MONDAY RECAP: COMMUNITY UPDATE

Fellow Columbus Crew SC: Welcome to the fourth edition of our Monday Recap. For those of you who missed the first few editions of ‘Monday Recap’, the purpose of this weekly update is to simply post a summary of the recent happenings of the previous week. Today, I will provide some updates from the STC team, as well as outline some articles: Special update from the #SaveTheCrew team, Andrew Ginther’s response letter, Justin Meram’s comments, McKalla Place update, and finally, the game recap!

Save The Crew Update:

1. SaveTheCrew Pens Open Letter to MLS

April 9, #SaveTheCrew releases an open letter to MLS Commissioner Don Garber regarding Columbus Crew SC. With news of a local group ready to purchase the team, and private land available downtown for a new stadium, we reaffirm our commitment and ask MLS to do the same. https://blog.savethecrew.com/2018/04/savethecrew-pens-open-letter-to-mls-regarding-the-future-of-the-columbus-crew-sc/

Columbus Updates:

1. Mayor Andrew Ginther’s Response Letter:

March 16, 2018, Anthony Precourt and the MLS responded to the lawsuit set forth by the Ohio AG, as well as the city of Columbus stating: “If any individual or group of individuals are interested in purchasing the rights to operate Crew SC … then such individual(s) should contact and provide the terms of any such offer and demonstrate their bona fides as a prospective operator of an MLS club.”

About two weeks later, the Columbus mayor has confirmed that the city, as well as the Columbus Partnership have worked together to identify multiple ‘bona fide’ investors as well as several downtown sights. In order to offer a fair value for the team, Andrew Ginter has requested that PSV open his financial records/ books relating to the Columbus Crew. The statement by the Mayor reaffirms that the City believes the Model Law applies, however, he eloquently stated “while we reserve any and all rights and remedies available to us through litigation, we remain open to constructive conversation to keep the Crew SC in Columbus.” (1)

2. Justin Meram Tweet:

As many of us have seen, our old #9 had an interesting quote in a recent ESPN interview stating that “think there are certain markets that are kind of, maybe, holding back MLS,” and “In Columbus, it was Ohio State [first] and I was dying because I’m a Michigan [alumnus], and thank God I’m out of that.” This caused quite the uproar here in Columbus, but, have no fear Crew fans, Justin redeemed himself: “My “thank god” comment was a sarcastic joke about being a Michigan man in Ohio. And I love Columbus & always will. Never spoke bad about the club esp the fans, coaches and my brothers I played with. I just could never support an owner moving the team. One love Cbus #Save The Crew” Love the hashtag, JM9.

3. Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein Takes Action in Lawsuit to Keep The Crew in Columbus

April, 9 Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein filed a motion to toll, or pause, any 6-month time periods under ORC 9.67 to ensure local investors have an opportunity to purchase The Columbus Crew SC Soccer team. http://columbuscityattorney.org/pdf/press/MotionToToll.pdf

Austin Updates:

1. PSV releases further McKalla Place renderings:

PSV has made it clear that it is his desire to build a soccer specific stadium on a piece of land that hosted a chemical processing plant for several decades. The sports venture group has chosen the San Jose Earthquakes ‘Avaya’ Stadium as their primary design. This stadium is planned to be besides two parking garages, along with a mixed use residential area. Parking will be scarce, officials have estimated a new railway system costing an additional $13.1 Million will need to be installed to deal with the parking/ pedestrian issues. (2)

Game Recap:

1-0 LOSS

Very tough game for the team. Zack Steffen gifted a chance to the Fire in the 27’ (unfortunately reminiscent of Steve Clark’s blunder). Columbus came back strong, but, due to some bad luck, we could not equalize. We dominated the game in terms of shots, however, the shooting boots were not on, as we did not even put 10% of the shots on target.

Citations

(1) Ginther, Andrew “Response Letter” 4/6/18

(2) Sanders, Austin Soccer in Austin: Road To Realness, 4/6/2018