As part of our normal lives, Hubby and I have attended Major League Soccer (MLS) games in Columbus, Chicago, and Dallas. In fact, our first year living in Cincinnati, we had season tickets to the Columbus Crew. The weren’t part of the official stadium tour, but I still want to share my experiences.
My first-ever MLS game followed what is possibly the pinnacle of league soccer match experiences. Hubby and I took a trip to Spain earlier in the year, and Hubby insisted that the best way to experience Spanish culture was to attend soccer games. Having never traveled abroad before, I humored him, but he was absolutely right. We saw both Real Madrid (at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu) and FC Barcelona (at the Camp Nou), and we saw FC Barcelona win La Liga and experienced the celebration of an entire city winning a championship.
A few months later, Hubby and I visited my cousin who lived in Columbus, and knowing how much Hubby loved soccer, she suggested we go to a Crew game. The Crew was the first team with a soccer-specific stadium, so it is wholly fitting that my stadium tour began in Columbus, even if I didn’t know I had begun my tour at that time.
We got general admission seats for a late afternoon game, and sat in the stands on the opposite side of the scoreboard from the supporters section. At that time and for that game, the supporters section was just a few rows of diehard fans dressed in yellow. I don’t remember much about the game except that it paled in comparison to what I had witnessed in Spain, both in quality and in atmosphere. And yet, there was something special. I remember that parking was free, and later learned that this was something that most of the MLS teams were doing to keep the games accessible to families. I also remember seeing a lot of families at the game, something that I believe is inherent to the success of a small market team like Columbus. I remember taking a picture with a yellow man, who only asked that we tag and follow the new supporters section – The Yellow Nation Army – on Facebook. In fact, I’m pretty sure these are the two guys that started Yellow Nation Army!
Fast forward five years. The Crew make it to the MLS Cup Final (and the infamous fan’s middle finger to the camera and Don Garber, which I still love for so many reasons). Hubby and I are preparing for our move to Ohio with our infant, and Hubby decides that he really wants season tickets to the Crew for his birthday. Thankfully, my cousin still lived in Columbus with her husband and three kids, and they were more than willing to attend games, babysit, and/or provide lodging for us when we trekked from Cincinnati. So, we were 2016 Crew season ticket holders.
A lot had changed since our first game in 2010. Columbus Crew Stadium was officially named MAPFRE Stadium (and it took me the whole season to learn how to pronounce it – MAH-fray). Parking cost $15 per game. The supporters sections had multiplied and become more organized. The quality of the play on the field has improved significantly. Players from abroad had started coming to MLS to finish out their careers – players I had seen when I was in Spain, like Kaká, who had joined Orlando City. Attendance was up, but I saw fewer families at most games, especially the night games.
Games were and are fun, but the amenities of the stadium pale in comparison to some of the new entries to MLS stadiums. I like being so close to the field, but the metal benches definitely need an upgrade.
The addition of food trucks and pop up tents provided great local food and drink options, like Jeni’s ice cream, because the stadium fare was fairly standard and outdated otherwise. Mostly, though, I noticed that the crowds are hit or miss – sometimes attendance is great, and the fans are engaged in the game, and sometimes it feels like a ghost town. The schedule plays a role in that, as does the overall cost of attending a game. And as my Columbus-based cousin says, “The Crew is never on the news. You wouldn’t even know we have a team most of the time.”
Given what I saw as a season ticket holder in 2016, I wasn’t surprised by the attempt to move the team to Austin. I’m glad that it was not successful, because I hate millionaire/billionaire team owners holding sports teams hostage in order to get public funding for stadiums. Plus, this particular deal felt like MLS and the owner, Anthony Precourt, had always intended to move the team (and given that Austin was just handed an expansion team without having to go through the formal bid process, I believe that was MLS’s intention). Plus, I’m looking forward to a contentious Columbus Crew-FC Cincinnati rivalry. However, MLS and the new ownership group need to invest in the Columbus soccer market if the Crew are going to draw fans.
All that being said, MAPFRE Stadium is a great venue for US Soccer Matches. It’s a perfect size, and draws fans from Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Indiana. I saw a World Cup qualifier there in 2016, in a do or die game versus Guatemala to qualify for the Hex, and the stadium was rocking with US fans. The Crew have had that same fan experience, and I desperately want them to have that consistently. The fans are passionate and smart, and I look forward to attending more games in Columbus this year!
