November 30th 1991 in Guangzhou China, history was made. The first ever Women's World Cup was decided on that day and none other than The United States would be the first to hoist the cup. Two and a half years later June of 1994 the United States hosted the Men's FIFA World Cup. “The tournament was the most financially successful in World Cup history… it broke the World Cup average attendance record with more than 69,000 spectators per game, a mark that still stands. The total attendance of nearly 3.6 million for the final tournament remains the highest in World Cup history.” One year later the second FIFA Women's World Cup, was held in Sweden and America took home the bronze.
Something was happening in the 90s. Football (soccer) the world’s most popular sport, was gaining momentum in America. Then just seven months after the women’s team placed in the world cup; on February 6th 1996 The Columbus Crew selected Brian McBride with the first pick of the MLS draft, becoming the nation’s first professional soccer team. Now after all of the success of the women’s national team and the attendance of the men’s tournament, the United States finally had its own professional soccer league. During the first three seasons in the MLS the Columbus Crew played its home games at Ohio Stadium.
Ohio Stadium, or as it is affectionately referred to by buckeye fans, the Shoe, was built in 1922. This is the home of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Through the decades of tradition the stadium grew, updated, and modernized. The beloved stadium was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service in 1974. Fifty two autumn collegiate seasons that stadium held before being recognized as a historic place, solidifying itself in sports history and lore. Today the Buckeyes still play each home game in the Shoe and its hallowed halls fill with fans from across the world. But that tradition, that history, and that nostalgia didn’t happen overnight.
After three seasons in the Shoe the nation’s first major league soccer club made yet another historic landmark move. May 15, 1999 the Columbus Crew finished the first soccer-specific stadium ever built for an MLS team. Columbus Crew Stadium wasn’t just a historic moment for the city, it was a historic moment for the professional soccer world. Now the first MLS club had the first MLS stadium to call home. Throughout the two decades MAPFRE Stadium, as it was later renamed, has continued to incubate national soccer memories. Here are a few:
Six 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup group matches
Ten U.S. men's national soccer team FIFA World Cup qualifying matches (7-2-1)
Five U.S. women's national soccer team friendlies (3-1-0)
Two U.S. men's national soccer team friendlies (1-1-0)
Two MLS Cup Finals (one of which Columbus participated)
In 2015, MAPFRE Stadium was honored with the prestigious Field of the Year award by the Sports Turf Managers Association for the professional soccer division. Brian Straus wrote an article for Sports Illustrated in November of 2016 saying, “There is no official national stadium in the United States, but a case can be made that American soccer–or at least its most popular team–does have a spiritual home. ...When the chips are down, however, the U.S. relies on Columbus, the unexpected–and now unquestioned – home of the national team's most high-profile game." 20 years of history. 20 years of soccer.
Last year the new ownership, the Haslam family and former team doctor Pete Edwards, rolled out plans to build a new stadium. This new stadium will cost $230 million, be relocated to the 'arena district,' and seat the same amount as the current historic stadium. Fifty two autumn collegiate seasons before the horse shoe was recognized as a historic place fifty two years of memories and tradition. Mapfre stadium is a mere 3 decades away from the potential realization of the value and the nostalgia that stadium represents. The future of soccer for generations to come had the potential to point to Columbus as the cradle of the world’s game in America.
The 22 season average home attendance for the Crew is 15,377. Some of you are reading this and thinking, “Building a brand new stadium will certainly attract more spectators and relocating to the arena district will also help!” The attendance did jump five thousand in 1999 the first year with the brand new history setting stadium. However since the stadium was constructed there have only been three seasons above 17,000 average attendance.
Thankfully, we have another professional sports team who did build a new stadium in the arena district and we can look at the attendance data to compare. Nationwide Arena, home of the Columbus Blue Jackets, seats 18,500 (for hockey games.) The average attendance for a Blue Jackets home game is 15,923. And as you can see from the data, the average attendance has been declining since the birth of the team. New stadiums and downtown locations do not necessarily mean sustained attendance success. In fact across the hockey world the city's team is unaffectionately known as Lumbus.
Let’s turn now to the infrastructure of the area. The arena district is home to Nationwide Arena (as mentioned) which seats 20,000, Huntington Park which seats another 10,100, and Express Live! which fits 5,200 guests for outdoor concerts. Let’s add an additional 20,000 soccer fans and on the right Saturday night in the summer there is the potential for 55,300 spectators to be leaving the area at the same time. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of attending an arena district event knows the traffic afterwards is horrific to put it nicely. Now I know what some of you are thinking, “Thank god Columbus won that transportation grant to create new and innovative ways to solve traffic issues such as these!” However, all the AEP smart meters in the world aren’t going to solve this mess.
But the issue for Columbus isn’t stadiums. Thinking you can solve attendance issues with a new fancy downtown stadium is like thinking you can solve your midlife crisis with a convertible. “Did you watch the game last night?” I overhear one patron of the near east side YMCA ask another while resting between reps. “Did you watch the game last night?” This question is asked time and again all across our country. The game. This question is what separates Columbus from the rest of the professional sports hosting cities. If it were October in Pittsburgh and I asked “Did you watch the game last night?” That person would know, without a doubt, I’m asking about the Steelers. If I posed that question in Boston in January that person would know I’m asking about the Bruins. That question in Denver during a February day, talking about the Nuggets. May in Cincinnati, we’re talking Reds baseball. And if June in Seattle, I’m talking about the Sounders.
All around the country the question is asked, “Did you watch the game last night?” and all around the respective sports markets the game is implied. But what about Columbus? When that person asked his acquaintance, “did you watch the game last night?” It can be assumed he’s not asking about the Blue Jackets, He’s not asking about the Crew, He’s asking about a different city’s team entirely. If you want to catch a Blue Jackets game at the bar you better look up a hockey bar in the city. If you want to catch an away Crew match while out, you have three choices where to grab a drink. And that’s the issue with attendance in Columbus. We don’t value the things we have.
We have the nation's first MLS team and the nation's first MLS stadium. We have the USNT's unofficial home pitch. How do we treat them? We nearly lost our MLS team last season. And now with this historic stadium, we build a newer flashier one in what was the hottest district in the city a decade ago. The Cubs aren't the Cubs without Wrigley. The Packers aren't the Packers without Lambeau. We are trading our history and tradition for a flash in the pan. Austin and Cincinnati FC will complete their new stadium in the spring of 2021. We will lose what makes our Soccer team unique. We will be lost in the shuffle of new stadiums. All being built around the country at the same time, just another cookie cutter soccer stadium of the early 20s. I know the wheels of "progress" have already been set in motion and this futile rant does little to preserve the stadium. (This is Buckeye territory and when it isn’t one of the 16 weeks of Ohio State football it’s one of the 36 weeks to reminisce about past seasons’ glory and speculate about this season’s chances.) How are we to recreate that sort of tradition, history, and communal fanhood if we can't keep a stadium for half the time of a historic place? How can we have parents taking children to the same stadium their parents took them if we so easily sacrifice history for fleeting glamour? Sports is mostly generational memories and tradition. Ask yourself why do you like the teams you like. Ask yourself if you'd desire to take your child to a game one day and why.
Now, I’m not one to rant without a plan. I would have taken that $230 million and purchased the land where the Lowes, National Tire and Battery, and Frisch's Big Boy stand near Mapfre. Redevelop the area into mixed use apartments, office space, and night life. Creating a new revitalized stadium district 'Mapfreville'. Develop the massive parking lots around the stadium into multi-use residential-commercial developments. Buildings with parking on the first (possibly second) floors. I would put in the application to add Mapfre to the National Register of Historic Places. I would push the cities bar scene to play away matches rather than other market sports. I would value the unique and wonderful things about our soccer club. Show the country and the other professional sports leagues that Columbus is a growing community that cares and cherishes its teams. All this to maybe one day draw the eye of an NBA, MLB, and NFL team completing the pentafecta* of the five major professional sports leagues So that one day when that fateful question is posed "Did you watch the game last night?" We, as a collective community, can reply "yes."
*except maybe not the NFL and its morally bankrupt system, but that’s for another rant.
Something was happening in the 90s. Football (soccer) the world’s most popular sport, was gaining momentum in America. Then just seven months after the women’s team placed in the world cup; on February 6th 1996 The Columbus Crew selected Brian McBride with the first pick of the MLS draft, becoming the nation’s first professional soccer team. Now after all of the success of the women’s national team and the attendance of the men’s tournament, the United States finally had its own professional soccer league. During the first three seasons in the MLS the Columbus Crew played its home games at Ohio Stadium.
After three seasons in the Shoe the nation’s first major league soccer club made yet another historic landmark move. May 15, 1999 the Columbus Crew finished the first soccer-specific stadium ever built for an MLS team. Columbus Crew Stadium wasn’t just a historic moment for the city, it was a historic moment for the professional soccer world. Now the first MLS club had the first MLS stadium to call home. Throughout the two decades MAPFRE Stadium, as it was later renamed, has continued to incubate national soccer memories. Here are a few:
Six 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup group matches
Ten U.S. men's national soccer team FIFA World Cup qualifying matches (7-2-1)
Five U.S. women's national soccer team friendlies (3-1-0)
Two U.S. men's national soccer team friendlies (1-1-0)
Two MLS Cup Finals (one of which Columbus participated)
In 2015, MAPFRE Stadium was honored with the prestigious Field of the Year award by the Sports Turf Managers Association for the professional soccer division. Brian Straus wrote an article for Sports Illustrated in November of 2016 saying, “There is no official national stadium in the United States, but a case can be made that American soccer–or at least its most popular team–does have a spiritual home. ...When the chips are down, however, the U.S. relies on Columbus, the unexpected–and now unquestioned – home of the national team's most high-profile game." 20 years of history. 20 years of soccer.
Last year the new ownership, the Haslam family and former team doctor Pete Edwards, rolled out plans to build a new stadium. This new stadium will cost $230 million, be relocated to the 'arena district,' and seat the same amount as the current historic stadium. Fifty two autumn collegiate seasons before the horse shoe was recognized as a historic place fifty two years of memories and tradition. Mapfre stadium is a mere 3 decades away from the potential realization of the value and the nostalgia that stadium represents. The future of soccer for generations to come had the potential to point to Columbus as the cradle of the world’s game in America.
The 22 season average home attendance for the Crew is 15,377. Some of you are reading this and thinking, “Building a brand new stadium will certainly attract more spectators and relocating to the arena district will also help!” The attendance did jump five thousand in 1999 the first year with the brand new history setting stadium. However since the stadium was constructed there have only been three seasons above 17,000 average attendance.
Thankfully, we have another professional sports team who did build a new stadium in the arena district and we can look at the attendance data to compare. Nationwide Arena, home of the Columbus Blue Jackets, seats 18,500 (for hockey games.) The average attendance for a Blue Jackets home game is 15,923. And as you can see from the data, the average attendance has been declining since the birth of the team. New stadiums and downtown locations do not necessarily mean sustained attendance success. In fact across the hockey world the city's team is unaffectionately known as Lumbus.Let’s turn now to the infrastructure of the area. The arena district is home to Nationwide Arena (as mentioned) which seats 20,000, Huntington Park which seats another 10,100, and Express Live! which fits 5,200 guests for outdoor concerts. Let’s add an additional 20,000 soccer fans and on the right Saturday night in the summer there is the potential for 55,300 spectators to be leaving the area at the same time. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of attending an arena district event knows the traffic afterwards is horrific to put it nicely. Now I know what some of you are thinking, “Thank god Columbus won that transportation grant to create new and innovative ways to solve traffic issues such as these!” However, all the AEP smart meters in the world aren’t going to solve this mess.
All around the country the question is asked, “Did you watch the game last night?” and all around the respective sports markets the game is implied. But what about Columbus? When that person asked his acquaintance, “did you watch the game last night?” It can be assumed he’s not asking about the Blue Jackets, He’s not asking about the Crew, He’s asking about a different city’s team entirely. If you want to catch a Blue Jackets game at the bar you better look up a hockey bar in the city. If you want to catch an away Crew match while out, you have three choices where to grab a drink. And that’s the issue with attendance in Columbus. We don’t value the things we have.
We have the nation's first MLS team and the nation's first MLS stadium. We have the USNT's unofficial home pitch. How do we treat them? We nearly lost our MLS team last season. And now with this historic stadium, we build a newer flashier one in what was the hottest district in the city a decade ago. The Cubs aren't the Cubs without Wrigley. The Packers aren't the Packers without Lambeau. We are trading our history and tradition for a flash in the pan. Austin and Cincinnati FC will complete their new stadium in the spring of 2021. We will lose what makes our Soccer team unique. We will be lost in the shuffle of new stadiums. All being built around the country at the same time, just another cookie cutter soccer stadium of the early 20s. I know the wheels of "progress" have already been set in motion and this futile rant does little to preserve the stadium. (This is Buckeye territory and when it isn’t one of the 16 weeks of Ohio State football it’s one of the 36 weeks to reminisce about past seasons’ glory and speculate about this season’s chances.) How are we to recreate that sort of tradition, history, and communal fanhood if we can't keep a stadium for half the time of a historic place? How can we have parents taking children to the same stadium their parents took them if we so easily sacrifice history for fleeting glamour? Sports is mostly generational memories and tradition. Ask yourself why do you like the teams you like. Ask yourself if you'd desire to take your child to a game one day and why.
Now, I’m not one to rant without a plan. I would have taken that $230 million and purchased the land where the Lowes, National Tire and Battery, and Frisch's Big Boy stand near Mapfre. Redevelop the area into mixed use apartments, office space, and night life. Creating a new revitalized stadium district 'Mapfreville'. Develop the massive parking lots around the stadium into multi-use residential-commercial developments. Buildings with parking on the first (possibly second) floors. I would put in the application to add Mapfre to the National Register of Historic Places. I would push the cities bar scene to play away matches rather than other market sports. I would value the unique and wonderful things about our soccer club. Show the country and the other professional sports leagues that Columbus is a growing community that cares and cherishes its teams. All this to maybe one day draw the eye of an NBA, MLB, and NFL team completing the pentafecta* of the five major professional sports leagues So that one day when that fateful question is posed "Did you watch the game last night?" We, as a collective community, can reply "yes."
*except maybe not the NFL and its morally bankrupt system, but that’s for another rant.