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Heh, love the Crewzers! I had several "friends" who were Crewzers while I was in college. Just to kinda show How "pro" Ohio State is compared to the Crew, all my friends that were Crewzers joined after being cut from OSU dance teams. 

Well this just got fun. Off the cuff comments are saying they don't think the law can be enforced.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine ready to sue to keep the Crew

Basically when the Brows got stolen from Cleveland, Ohio inserted a law saying if a team accepts government aid they are not allowed to leave for 6 months without attempting to sell the team first. Columbus has given The Crew 5 million in Tax breaks and parking revenue.

This is the first this law has been attempted to be enacted, I guess we will get to see if local government can stand up to whimsical billionaires.

Dewine puller the trigger and filed suit against Precourt Sports Venture, in an effort to keep the Crew in Columbus. 48 Hours later MLS and Precourt issued a joint statement saying "They strongly disagree with the application of the Modell Law."
Ohio Sues MLS And Anthony Precourt

We were in Atlanta resting in the hotel room and I was channel flipping and came across a soccer game that happened to be taking place about a mile from our hotel so I watched a bit.  Interesting, they said attendance was over 73 K.

I found that fascinating.

It was being played in the new dome thingee on "turf".

I'd've never guessed that humongous beetles were so rabid about regular season MLS games.

Is anyone still following this soap opera?

Austin City Council unanimously approved a hazardous waste site (Mcalla Place) to allow Precourt (PSV) to build a stadium. The approved site is only 10 miles from Downtown (as compared to the 5 miles Mapfre is from Columbus' Downtown.) However, it is only 2 miles from "The Domain" which is Austins "2nd Downtown" but from pics and google maps seems alot more like Easton here in Columbus than an actual Downtown. The city council woman Leslie Pool who didn't want Parkland to be used abstained from voting.

Here in Columbus, Judge Brown declined PSV/MLS attempt to dismiss the case. Precourt changed his twitter handle from owner/chairman to investor/operator, and then claimed MLS owns the team and they are based in Delaware, not Ohio, so Ohio law doesn't apply. *shakes head* Judge also said PSV/MLS had 14 days to figure out an acceptable NDA (non-disclosure act) or he will allow for a Discovery Phase; which everyone seems to think MLS wants to avoid. Judge Brown also added a 90 day "Toll" saying PSV/MLS had to meet with him and potential offers, that the Judge would would receive all potential offers sealed.

All that to say nothing really ruled in favor of Columbus Staying, but more of a "Hey, Precourt/MLS you have to take this process seriously."

Another day in "As The Soccer Ball Turns."

Nothing would be as cool as a true downtown site, but that was never a realistic option.  There's just not enough available land.

I think Mccalla would actually be a pretty good site for an MLS soccer stadium.  The Domain isn't a "second downtown" but it is a huge mixed use development with tons of aparments and condos housing young professionals, many mid-to-high end restaurants and bars, and a ton of mid-to-high end retail.  The Mccalla site is also close to quite a few breweries with excellent tap rooms.  It has relatively good road access and potential for parking (WAY better parking than any downtown option could ever hope for), as well as good rail access from both downtown and the suburbs.

I'm certainly not saying the team SHOULD move, but if they did, that would be a decent site option.