Title
To urge the investor-operator and chairman of Columbus Crew Soccer Club to keep the franchise in Columbus and forego any exploration of relocation to another city.
Body
WHEREAS, on October 16, 2017, the investor-operator and chairman of Columbus Crew Soccer Club announced his intention to explore relocation of the franchise to Austin, Texas; and
WHEREAS, Columbus Crew Soccer Club is the first charter member of Major League Soccer, founded in 1996; and
WHEREAS, Columbus is home to the first soccer-specific stadium in the United States, built to provide stability to Major League Soccer at time of uncertainty in the young league’s existence, creating a foundation for Major League Soccer to persist through the contraction of franchises in Miami and Tampa Bay in 2002, endangering the life of the league, to grow to its current size of 22 total franchises; and
WHEREAS, the players, coaches and staff have represented the City of Columbus nationally and internationally with high level of skill, determination, confidence and character, earning them the nom de guerre “America’s Hardest Working Team,” and winning the 2008 MLS Cup; the 2004, 2008 and 2009 Supporters’ Shields; and the 2002 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup; and
WHEREAS, Columbus Crew Soccer Club and its charitable arm, Crew SC Foundation have worked to strength the Columbus community through numerable volunteer hours with programs such as Soccer Aid, fundraisers for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Columbus Reads, Keep Columbus Beautiful, Soccer for Success and the Kirk Urso Memorial Scholarship, in addition to adopting the Linden-McKinley STEM Academy boys varsity team - helping them field a team for the first time in ten years; and
WHEREAS, Columbus Crew Soccer Club has produced an economic impact of $20 million to $25 million according to an economic impact study the franchise commissioned in 2011, and has secured high-profile corporate sponsorships in the intervening timeframe with major companies like Mapfre Insurance, Central Ohio’s own Barbasol, and major Columbus region employer Honda through its Acura brand; and
WHEREAS, the investor-operator of Columbus Crew Soccer Club on October 17, 2017 publically stated that he is willing to privately finance a new world-class, state-of-the-art soccer-specific stadium in Downtown Columbus to make Columbus Crew Soccer Club a standard bearer in American soccer that is vibrant and celebrated, now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS: That this Council does hereby urge the investor-operator and chairman of Columbus Crew Soccer Club to keep Crew SC in Columbus and commit to building the centrally located, world-class, state-of-the-art soccer-specific stadium in Ohio’s capital city - the city that has answered the call of the world’s sport time and time again.