Well it's been an interesting Tuesday in MLS news. So word was leaked last night that the Columbus owner (Anthony Precourt) was exploring the ideas of either trying to get a downtown stadium or moving the entire team to Austin, TX after the 2018 season. Apparently when he bought the team from the Hunts in 2014 he signed into the contract to not move the team for 10 years EXCEPT for an "escape clause" put in that would allow him to move to Austin earlier than that if he wanted. This alone is insane: how can you have a don't move clause that specifically can be voided by moving the team?With their hand forced, the club/owner then released this statement:

MLS is experiencing unprecedented growth. Our league peers are improving on and off the field year over year. Precourt Sports Ventures has spent the last 4 ½ years committed to elevating the Columbus Crew SC into one of the top clubs in MLS, both on and off the field.That’s been our vision since we purchased the club in July of 2013. We’ve demonstrated our commitment to being successful in Columbus. Making significant improvements to stadium infrastructure, training facility infrastructure, a team re-branding effort, resetting our front office and soccer operations leadership and getting the three Designated Players for the first time in club history. Proudly I can state, we have qualified for the MLS playoffs three out of four years, we won an Eastern Conference Championship in 2015 and hosted the MLS Cup, coming up a goal short. Despite all the efforts to move the needle with success, our business is struggling to keep pace with the rising standards of Major League Soccer. The club,historically and presently, has challenges with matchday attendance. With growing our season ticket base. With demand for corporate sponsorships and with relevance.The stadium and site are challenges in Columbus. There’s a growing disparity in attendance and corporate support in comparing Crew SC with its MLS peers and with other MLS markets such as Kansas City, Orlando, Portland and Salt Lake City. Despite increased efforts in investments, our current course is not sustainable. With this in mind, Precourt Sports Ventures has decided it must begin exploring strategic alternatives to secure the long-term viability of the club. These options will include remaining in Columbus in a new, privately-financed stadium in a new downtown location or potentially relocating the club to the city of Austin, Texas. The key takeaway is that Precourt Sports Ventures has strong ambition as a club to be a standard bearer in MLS. Our central goal is to be celebrated, to operate a vibrant and sustainable business that creates the resources to have a successful soccer team that is positioned to win trophies year in and year out. We need to have confidence in the marketplace in order to feel comfortable building a new world class, state of the art, soccer-specific stadium. So we have no choice but to proceed with exploring our options. No course of action is yet set in stone. I also want to clarify some of the misrepresentations that have been made over the last 12 hours. This is just an announcement that we are exploring our options. No relocation decision has been made. We are not asking for public tax dollars and we are not asking either city to build a stadium for us. Any conversations we’ve had in Columbus with potential investors center around a new, privately-funded stadium in the downtown area. No investor in Columbus presented a serious offer to invest in the club while the team plays at MAPFRE Stadium. Not for 100 percent, not for 50 percent, not for any percentage. To say that a deal has been made to host games at UT Austin is also premature.

The mayor and others in Columbus have disputed the idea that no local financial support has presented itself. They say that local businesses have offered to buy the club from Precourt. On top of all this, season ticket renewals just happened and now fans are being told they cannot get refunds. Oh yeah, and Columbus still is trying to finish a pretty good season that is seeing them in the playoffs again.

So what is MLS' stance on this? Here is Garber's statement today:

"As attendance League-wide continues to grow on a record-setting pace, and markets across the country seek to join MLS, Columbus’ situation is particularly concerning," MLS Commissioner Don Garber said. "Despite PSV’s significant investments and improvements on and off the field, Columbus Crew SC is near the bottom of the League in all business metrics and the club’s stadium is no longer competitive with other venues across MLS. The league is very reluctant to allow teams to relocate, but based on these factors, we support PSV’s efforts to explore options outside of Columbus, including Austin, provided they find a suitable stadium location."

So it looks like the league is just going to cave and let Precourt do what he wants. This is just completely ridiculous. Precourt oversaw poor marketing, poor TV contract, and a lack of spending (on players, facilities, etc). Not to mention the worst MLS kits in history. And he gets what he seems to have always wanted: a move to Austin, while blaming it on the fans for not showing up. OH yeah, he has already registered the MLS2ATX domain names. He doesn't want a new stadium in Columbus, seems VERY likely that he bought the team in 2014 with the intention of moving it to Austin, despite paying lip service to fans for years that they were overreacting everytime they questioned whether he would move the team.

Check out more at the massivereport.com:

https://www.massivereport.com/2017/10/17/16490844/transcript-crew-sc-columbus-relocation-anthony-precourt-press-conference-austin-texas-soccer-mls

In the meantime I hope TA has something good planned for this. I know our game against Vancouver is a big deal this weekend, but I personally think this trumps the game and traditional end of the regular season traditions. We need to all stand in solidarity with the Crew and their fans (even the ones who threw beers at our players). They don't deserve this.