It’s safe to say that over the last two weeks, the news of Crew investor-operator Anthony Precourt considering moving the team to Austin, Texas after the 2018 season has been discussed in soccer circles across the country.

Crew SC isn’t among the list of “big” Major League Soccer teams from a national perspective, but is regularly associated with the United States men’s national team and the 22-year-history of MLS.

Fox Sports’ Rob Stone, the network’s lead studio host for soccer, college football and college basketball, was in Columbus over the weekend for Ohio State’s game Saturday against Penn State, but he was kind enough to sit with The Dispatch for a few minutes Friday to discuss the Crew’s latest news, what it means for the future of the club and what it means for the league as a whole.

Columbus Dispatch: What were your initial thoughts on the news early last week of the Crew’s potential move to Austin?

Rob Stone: I’ve spent a ton of time in Columbus. My dad grew up in Upper Arlington, my aunt still lives here, so I’ve been coming to Columbus since I was a little kid. I have a decent feel for the area and I’ve always held kind of a soft spot in my heart for the Crew and what they represent. Not just to MLS, but I think really to the American soccer scene as a whole. I’ve always loved the underdog, I’ve always loved the little engine that could and that’s what the Crew have always been. When MLS announced their first cities, Columbus was always that one where you went, ‘Huh. OK, great!’ Nothing made sense, but they built themselves up into one of the iconic logos of the guys in the hardhats and the mantra of the “Hardest working team in America” and we bought into it and loved it and then all of a sudden with their backs against the wall, they built a soccer stadium. I don’t think that gets enough attention these days because back then that was pie in the sky type stuff and now it’s deemed mandatory for everybody.

I feel like when they built that stadium, it was out of necessity, but they always knew it was a stopgap measure. Nobody wants to be at the fairgrounds long-term for anything in life. Right? I don’t want to be at a fairgrounds for a Saturday eating bad deep-fried food with my kids. I don’t want that. I don’t want a professional team there. When you’re nearer to a Lowe’s and a Big Boy than you are to an actual bar or tavern, you know something’s wrong. And I’m not defending management here, but I think we all knew it was a stopgap measure and that they’ve outgrown it. They outgrew it pretty quickly. So I’m rambling here, but as a national perspective, I think the takeaway is it hurts, it stings because Columbus was a city that we’ve come to count on and we’ve grown to know and love and embrace. What this city has meant to the national soccer picture, to the growth of the sport in this country, you could make a case that no city has had a bigger impact in the last two decades than Columbus, Ohio. Columbus, Ohio. Are you kidding me? Between the first stadium and the host of dos a cero (a series of 2-0 wins in World Cup qualifying for the U.S. national team against Mexico), it became the de facto home of the U.S. national team and to have the threat of it being pulled away hurts you as an American soccer fan and it absolutely stings if you’re here in Columbus and bleed the Black & Gold.

CD: Is it just the suddenness of it that gets at you?

RS: It came out of nowhere, right? I think there was always this thought in the back of our head that it really needs something else, but when it dropped, the timing of it made you kind of recheck your Twitter feed a couple times to say, ‘Am I reading this right?’ And we’re doing it in this fashion and right before the playoffs? But on the flip side, senses are heightened around the playoffs and it has really galvanized this fan base and I hope the business community and I get the sense that a lot of people out there from fans to business leaders to civic and community leaders have said, ‘You know what? We’ve kind of taken this franchise for granted for too long and they do need more TLC and they do deserve more than we had given them.’ And that’s not to cater to an owner who’s wanting things, but I think no matter who the owner was, if you bring in local ownership right now, which would be absolutely ideal, they, too, would say, ‘We need a new stadium. We need a new location.’ I think the messaging, the wording of it got lost because it came very sudden and in-your-face and then with a city (Austin) already attached and then the kind of snake oil of it was in (the) original contract, all of that feels, as an outsider, a little grimy, a little gross, a little dirty, while also giving (Precourt) a little business savvy credit going ahead and doing that.

CD: I think the first reaction for a lot of folks was, ‘On the eve of the playoffs?’ Being a soccer analyst and being around the game, how does that impact a team, something as potentially traumatic as this?

RS: I was really curious (Thursday) night to see how (Gregg) Berhalter and company would handle it because, again, the players know, ‘This is all out of my hands. I’m here to play soccer and get as many minutes as I can and go as deep into the playoffs as I can and win an MLS Cup.’ But it’s clearly on their minds because a lot of these guys are dads and husbands and, ‘Wait, where do I have to move my family? Do I need to look at Austin real estate?’ How does that play when you’re playing and you should be nothing but focused on playing soccer right now? But you could also use at is a wonderful motivating force. I kept coming back to the scenes in ‘Major League’ where the team was playing against that owner (fictional character Rachel Phelps, played by Margaret Whitton) and now it’s kind of like the fan base and the local community is peeling off the parts to the (cardboard cutout) dress and saying, ‘Oh, we got another one!’ The players won’t say it and the management won’t say it, but I think Berhalter’s been able to find an angle to twist it as a motivating factor and to not let the community down. They came in on a roll and they deserved that win against a team that I think a lot of people wanted to see win MLS Cup or make it really deep. If you’re NYCFC right now, you’re like, ‘Shoot. These guys are for real and they’re playing with something under their skin that we can’t harness.’ And oh, by the way, NYCFC might be dealing with the same issues pretty dang soon if they keep getting kicked out of their stadium.

CD: There was talk of NYCFC perhaps playing at Rutgers if the Yankees made the World Series.

RS: Rutgers or Citi Field and then before that they were up in Connecticut, in East Hartford. That’s another angle, but we’ve all seen that coming down the road and that’s stuff scares me for MLS. This worries me. I keep holding out hope that there is a positive outcome to this (Crew situation) that whether it’s local ownership steps up and says, ‘Hey, let’s keep it here’ or the fan base and the community gets to Precourt and reminds him how special this place is and they come to these conclusions and solutions together.

CD: What, then, would you hope to see Tuesday (for Crew SC’s home game against NYCFC), for example?

RS: Sell-out crowd, but not an angry sell-out crowd. A passionate sell-out crowd. I don’t think finger-pointing or name-calling does the Crew any good at this point. They have to realize that as much as the owner is the problem he’s also the solution and come out and bring friends and bring your noise and remind him how special this place is and give him that motivation to say, ‘You know what? As much time as I and my people have spend tending to activities in Austin, I need to be doing the same in Columbus because there is a solution here.’ I don’t know the real estate market here. I don’t know what’s available, not available, but I feel like there is a simpler solution out there than most expect.

CD: When you look at this team and what they’ve done in the last two, two and a half months, what do you think they’ve been able to find that’s changed them in terms of how they’ve been able to play?

RS: I don’t know so much (about) Xs and Os (with the Crew), but watching (Thursday) night, my brain started to get really excited in what I was seeing in goal (with Zack Steffen) and almost witnessing the future or at least a conversation point about the future of the U.S. Men’s National Team in goal. You see it in hockey, you see it in soccer, if you get a hot keeper at the right time of the season in the playoffs, you can ride that personality deep. I think the Crew are saying, ‘We have that guy’ and now that takes so much pressure off the guys in front of him to do other things with their game. It’s amazing that so much comes from a guy that’s using his hands in a game that you’re not supposed to use your hands, but I’ve always felt that there’s that comfort level with the coaches that (a solid keeper) is gonna do it, he’s gonna be like (Tim) Howard vs. Belgium (in the 2014 World Cup).

aerickson@dispatch.com

@AEricksonCD