Possible Crew move puts USL team on hold
As Austin moves forward with its search for a Major League Soccer stadium site, a United Soccer League franchise waits on the backburner.
In August, USL, the second tier of American professional soccer, announced that a franchise would return to Austin in 2019 in a 5,000-seat stadium at Circuit of the Americas, the site of a major racetrack in Austin.
Bobby Epstein, the USL franchise’s majority owner and Chairman of Circuit of the Americas, said those plans have been significantly altered by Precourt Sports Ventures potentially moving Crew SC to Austin after the 2018 season.
The franchise would be the third USL team in Austin. The first was sold to a group in Orlando, Florida, and became the progenitor of Orlando City in MLS; the second ceased operations in 2015 because of financial concerns.
On Thursday, Austin City Council passed a resolution asking the city manager to evaluate potential stadium and practice facility sites for an MLS team on city-owned land in Austin with instructions to report back by Dec. 7.
With each day, the challenges for the USL in Austin mount. Epstein said due to the uncertainty surrounding the franchise and a 2019 start state, he and his staff have had difficulty finding a coach, have already lost a key sponsor and are nearing deadlines that would make it a challenge to have a soccer team up and running for the 2019 season.
Adding to those challenges is what Epstein called a lack of communication and response from Precourt Sports Ventures, which owns the Crew, regarding soccer in Austin.
“They did not either take our representative’s calls or reach out to us,” Epstein said. “They may have wrongly feared that we would try and get in the way of (Precourt Sports Ventures) coming to Austin, and we don’t intend to do that.
“That’s been a misconception and I hope word can get out there. We’re not opposed to them coming, it’s more a matter of I do need them to (make a decision). I’m not against them coming here, I just don’t want to lose the momentum we have and I don’t want to lose our franchise.”
Precourt Sports Ventures declined to comment and USL did not respond to a message seeking comment. Crew investor-operator Anthony Precourt, MLS commissioner Don Garber, Columbus Partnership CEO Alex Fischer and Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther are set to meet Wednesday in New York to discuss the Crew’s future.
Epstein said he and his staff will reach out to the USL to see what the league would advise and what flexibility they will provide the team moving forward. He hinted that he might soon need to examine other cities for his USL franchise.
“I know Columbus, they don’t want to look at it as a step down from MLS to USL, but I need a new home,” he said.
Crew to Hawaii
The Crew announced it will participate in the inaugural Pacific Rim Cup in February at Aloha Stadium in Halawa, Hawaii, outside Honolulu.
The Crew is scheduled to face Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo of Japan’s J1 League on Feb. 9, a day after the Vancouver Whitecaps will face Japanese club Iwaki FC. The losers of each game are scheduled to play Feb. 10 and the winners Feb. 11.