By Shane Murphy, TheCrew.com Webmaster
It was another groundbreaking moment for soccer in America, but -- at least to me -- comments about it are fast becoming an insult to those who started the revolution.
"It will be the spiritual home for soccer in this country," MLS Commissioner Don Garber said at the ceremony.
Spiritual home? What is Columbus Crew Stadium?
I know, I know... we're just some crummy high school style stadium in the backwoods of the midwest, right? That's what those in the glorious city of Los Angeles want you to think, don't they?
Yeah, back in those days, we were the apple of everyone's eye, the model to follow.
Now, according to Anschutz Entertainment Group president Tim Leiweke, Crew Stadium is nothing more than 'NutraSweet,' when compared to the sugary complex in California.
Being proud of an accomplishment is one thing. Beating your chest like an oversexed Tarzan is quite another.
What I can't understand is why Leiweke can't beat his chest without slamming on what the Hunt Sports Group put together in 1998, after seeing the people of Columbus vote down stadium referendums twice.
What did he say that fired me up, you ask?
"With all due respect to Lamar, we're sugar and they're Nutrasweet."
"Nothing against Columbus, but we've never had a worldclass soccer facility in this country."
The building of stadiums, the recognition of the league as legitimate... these are good things.
Taking cheap shots, no matter how many times they are prefaced with the words "With all due respect to Columbus," is wrong, and damages a sport which has still not caught on in the bulk of the general public.
One year ago on Feb. 28, 2001, the United States Men's National Team took a massive step towards their qualification for World Cup 2002 by spanking Mexico 2-0 -- in Columbus Crew Stadium -- a stadium packed to the gills with red, white, and blue faces. American flags waving everywhere, and a small group of Mexican fans who, for the first time ever in America, were outnumbered at a major soccer event between these two great countries.
It's also a scenario that, spiritual home or not, will never be played
out in Los Angeles - where the U.S. National Team has never enjoyed a
significant advantage in crowd support.
For all their willingness to go after the big money in friendlies, U.S. Soccer has lately showed a remarkable willingness to sacrifice profits for the kind of home-field advantage that exists right here in Columbus (and other cities such as Kansas City or Portland).
How's that home field advantage out there in Los Angeles, Mr. Leiweke?
By the way, earlier today, television network Telemundo signed a five-year agreement with U.S. Soccer. The agreement calls for 10 U.S. games to be broadcast each year.
Brad Hunt, a senior vice president for IMG, who negotiated the agreement, pointed directly at the influence of Crew Stadium as the reason for the deal.
"We walked away from that match just thrilled not only with the result [a 2-0 U.S. victory] but with the audience on the English-language broadcast on ESPN," Hunt told the Los Angeles Times. "About a week later, Jorge [Hidalgo] said the Telemundo audience had been twice the size.
"At that point the lightbulb became very bright, that we should be finding a way to incorporate this [Telemundo] audience into the U.S. Soccer sponsorship audience. That's what this contract is meant to do."
If MLS can continue forward with this stadium building, and the remaining eight teams build superior grounds to Crew Stadium, every soccer fan in the nation should be thrilled.
That would mean, quite simply, that the game is taking hold on the public. We would finally be in a position to grow the game to unheard of levels in this country.
And it all started right here... in little ol' Columbus.
What do you think? Let us know in TheCrew.com FanSpeak!
Columbus, OH (February 28, 2002) - On Tuesday, the sport of soccer in America took a major leap forward with the groundbreaking of an expansive Carson, CA complex which will include a 27,000 seat stadium to house the Los Angeles Galaxy. The complex, which will include the Pete Sampras Tennis Academy, comes in at about $125 Million in total expected cost, yet another major investment into soccer in this country.
This bold step forward will now make Los Angeles the default home of U.S. Soccer, including the much-anticipated "National Training Academy."
TheCrew.Com FanSpeak is a special feature that appears at The Crew's official website from time-to-time. To see the most recent column or to post a response at The Crew.Com Forum, log on to www.TheCrew.com.
I'm not sure what I was thinking three years ago when Crew Stadium opened to praise from all around the soccer community. I don't know why I was excited when the tiny village of Obetz, Ohio stepped up and worked with some equally tiny soccer team in an unknown league to build MLS' first club training facility.
The building of stadiums, the recognition of the league as legitimate... these are good things. Taking cheap shots, no matter how many times they are prefaced with the words "With all due respect to Columbus," is wrong, and damages a sport which has still not caught on in the bulk of the general public.
Copyright © 2002, mysoccer.com