Sagz - Has anyone ever wondered why MLS always focuses on attendance and all the sport writers mention it in every story....more so than talking about the actual game. But in more established leagues and sports, attendance is rarely mentioned. Go pull up a hockey score or nba recap, very rarely is attendance mentioned.
Placid Casual - It means they are avoiding talking about TV viewing figures.
MelbaToast - MLS is an attendance-driven league, not a TV-rights-driven league. And it's better PR for them to say "hey look we average over 20,000 a game" than to say their TV ratings are on par with late night infomercials (veracity unconfirmed).
Sagz - Isnt austin having a rally right now? Why are their twitter feeds and all the # so dead?
Are they making everyone sign NDA's about being there?
Sagz - Not to keep posting links to twitter....but those pictures look like mostly paid "brand specialists" and "cool free shit....bonus free beer" people.
Coupe - Re: the reveal party - just wow. Corporate sponsorships have never been better!
C-Bus 20 - Damn the tweets coming from that gathering regarding Greeley’s comments sure make it sound like this is a done deal. I’m sad, depressed and have no fight in me. This is over and there is little we can do about it.
POdinCowtown - Bullshit. It's clear AP wants to move the team. What we need to do is give the other MLS owners reason to force him to sell to local Columbus folks. He's been an embarrassment to MLS so I doubt any of the other owners would be sorry to see him go.
Hamburgler03 - Not one of them is smiling. Must be n Austin thing
CybrSlydr - Allegedly Greely called Precourt a "great man who has been dragged through the coals"
I'm going to be ********ing sick. Precourt isn't a great man - great men don't take teams from their homes and move them because they're too ********ing lazy to make it work. Precunt couldn't carry Lamar's jockstrap.
SourCream&OnionUtd - The coals that Santa keeps bringing him every year.
crew2112 - Nothing that Greeley said left any room for “if Columbus works out”. This is done in their minds.
I just don’t understand what the point of playing in Columbus next year is. Are there contractual obligations? Mapfre/Acura? Why would he possibly want to play here next year?
Again, Dave Greeley works out of his house outside Chicago. PSV can’t swing a full time office so they rent a Regus Office when needed. Greeley’s wife also runs a children’s charity out of the same house. It will NOT be difficult to troll the shit out of his house and the charity. Did somebody call a plumber?
TrueCrew - Look, this has been a done deal from 2013 with tacit league approval.
Precourt is moving to Austin, period. Done deal. That was always the intent. Worst case he plays at UT for a year & then is free to move elsewhere if Austin falls through.
Chances of a positive outcome are slim. But what options do we have? Giving up doesn't help. Expose Precourt & Garber for the frauds they are. Refute their rationale for moving. Support the team. Pack the house. Have a real stadium site & an offer to buy. Lobby the other supporters & teams. The other owners. Try to poison the well in Austin. Try to help San Antonio. File suit here.
Tommorrow is guaranteed to no one. We have three choices. Checkout now. Checkout after the POs. Or support the team as much as we can for as long as we can.
I will respect anyone's choice. I was so p!ssed at first I was in the first camp: not one more dime for Precourt. I attended the PO game (with no purchases inside) & was so glad I did. I may come around to the third option in time.
I mean, not even the colassal pr!ck that is Anthony Precourt can break the bonds that I have developed since 1996.
Tobia C - As far as the Cincinnati fan rambling on in here goes.....I hope youre done. Its wrong place wrong time. As some else said, If you want to start a thread comparing and contrasting FCC and the Crew, have at it but this thread isnt a good place for talking down to us. I for one, love that Cincinnati is doing so well.....I like seeing the sport expand and grow everywhere, and would love for them to find their way to MLS, but as a close rival for the Crew.....not at our expense.
Im not in denial anymore.......Its clear that the plan has been to move all along. Theres some things Im still having trouble understanding though....
How much communication is there between MLS and USL when it comes to team expansions? I mean we have 2nd/Reserve teams in USL...... so how does USL officially announce their expansion to Austin. Did they have no idea that Precourt was planning on potentially moving there because typically USL stays out of MLS's way when it comes to expansion (im thinking of USL not trying to start a San Diego team since theres already a current MLS attempt happening there)? OR.....is this USL expansion possibly connected to PSVs expansion attempt.......maybe hes possibly supporting them and theyll be his USL Reserve side? Still seems peculiar.
I just dont see how all of the drama and negative publicity connected to this is worthwhile for the league to let this go through. Precourts just one owner of a familiar and established small market team trying to move his investment over to another unproven small market. Not sure how its worth it to the league and all the owners. They arent making a bunch of money off of him in expansion fees. And if its about clearing way to bring Cincinnati and/or Detroit (and their expansion money) into the league, then just go ahead and bring both of them in and create real rivalries in the midwest for teams like Columbus and Chicago. I already assume that their isnt any real cap on how many teams they will let join the league. Other professional leagues in this country have 30 to 32 teams, and the way MLS is addicted to expansion fees, I wouldnt be surprised to see them surpass that. Not interested in debating the wisdom of that though.......but I really dont see the logic in allowing this move to happen, even from the leagues perspective. This is just talking about the publicity factor...
Then add the San Antonio factor to the situation and it now becomes a possible legal issue for the league.
If the league is intent on kissing Precourts butt and helping him then so be it but they could push through it all by forcing him to sell the Columbus Crew to the local group for 150 million, offering him a discounted Austin expansion for like 80-100 million (so Precourt still comes out ahead) and officially awarding San Antonio an expansion team, even if they arent supposed to come on board for another few years or so. I dont expect it all to pan out like this but its the best case scenario I can see happening.
If im off base on any of this feel free to enlighten me.
Sagz - The other notion of poor sponsor relations is on the Columbus businesses is also horseshite. If you want sponsors you need to show that your product will see the light of day. The TV deal, and lack of marketing make the product less appealing.
Several people have mentioned this next point around community support. The crew have almost zero presence in the community. The Crew does not participate in community events, ranging from festivals, to 4th of July parades. So again if Im looking to sponsor something I want to make sure my marketing dollars are put to use. Example: The Bluejackets are everywhere, you see/hear commercials, and they are at almost every community event that has more than a few 100 people attending (and that includes suburbs)
Prec@nt expects people to just come running to him because "reasons" and give him money....but there is also an expectation from sponsors that the Crew will help market the sponsor brand. If he was serious about getting dollars he would be out here in Cbus working with some of the businesses. He should be hosting parties and attending parties during the Memorial tourny....you know actually doing something instead of creating a gofundme web page and getting pissed when no one donates.
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