Save The Crew inspires national bill to keep teams local
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A newly introduced bill is inspired in part by Save The Crew. Photo: Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The movement that saved the Columbus Crew has inspired national legislation to help other cities do the same.
Why it matters: The Home Team Act, newly introduced in the U.S. House, would require owners of professional sports teams to give their community a chance to buy the team before relocating — a move inspired by Save The Crew and an Ohio law.
Catch up quick: Former Crew owner Anthony Precourt attempted to move the soccer team to Austin in 2017.
- Fans rallied around the Save The Crew cause, while Ohio attorneys and politicians supported the movement via a 1996 law designed in the wake of the Browns' relocation to Baltimore.
- That law required owners who accepted public funds to provide six months' notice for a move and to allow locals to purchase the team.
- The result was Haslam Sports Group's 2018 acquisition of the Crew. Precourt was given an expansion franchise in Austin.
Driving the news: Last week, U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D-Austin) and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) introduced the Home Team Act, designed "to keep professional sports franchises in their home communities."
- Like Ohio's legislation, the act would require owners to give local buyers the chance to purchase the team for "a fair and reasonable price, as assessed by a team of appraisers" before moving it.
The intrigue: Casar was a member of the Austin City Council during the Save The Crew saga, an experience that inspired this bill, he told The New Yorker.
- "Casar viewed the [Columbus] outcome as not only good but just," the New Yorker writes.
Flashback: Sanders' involvement with the bill is partially inspired by the demoralizing experience of losing the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles at 16.
What they're saying: Morgan Hughes, a Save The Crew founder and regular spokesperson, is heartened by the movement's impact reaching beyond Ohio, and tells Axios he's happy to see Casar "on the right side of history."
- "No city should be held hostage by billionaires," he says. "In a just world, this commonsense bill would pass both houses and be signed into law tomorrow."
Yes, but: In a Republican-majority House, a bill introduced by progressive Democrats is unlikely to progress — for now.
The bottom line: Save The Crew is one of the only successful movements to keep a team from relocating in modern history.
- Now, Washington will decide if the nation will follow Columbus' example.