What’s Wrong With Columbus?
By: Kristina | November 24th, 2009This past weekend the world tuned into the MLS Cup only to see David Beckham lose to small market team Real Salt Lake. Last year the Columbus Crew, another small market team, beat big boys Red Bull New York to take home the championship. The only difference was the Crew didn’t need extra time to take down RBNY.
However, if you ask a guy on the street he wouldn’t be able to tell you that the last team in this city to win a trophy was The Crew. So what’s wrong with Columbus? Most Crew fans get the vibe from MLS Commissioner Don Garber that the league doesn’t care about The Crew. But why, we ask?
Answer: Columbus doesn’t care!
Last year the Crew brought home the first major professional championship trophy in the history of the city and what did the Crew Front Office and Owners do? Nothing.
Let’s look at RSL……the whole week was dedicated to them and fans showed up to wish them luck at the airport when the left for Seattle and welcome them home after winning the MLS Cup. They also had a town hall presentation along with a parade and various events in the city.
Columbus, on the other hand, didn’t have fans show up at the airport to see the team off and about 300 fans greeted the team when it arrived back from Los Angeles. The next day there was a town hall presentation and that’s all.
So how the heck are we, the fans, supposed to support the team and boost numbers in the stands if team management doesn’t lead the way? Well the front office and ownership better think of ways to improve if they want to see improved support from the Columbus metro area.
When the Ohio State University throwball team won the National Championship, the whole city was behind them. They even had 10,000 fans turn out to Ohio Stadium for a special ceremony. Six years later, what does the Columbus Crew do? Nothing. There is no passion in this city for the Crew.
Yes, we all have seen the rise of the Nordecke Supporters Section but that’s not enough. People can argue over the fact that the passion is there, but really, where is it?
I am hoping that one day marketing for the Crew rises to the level of Ohio State Football, but until Team management makes that happen the city will sit back and not care as the Crew wins cups.
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Comments | Add your comment
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Interesting. If the city doesn’t support a winner, then what would happen if the team was losing?
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United States
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I’d agree 100% that the key is the team management and marketing. Look at Seattle for an example. Also, Tuesday, RSL was at the State Capitol for a big rally with the governor and the start of a big parade through downtown Salt lake and Sandy, that ended at the RSL stadium where there was a big thank you rally for the fans. It is Utah, so it was free hot chocolate and free popcorn, but all the fans got to mix with the players and have pictures taken with them and the cup. The owner and management of RSL seems to be doing things right, and so is Seattle. Columbus is a great team and deserves more attention and respect. It all starts with the owner.
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United States -
Yeah, something definitely needs to be done about marketing. Lamar Hunt, the founder of the Crew and one of the Godfathers of the league, knew that soccer would need a lot of marketing to be more than a niche sport in America. His son Clark though is used to running an NFL team, and we all know that Pro Throwball markets itself.
I think that Columbus GM Mark McCullers is doing alright with the marketing budget he’s been given, but there is still room for improvement. There is no club-sanctioned grassroots marketing, and The Ohio State University has been all but untapped.
If Mark were to let the fans do some marketing for him, with the team picking up the tab for printing flyers/posters/stickers, things could change drastically. There is a lot of creativity amongst the Crew faithful and I’m pretty sure that a lot of them would like a chance to “work for the team” (for what it’s worth, i brought that idea up at the summit the team hosted back in June, and it seemed to go over well. Maybe Mark forgot about it).
In any case, I think the club does a good job of getting the team out and about with the fans, the problem is that very few people know when the events are going to be.
But, like Kristina says, it’s all about getting Clark Hunt to open up his wallet for a few bucks to spend on marketing.
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United States -
The Crew need to tap the passion the city has for the buckeyes. Get The OSU campus involved since it’s so close and many students there grow up with the sport. Cheap student pricing would be a good incentive. When the team wins the championship you better promote the heck out of it, which wasn’t done.
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Chris – I completely agree with your comment about people not knowing when events will be.
I’ve signed up for the email newsletters, I keep up on the team site, I read the tweets (*shudder*), etc. but then I see a Facebook status update “Crew Team Gear Sale is open to the public tomorrow!” Whaa? How about some advanced notice? Same thing with all those jerseys that were being auctioned off for the Crew Soccer Foundation a couple months ago.
Being a fan shouldn’t be this hard!
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United States
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