Legislators divided on state funds for a stadium

State legislators from central Ohio don’t want to see Crew SC leave, but they differ on the lengths they are willing to go to keep the Major League Soccer team in town after its owners announced their intent to relocate if they don’t get a new, Downtown stadium.

Sen. Kevin Bacon, R-Minerva Park, is eager to help the team stay.

“I want to do whatever I can, if the ship has not yet sailed, to keep them here,” Bacon said.

Having a stadium Downtown, he said, would boost the Crew’s attendance, and he likened the situation to when the Columbus Clippers moved Downtown to Huntington Park from Cooper Stadium.

When asked about using money in the state’s capital budget to build a Downtown stadium, Bacon said: “I’d surely consider it.”

He said it’s hard to comment on specifics until he sees a proposal, and he would ultimately have to see whether such a project would be a true value for taxpayers.

Crew SC is to play at Mapfre Stadium in 2018, but Precourt Sports Ventures has made it clear it will move the franchise to Austin, Texas, without a Downtown, soccer-specific stadium.

The stadium at the Ohio Expo Center opened under the name Crew Stadium on May 15, 1999. At the time, it was the first stadium in the nation to be built specifically for a Major League Soccer team.

If a stadium were to be built, Sen. Charleta Tavares, D-Columbus, is not in favor of it being Downtown. Given parking issues and the crowds, she said, Downtown can’t hold every Columbus team and attraction. It already has the Clippers and the Blue Jackets.

“I think we should spread out venues,” Tavares said.

She would be more supportive, however, if the owners buy land Downtown, finance it with business owners and work with city zoning.

Tavares said she would not consider using money in the capital budget to build a Downtown stadium. “Why use tax dollars to subsidize a for-profit business?” she said.

Anthony Precourt said he and his ownership group are not seeking public tax dollars to build a stadium in Columbus or Austin. Precourt Sports Ventures has owned the Crew since 2013.

Regarding a Downtown stadium, Rep. Kristin Boggs, D-Columbus, first wants to see how the plan would be executed. She also has reservations about using state capital funding for a stadium “unless it has a strategic … long-term impact on the economy.”