My lingering question, if not already addressed, if Austin gets Precourt’s crew, and Columbus keeps the crew...what happens to the players? Do they go to Austin or are they with the new Crew?
The current Crew team and players will stay in Columbus and play there in 2019. Once Precourt has a deal done in Austin and gets his stadium built, they will get an expansion team. MLS is calling the Columbus team the expansion team for their own reasons but the players, history, colors, etc are staying up here.
Correct, it would be a transfer of the Crew to the Browns' owner and Precourt getting an expansion team in Austin.
So, to make sure I followed you correctly, “they” is referred to as Austin, and they will simply be a brand new ownership/club whereas the new Crew owner will take over the current Crew situation after 2019?
Applying the duck test (if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck).... The team in Austin will be an expansion team owned by Precourt, the current owner of the Crew. The team in Columbus will be the current Crew owned by the owner of the Cleveland Browns and a local real estate guy. The contracts signed by people to carry out the transaction will show Precourt moving his team to Austin, and the team in Columbus will be an expansion team, but don't let that fool you.
Actually a possible way for the MLS to play in Austin prior to the McKalla site being finished is to just expand the Austin Bold stadium at COTA. They build up and take down seating (owned? or rented?) for the F1 every year which seats say 30k+ so maybe its doable if the actual site location can handle the additional capacity. Of course Epstein is fighting the Austin MLS at the moment but maybe they work things out if they ever get to the point where the move is totally finalized and moving ahead.
On another note, I sort of hope that both clubs are a huge success and also develop a passionate rivalry with each other. I find it sort of disappointing that Houston-SJ don’t have a better rivalry.
It was at first when we had the SJ players actually (Ching,Onstad,etc.) Then after a while it just died down not having much more of a history with them. Competition creates rivalry with teams far from home like Hou-KC had because of playoffs. We just haven't gotten that from SJ, and SJ hasn't gotten that from Hou. Personally, and especially the way things panned out, I think a rivalry between Austin and Columbus won't last that long. 5-6 years at best, probably not even that long, just my opinion.
The New Crew owners will pay an as yet to be determined expansion fee. Precourt's MLS operating rights will then be transferred to Austin, where he will start a new team by 2021. https://socceresq.com/2018/11/14/ca...id=3576&preview_nonce=fec29ca6ab&preview=true
How are things going in Austin? Has Precourt been there at all? Now that the fans all know there will not be a team until 2021 at the earliest, if ever, what's the mood?
I do believe our resident Soccer Lawyer @soundermiki would disagree with your opinion. It's not a conspiracy, the mayor and 2 council members received significant amount of money form Precourt Sports Ventures. From his article: https://socceresq.com/2018/08/09/handicapping-the-mls2atx-vote-tonight/ Steve Adler - Contributions from PSV: Yes, to the tune of over $10,000. Sabino Renteria - Contributions from PSV: Yes, in the amount of about $6,125 Kathie Tovo - Contributions from PSV: Oh yes, Tovo received about $7,100 Ann Kitchen - Contributions from PSV: A nominal amount ($50).
No problem. Guess we agree to disagree. To think that chump change would swing a vote from no to yes is fanciful imo. Yes the ACC will be immortalized with a plaque somewhere on site and they will be introduced on the field etc when and if it opens.
Welcome to the "Post Truth Generation" where we only spout items that match our agenda, and if there is any evidence to the contrary we just discard it.
Yep people espousing wild ass statements as Truth without any evidence about campaign contributions that greased the ACC approval to forward some agenda in particular. Give it rest its boring.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeoz...le-price-said-to-be-150-million/#12fd7cef6326 Holy crap. $100m chipped in by the Columbus/county/etc towards the stadium ($200-$250m total?)! Kinda dwarfs the Austin deal if true.
Well its pretty simplistic (and I could easily of missed some key components) and likely the difference will narrow once more information on both deals are disclosed but the quick overview is $20m (McKalla land value) vs $100m. Big assumption is that both deals will be owned by city/county entities so no team pays property taxes going forward so that is a wash.
I haven’t seen the new stadium in Columbus will be publicly owned. And there is so much more wrong in Austin with their “deal” that makes the Columbus situation apples to oranges.
There was always an asymmetry in that Precourt offered to build a privately financed stadium in Austin but not Columbus. Meanwhile Columbus offered public support to a new soccer stadium if the team were owned by someone other than Precourt. If we're really aiming for a $250 mil stadium, then we'll have probably the nicest stadium in the country for a soccer team, topping LAFC, SKC, and RBNJ. It will top whatever Austin builds but is probably aimed at simply outdoing FCC. Crew fans are certainly getting the better end of the stick. They get a new stadium with new ownership led by Edwards. Austin also gets a new stadium but with parking issues and ownership led by Precourt.