Crew Owners Confirm Investor Talks, Says Team Will Not Move
Hunt Sports Group (HSG) President John Wagner, whose company owns the MLS Crew, in a Q&A with Shawn Mitchell of the COLUMBUS DISPATCH, confirmed the group is "talking with" Las Vegas Sports & Entertainment Group President Mark Noorzai about selling the club. But Wagner added the Crew is "not going to Las Vegas. The team is staying here." Asked if HSG, which also owns MLS FC Dallas, can continue to own and operate two teams, Wagner said, "What's the stock market going to do today? Look, we're not under any timetable. Whatever we do, we're going to do what is in the best interest of the Columbus Crew. We are not actively pursuing any sale or whatever." Wagner added, "The team is staying. We've always believed in this market. ... Everything is going exactly the way we want it to go. We're not going anywhere" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 10/1). In Columbus, Michael Arace writes of the Crew's future in Columbus, "It'll be a simple bait and switch. Two years down the line, when the stadium complex is finished in Vegas, the new owners will say they're still losing money in Columbus. They will say they haven't been able to secure an expansion team. They will say the only thing left to do is move the Crew." Arace adds HSG has been "civic-minded in the past, but I don't think their hearts are bleeding for Columbus' future. This isn't [K.C.]" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 10/1).
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