“Lots of rumors swirling involving the Columbus Crew including Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam as a possible owner. We expected some kind of statement later today concerning on the ongoing negotiations to save the Crew.”
Hey #SaveTheCrew and @ColumbusCrewSC fans, this tweet that has been circulating is from a fake account. We are looking into the "breaking news" so we can bring you accurate information. Stay tuned!
SavedTheCrew: Deal to Keep Team in Columbus “Largely Done”
Miki Turner on October 12, 2018
It appears to be done.
I’ve received reliable information that, almost a year to the day when Anthony Precourt announced he was exploring the opportunity to relocate the Columbus Crew to Austin, that the Columbus Crew have been saved. Requests for comments from MLS have not yet been returned; the plaintiffs declined to provide a comment at this time.
What I’ve been told is that the deal to keep the team in Columbus is “largely done.” Precourt will be awarded a team in Austin. The Columbus Crew will remain where they are under new ownership. What wasn’t quite clear was how this will be effected. The information I was told is that the Columbus will get an “expansion” team, but will keep their name, players and identity and will play in 2019. Which doesn’t sound like an expansion team, but we’ll have to wait for an update.
Precourt will be sent to Austin having been paid out for his ability to operate the Crew in Columbus. Whether that means he will operate a team in Austin in 2019 is up in the air. As I’ve previously said, Precourt has had issues finding a temporary site, but perhaps that issue has been resolved. The mostly likely outcome is that Precourt waits until a stadium gets built. Reports on who will be purchasing the Crew I cannot confirm.
Now, eagle-eyed readers will note that “largely done” doesn’t mean “official.” Until the signatures are affixed, it’s entirely possible that things fall apart.
A resolution to this case would mark a remarkable -and sudden- end to a situation that captured the imagination of American soccer in a short period of time. The use of a statute passed by the Ohio legislature to hold up (if not prevent) a potential relocation of a professional sports franchise was unprecedented. It led to nearly six months of litigation, where the plaintiffs fought to keep the team, while the fans mounted an impressive campaign to spread awareness.
Yet behind that, there has always been uneasiness with the relocation, even in Austin. Local politicians were initially lukewarm to the move, and it was difficult to secure a location to move the team, in addition to coming to an agreement on where to play. Even now, that situation is unsettled.
But that aside, this is ultimately about the Columbus Crew staying where they are. A formal announcement could come at any time today, or not at all. What I’ve heard is that this deal has been mostly done for a few days, but as these things go, they’re impossible to keep under wraps. Thus, while an announcement may not originally have been planed for today, the leaks have sped up the timeline. Stay tuned; I’ll have all the information right here.
As a Columbus Crew fan and a Cleveland Browns fan, I feel bad for the Columbus Crew. Surely Haslam knows even less about soccer than he thinks he knows about football (as exhibited by the Browns performance during his ownership). SMH
After 55 years, I'm walking away from this dumpster fire. Good luck to everyone who continues to hang on. You'll need it.
The rumors of Dee and Jimmy Haslam being in serious discussions to buy the Columbus Crew are legitimate, from what I've been told by sources. Details are still being finalized, but a statement is expected to come later this afternoon.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
They lost me whenI was flipping through the channels. looking for something to watch, and heard "This was the single most exciting nil nil match of all time!".
That would be like saying that the OT tie against the Steelers was the best football game of all time. No chance.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
Okay, I'll be the first to say I'm not a soccer fan. Yet I never got the dislike for an NFL owner to have diversified interests in his stock portfolio.
Some fans act like an NFL owner should only own their team, pay 100% attention only to that team and have no other business or sports interest outside that team.
I believe one only has to look at their stock portfolio to see that doesn't hold water. And be honest, Columbus is only a couple of hours from Cleveland. It's not like Haslam would be flying to Europe to see his team play.
I think it's a great thing for Columbus soccer fans if the Haslams are helping them to keep their team in town.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
last time our owner owned a soccer team things didn't turn out well
but good for Columbus soccer fans
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
The fine fans of Aston Villa has no idea what they were getting....
Was funny though. I've been a fan of Villa since Lerner bought them. The fans loved him for the first 4 years or so, but he allowed his first manager to write as many checks as he wanted. By the 5th year, he told him to reign it back a bit, the manager quit, and the team went into a tailspin. Fans hated him ever since, and kept asking things like, "He owns an American Football team, how can he care about us?"
It's crazy how similar the two franchises are. Both are strangely cursed. Fans hated Lerner to the point where he sold the team out of desperation, only to see both teams fare far worse than they did with Lerner. Villa got relegated to second division and the Browns went 1-for-two seasons.
I've been a Columbus resident for many years, a little personal note, the All Amer Quarter horse congress has advertised being here, (for several years) this week or so.
What's that mean, well I said personal note, though I used to go to that "odd" fairgrounds coliseum, built around 1900 to see minor league hockey games, I only remember going to see the rodeo,(^ part of that^) once and soon after I left that building I heard the Browns were headed to Baltimore, for the first time.
And I didn't go to the rodeo, except last year, and left that building, had parked next to the Crew stadium with the big 1996 painted 20 ft high, and within 24 hours I heard the Crew were moving to Austin, and I felt, screw that stupid Rodeo and that 3000 seat arena from 1900. It's bad luck.
I was at one of the first Crew home games vs DC United in 1997, and maybe one of their first playoff series wins vs Tampa Bay in 1998 ish too. The team changed their business format 3 times, the first four years they were big on marketing the game to USA fans, there was a middle time with snickers sponsorship on their jerseys before they changed the name to SC. They've had mixed success, really enjoyed the game +fireworks near the 4th of July Saturdays the past years.
Honestly, Soccer, and the Crew was probably my 2nd favorite sport, next to the Browns, maybe college football, definetly above Basketball, which I don't have a team, and baseball, which I haven't been a fan since they dismantled my favorite team which won it all in 1995, (sorry) But!
When they announced they would move to Aust(spit)
And, having been through the ravens bull crap of, I think the best thing to do was forget I'd ever heard of the soccer and really , question why to follow "any" sport if the teams movement to another city rests only on the whims' of an owner.
So, if they come back/ continue, Good! It'll be nice to have a sport to follow during the summer months here in the Capital City of Ohio.
( They've got one MLS championship, and one US Open cup championship, and at least one supporters shield (best wins in the regular season) if I remember right.)
- They have Steelers' colors. - Their stadium off 71, that I pass all the time, is just a notch above a high school football field.
I'm guessing the organization has financial problems (coupled with wanting a new stadium) which triggered a possible move? Is this correct?
This is the conspiracy theorist in me.... if things don't work out in Columbus, and with the Haslems already researching new stadium options up here, any chance of a Cleveland Crew? Owners would want a consistent revenue stream year round after financing a new stadium. I don't think this is a wild take at all if the situation proves to be unsustainable after a couple of years down in C-Bus.
At DT, context and meaning are a scarecrow kicking at moving goalposts.
They were poised to head to Austin, right? Gonna find those forums to read up on the recent news.
The old owner still has an option for an atx team in 19. I have an ex girlfriend who works for the mayor there, I guess he is very happy about how everything turned out
This should help put to bed the notion that they want to move the Browns out of Cleveland. They sure wouldn't be investing in another Ohio team if that was their intention.
This should help put to bed the notion that they want to move the Browns out of Cleveland. They sure wouldn't be investing in another Ohio team if that was their intention.
Lot's of other things, like them moving to the LAND full time last year. Their daughter and son-in-law moving up.
Sure, they still have a home in Knoxville, but billionaires have several homes all over the country, or world for that matter.
I would if I had several billion. How about you?
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
Arthur Blank owns both the Falcons and AU. He has done a fabulous job. 3 dollar beers at the MLS Cup. They all call him Uncle Arthur here. So, it can be done.
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