‘It’s back to the drawing board’ for Columbus Crew stadium plan
The Abbott COLUMBUS — property in downtown Columbus is off the table as a possible site for a new Columbus Crew stadium
— not that it was ever really on the table.
“I’ve heard through a third party that Abbott is unable to consider this proposal because of their need for that site to (serve) a very valuable service to their plant,” said Doug Kridler, president and CEO of the Columbus Foundation, who floated a series of ideas on Monday to try to prevent the Crew from moving to Austin, Texas, after the 2018 season.
“Between that reality, and a county that has higher priorities, then it’s back to the drawing board on ideas that the community can rally around to save the Crew and enhance our downtown,” Kridler said. “The idea was to provoke other ideas. If Abbott won’t work, the county won’t work, where can we make it work?”
So far, Kridler’s exercise hasn’t generated any other alternatives. Local officials said Tuesday they’re open to ideas, but so far haven’t offered any of their own.
Kridler pitched a series of ideas that included building a 21,000-seat soccer stadium on 17 acres Abbott owns between North Fifth and Sixth streets north of Mount Vernon Avenue, now vacant and a place where trailers are parked.
But Kridler never talked to Abbott officials about his idea. “It’s leap-of-faith imagining,” Kridler said. “I hope it would have a butterfly effect leading to other ideas.”
In an emailed statement, Abbott spokesman Scott Stoffel wrote, “We’ve not been approached to sell any of our property for a soccer stadium.”
Others, including Franklin County commissioners, have already balked at his ideas. And none of the officials who have said they are working to save the team from moving to Austin have offered an alternative to keep the team in Columbus. Crew investor-operator Anthony Precourt has said he intends to move the team if a stadium near Downtown isn’t built.
Kridler wanted commissioners to consider allocating one-half of the one-quarter-cent sales tax, now set to expire on Jan. 1, 2019, for a period of three years toward construction of a stadium. That could have generated about $90 million.
New soccer-specific stadiums across the country have cost more than $200 million. Kridler’s proposal would have left the remainder of the bill to the Crew.
But all three Franklin County commissioners on Tuesday emphatically rejected the idea of using a portion of the county sales tax to help pay for a soccer stadium, and city officials said they are unsure about building parking in the area, as Kridler proposed.
The potential plans Kridler floated might not matter though in the eyes of many public officials. Several said they do not believe the Crew’s ownership has been honest about its willingness to keep the team in Columbus.
Commissioner John O’Grady said Crew owner Anthony Precourt “seems dead set on taking the team out of Columbus.” Commissioners Marilyn Brown and Kevin Boyce both said they do not support using county tax dollars to help build a stadium.
Commissioners said they could tap the county engineer or drainage engineer for assistance with infrastructure around a stadium but would not provide direct funding for the structure.
Brown said state and federal cuts have strapped the county’s books, which doesn’t leave much money to go around for other needs.
“We have so many mandated needs that we have to do, it’s not a possibility,” Brown said. “We cannot commit to public money at this time.”