Hunt Sports Group is "seeking more local investors" for the MLS Crew, but Owner Clark Hunt said that comments made last Friday by MLS Commissioner Don Garber "were not entirely on the mark," according to Adam Jardy of the COLUMBUS DISPATCH. Garber said the Hunt family "made a commitment to get out (of Columbus), and we are encouraging them to do so." But Hunt yesterday in a statement said, "The City of Columbus, the Crew and Crew Stadium are extremely important to our family, and that hasn’t changed. We continue to believe that additional local investment only serves to strengthen the Crew’s standing in Columbus and Major League Soccer, and over the past two years, we have openly explored the possibility of bringing in minority investors to the club." Meanwhile, the Crew is "not engaged in substantial talks with any potential clients for the rights to the stadium's name." Crew President & GM Mark McCullers said, "We still have a ways to go." The club "has remained tightlipped on ticket-sales figures," but McCullers said that the Crew has "increased its number by 30 percent compared with a year ago." He said of hitting the 10,000-season-ticket-holder mark, "We’ve achieved this level in the past" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 10/25).
