On March 11, MLS commissioner Don Garber was in Austin, Texas, to participate in a South by Southwest panel discussion moderated by Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl. That day, Garber told the Austin American-Statesman:

It (Austin) is a special place, and in many ways, it mirrors the dynamic of MLS. … Austin would be a good MLS market.

On Oct. 17, Crew owner Anthony Precourt announced he was exploring a franchise move to Austin. And Garber issued a statement which began:

As attendance leaguewide continues to grow on a record-setting pace, and markets across the country seek to join MLS, Columbus’ situation is particularly concerning.

One day, Garber just happens to be in Austin, talking about what a great market Austin is, and 220 days later, there is suddenly a team available to move to Austin. Surely, this is a coincidence. It has to be.

During those 220 days, it appears that Precourt’s people spent their time squeezing local sponsors, cutting back on marketing efforts (which were lacking to begin with) and keeping city leaders in the dark. And Precourt was nowhere to be seen in the 614.

Surely, all of this came as a surprise to the 77 people who work in the league office on Fifth Avenue in New York, and to the other 21 league owners and their staffs, who number in the scores of hundreds. Precourt’s announcement must have shaken them to their boots.

On Black (no Gold) Tuesday, Garber did his job and backed Precourt with all that pap about how Columbus is a mess. What is Garber supposed to say? Columbus is a better market than Dallas and Houston?

Surely, FC Dallas owner Clark Hunt cares about family’s legacy. Doesn’t he? Surely, there is someone in MLS in possession of a moral compass that doesn’t point south. Isn’t there?

The league cannot be complicit in this subterfuge. No way. We’re talking about soccer. All over the world, local clubs are bonded to their communities and the relationship is nigh sacred. It’s what they sell.

The Crew is the first chartered team in MLS, the offspring of league founder Lamar Hunt, the man who made Columbus the cradle of the American game. The Crew has supporters and sponsors and Crew Juniors who are older than half the teams in the league.

They have for parts of three decades invested their time, sweat and money into this community trust. They did it Tuesday night, when ticket holders waited hours to be frisked at the gates, and the crowd size looked to be shorted, perhaps by as many as 2,000, presumably for business reasons.

These faithful have kept the local soccer shop running for 22 years — or since MLS looked like the next XFL. Now, the metrics are not good enough? Garber will not stand for this, not as a man of integrity.

The fans see that what Precourt is doing is the equivalent of a two-footed, studs-up tackle. #SaveTheCrew flags are flying from coast to coast. Here in Columbus, folks have figured out that Precourt bought their team to move it, and they are screaming for Garber to blow down the play and show a card. This has to be a red, no?

Go to video review, for McBride’s sake. Garber has to know Columbus studied sites for a potential downtown stadium, and that local investors have offered to buy all or half of the team, and that the half-price was about equal to the full price Precourt paid. He has to know Columbus is ready to do the right thing. He has to pull the knife out of the city’s back.

Garber may love Austin as much as Precourt does, but does he want this blood on his hands? Does he want Precourt — who was a walking conflict of interest as a member of the MLS expansion committee — scuttling San Antonio and burying what is arguably the most important city in the history of the sport in this country?

There is no way the league is complicit in this fiasco. No way. It’d be a joke.

marace@dispatch.com

@MichaelArace1