COLUMBUS – If this had been a meeting between Vito Corleone and Emilio Barzini, someone would be going to the mattresses.
Columbus city leaders and the owner of the Columbus Crew SC are all expressing disappointment after a meeting Wednesday aimed at keeping the team in Columbus despite Precourt’s apparent plan to relocate the franchise to Austin, Texas, after the 2018 season.
“We are disappointed and frustrated,” Mayor Andrew Ginther and Columbus Partnership CEO Alex Fischer summed up in a joint statement after the meeting with Crew SC owner Anthony Precourt and Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber in New York.
We were united in putting all options on the table, with the expectation in return that the MLS and ownership would cease pursuing moving the team to Austin. Great American cities do not get into bidding wars over sports teams to benefit private owners. Garber and Precourt were not willing to do that today. –Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther & Alex Fischer, CEO, Columbus Partnership
Precourt, in his own statement, said he was “disappointed” in the outcome and blamed the city for breaking off negotiations.
Both [Precourt Sports Ventures] and the league entered the meeting with open minds, no demands and a complete willingness to listen and entertain concrete ideas or a meaningful proposal from the city’s representatives at the meeting. We were extremely disappointed that no concrete offer or proposal was presented and that the City of Columbus then told us that it would not communicate with us past today. –Anthony Precourt, owner, Columbus Crew SC
Precourt announced last month that he was considering a relocation of the franchise – the first in the MLS – from Columbus to Austin after the 2018 season unless Columbus builds a downtown stadium to replace aging MAPFRE Stadium and provides more community and corporate support.
The Crew hosts Toronto in the MLS Cup Playoffs Eastern Conference semifinals Tuesday.