The Crew would remain in Columbus and use Mapfre Stadium for two years before moving to a new stadium under a proposal to be announced by community leaders Thursday, part of a new ownership plan for the professional soccer franchise.

"Wait until you see the plans going forward on the new facility for the Crew," which will be "more than a stadium" and "more than any of you will have imagined," Franklin County Commissioner Marilyn Brown said during a media briefing Wednesday at Mapfre. She didn't say where the new stadium would be built, but she described it as a large-scale, multi-use complex.

"It's not totally known yet, in terms of the final numbers, but it will be far more than just a field," Brown told The Dispatch after the announcement. "It will have mixed-use included, so it's an economic-development deal that will include apartments, retail along with it. So it will have enormous economic-development benefits."

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Asked about Brown's comments, Columbus Partnership CEO Alex Fischer, who has been instrumental in the negotiations to keep the Crew in Columbus, said that officials will announce "other facility, stadium components" Thursday. The announcement Wednesday was the first of several in the coming weeks that are to "culminate with the sale of the team by the end of the year," Fischer said.

"I think that when the world and the country look at the weekend's news out of Columbus, both this (Mapfre) facility, what's announced (Thursday), and all the progress that we've made, I think we will have turned heads around the world of professional sports, all looking at Columbus," Fischer said Wednesday.

The City Council is to take up legislation Monday on financing the plan, council President Shannon Hardin said. The entire deal must be completed this month to meet a Major League Soccer deadline to allow the Crew and the league to plan for next season, Fischer said.

Asked whether the expedited timeline gave enough opportunity for community input, Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said: "I guess the alternative is to not act and not make a decision, and we all know what will happen then — Mapfre Stadium will be the largest and probably vacant and abandoned property in the community, and I am not going to sit by and let that happen."

The city would contribute up to $50 million toward the deal, including between $20 million and $30 million to "repurpose" Mapfre into a public sports complex. "We're spending public resources, and we're going to be following the lead of the public on what they want to see here," Ginther said. "Whether that ends up being all soccer fields or some sort of mix, we're all ears."

The rest of the city's contribution would be in the form of land and infrastructure for the new stadium, Ginther said. He said the project would be about more than a new stadium, providing jobs with "record minority participation," and "affordable housing."

"Soccer and the stadium are important, but that's not what's most important to me," Ginther said.

The council has scheduled a public hearing about the proposal at 6 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.

"Yes, there are additional details and additional work that needs to be done," said Councilman and Franklin County Auditor-elect Michael Stinziano.

The council demanded "a clear community benefit" to the proposal, and the "Community Sports Park" planned to surround Mapfre fits that bill, Hardin said, benefiting Linden, North Columbus, the University District and Weinland Park. "Really, this is about access and opportunity for young people," he said.

More than 200,000 people live within 3 miles of Mapfre, officials said. The sports park would include indoor community spaces, eight indoor basketball courts, a full-size indoor soccer field, at least six outdoor athletic fields, two Major League Soccer-level practice fields, and additional green space.

The aging steel stadium off Interstate 71 near Hudson Street would become a regional destination for sought-after tournaments and events, Ginther said, calling the envisioned complex a “premier destination for youth sports in Columbus.”

Under the plan, the Crew training facility probably would remain in the village of Obetz, its location since 1997, until the team leaves Mapfre for its new home in two years, Ginther said.

The Crew’s lease at the Obetz facility expires Dec. 31, but a deadline to renew has been extended indefinitely to give the Crew flexibility if it plays the 2019 season in Columbus, said Rod Davisson, administrator and economic development director for the village.



“We’re certainly happy to have them," Davisson said of the Crew. “If they decide to move, we’ll backfill it with something fantastic and keep on chugging.”

Read more | Save the Crew: A timeline of Columbus’ efforts to save its soccer team

An Oct. 12 Major League Soccer announcement signaled that the league was committed to keeping the Crew in Columbus as long as efforts by Cleveland Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam and the Edwards family of Columbus to buy the team continue to progress. Fischer said the ownership group has “made great progress with their negotiations,” and is working to finalize the sale by the end of the year, a deadline stipulated by MLS. A purchase price for the team could be around $150 million, he said.

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That deadline would give the team time to hire a head coach after the departure of Gregg Berhalter. Preseason training begins in February.

Sources have previously told The Dispatch that the most likely purchase scenario involves the Ohio investors buying Columbus' MLS rights from the league, and current Crew operator Precourt Sports Ventures transferring its equity interest in the league to a franchise in Austin, Texas.

Should the deal be finalized and a new stadium developed as a result, work on the community facility announced Wednesday would begin after the stadium is built by Crew SC ownership. That would take an estimated 18 to 24 months. Mapfre is on state fairgrounds land the Crew leases from the state, and the city is talking with state officials about the site. Gov.-elect Mike DeWine is to take part in Thursday's announcement, Fischer said.

"I would argue that no (pro) team has ever been so embedded with the identity of Columbus than the Crew," Ginther said, noting that the team is a charter MLS member with one of the first soccer-specific stadiums.

"This is part of our identity, and that's why we've been so passionate about this team belonging to Columbus.

"And soccer is the sport of the future. It's got a proud past, present, future."

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