which has since been removed.

A meeting this week between Garber, PSV, Columbus mayor Andrew Ginther and a local business group ended with both sides issuing press statements making their cases for the state of the situation. PSV came away stating, “We were extremely disappointed that no concrete offer or proposal was presented and then told by the City of Columbus that it would not communicate with us past today.”

The City of Columbus countered with, “‘We are disappointed and frustrated. We were united in putting all options on the table, with the expectation in return that the MLS and ownership would cease pursuing moving the team to Austin. Great American cities do not get into bidding wars over sports teams to benefit private owners. Garber and Precourt were not willing to do that today.”

Austin’s mayor has also stated he’s not looking to foot the bill for a new stadium for the Crew either. Garber and MLS’ knowing approval to carry on discussions with Austin with no stadium deal in place speaks to two possibilities. Either Garber and MLS have a completely privately funded, Austin-based stadium plan in their back pockets or they are using Austin to push Columbus into spending other people’s money for a new Crew SC home in Ohio. As of this moment, PSV has reportedly come to an agreement with the University of Texas at Austin to use their facilities in 2019 for soccer. That is a far cry from Garber’s previous proclamation that a soccer-specific stadium was a necessity in order to secure an expansion team. Never mind that those words were forgotten once already when shoehorning a second team into the New York area.

It would be naive to think of professional sports as anything but a business and MLS certainly shouldn’t be overly vilified for looking out for its monetary interests, but the league isn’t anywhere near remotely close to being in a position where it can dismiss a current market to jump on another. Other leagues are no strangers to shady back-room deals and clandestine moves (see NFL), but MLS would be arrogant to think that it can follow suit so quickly without repercussion.

Soccer fandom and supporter culture is a bit of a different animal than the following built up in baseball, football or basketball. Those fans are still in essence cheering for a “team” and dedicated to those franchises, but soccer has relied heavily on “club” culture and the sense of community. That sense is particularly important in the U.S., where soccer is still fighting for a place in mainstream acceptance and supporters still remain defensive about any perceived slights.

MLS has relied heavily on promoting that “club” culture in building itself into a viable “major” player in this country’s sporting landscape. Their single-entity shenanigans and lack of transparency has led to alienating some U.S. soccer fans while creating another sub-category of soccer conspiracy theorists that would like nothing better than to see the league fail. The tactics taken by the league and PSV in this situation plays into everything there is to dislike about MLS.

Garber and PSV continue to court Austin while attempting to play hard ball with Columbus and it’s not a good look given the process that was taken to get to this point. As commissioner, he deserves much credit for taking the league from the brink of folding in the early 2000s to the point where it is now, but the manner in which this situation is resolved, coupled with a belief in some circles that the league is expanding too quickly will test his legacy.

MLS has survived and begun to flourish under the guise of “club” culture, but that has been nothing more than a facade for building the brand. It’s an unfortunate reality of the business, but it can work without rubbing people’s faces in it. That’s exactly what is being done to Columbus Crew supporters.

In a perfect world, Precourt would sell the Crew to a local group committed to keeping them there and working through small market issues. He could then pursue an expansion team in Austin, which would put him on a level playing surface with other league hopefuls. That would eliminate some of the stench of impropriety created by him serving on the expansion committee. That might also help to calm other potential cities that are rightfully angered about the process. Without a clear and transparent accounting of what has occurred, San Antonio and every other city has every right to question the selection process. MLS has yet to satisfactorily address accusations from Bexar County judge Nelson Wolff that the San Antonio group was misled by MLS in relation to a team in Austin.

MLS and PSV’s actions and comments to date have lifted the curtain on the mirage of “club” culture and threatens to set back everything they have worked so diligently to establish. Moving the Columbus Crew after attempting to strong-arm a municipality into a new stadium isn’t the same situation as contracting the struggling Tampa Bay Mutiny, Miami Fusion or the ill-conceived Chivas USA but it could be an even more damaging decision to the league itself.

The local message in Columbus is build me a stadium or forget your “club”. The broader message to the rest of the league’s supporters is it can happen to you.

MLS isn’t the NFL. When the luster of the new team in town wears off, they won’t have decades and generations of support to fall back on. They’ll have a manufactured “club” community beholden to the next stadium deal or owner’s whim. They’ll be without a World Cup bump next year, thanks to the failings of the U.S. men’s national team and alienating any group of fans shouldn’t be high on their agenda.

The opportunity is there for MLS to get past this with the right tact and decision making. Will it do what’s best for its supporters or continue to perpetuate unwarranted arrogance at the cost of those very same supporters?

(Top photo: Dennis Schneidler/USA TODAY Sports)