Grahame Jones From The LA Times: Link Here
"Unless the Columbus front office gets its act together, there pretty soon might not be a need for a Columbus front office.With MLS intent on expanding its footprint, and with teams such as Toronto FC selling out every game and Seattle Sounders FC having 14,000 season ticket deposits a year before it plays its first match, the league has other options.One of them would be to relocate the Crew. Despite having its own stadium, a quotable coach in Schmid (what the hell does that have to do with anything?), a halfway decent collection of players and a lock on a small market that doesn't have much else going for it on the professional level, Columbus still is unable to sell out its 20,145-seat stadium.The Crew, claimed(want to talk about all the LA Galaxy claimed saleouts with 6,000 empty seats?) an average of 15,230 in 2007, its 12th season in town, but had a record-low turnout of 6,733 for its victory over Chivas. The bad weather was only partly to blame.Unless those sort of numbers are reversed, the Crew one day might well find itself in, say, Montreal, whose new stadium opens in a few weeks."

Hey Grahame Jones why don't we look at LA's 20,426 INFLATED attendance against TFC on Sunday with Beckham! Or your lifeless 20,000 (in actuality more like 13,000) crowd that lacks all remnants of anything regarding passion when it comes to soccer. Would you like to trade supporters groups? Huh? Ohh Grahame old buddy old pal.

LA GALAXY'S FIERCE SUPPORT:

Wow, pretty damn pathetic. VERSUS COLUMBUS:


I wonder if idiots like Grahame Jones ever take a look at MLS game highlights before writing their garbage? I would never trade 7,000 hardcore Crew supporters for 13,000 Galaxy fans out for a Sunday afternoon snooze. And, our weather was shitty but I guess educated journalists like Mr. Jones have not figured out yet that average Americans don't come to soccer games in 40 degree rain with 30 mph winds.

I would rather be a Columbus fan with our REAL supporters group and with an actually entertaining team at the moment then an LA (Rather be at a funeral) Fan.

Additionally, Mr. Jones and Other Crew Haters, I could think of many teams losing alot more money today then the Crew like:
1.) New York Red Bulls
2.) DC United
3.) Houston Dynamo
4.) Kansas City Wizards
5.) San Jose Earthquakes
6.) Real Salt Lake
7.) Chivas USA (much less fans over the last few years then CBUS)

Possibly:
7.) New England
8.) Chicago (As Crew has many more corporate sponsorships then both)

Teams More Likely To Move:
1.) Houston Dynamo
2.) Kansas City Wizards
3.) Chivas USA
4.) DC United

Attendance doesn't matter as much as Crew haters would like to imagine, as Houston who gets 30,000 in the playoffs, could move if they don't get help from the city to build a stadium, story here. Then Kansas City is playing in a MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL FIELD WITH 9,000 seats! Then Chivas USA even with a winning team couldn't bring anyone to their stadium last year and were outgrossed by Columbus by 3 or 4 thousand. And, D.C. United (although they won't be moving as it would be a huge blow to MLS) have no stadium really after next season, if not before, as RFK is going to be demolished.

With this in mind, I rather be in the Crew's stituation then these teams or most of the rest of the league for that matter. Because all it really takes for the Crew is a winning season(won't work for Chivas) and better weather to improve gate numbers. Additionally, the Crew actually get to keep all their revenue, unlike half the league in NFL stadiums or minor league baseball fields.

Furthermore, does any of these idiots look at a cities population. 3.8 Million in Los Angeles compared to 700,000 in Columbus. If you look at the English league these idiots might be shocked that Manchester United has a 76,000 seat stadium while Scunthrope United doesn't as well have a 76,000 seat stadium, but instead only has a 9,183 seat stadium. But, surprisingly you don't see Manchester United fans acosting Scunthrope fans about their numbers. And, the Crew numbers probably look pretty damn good to Scunthrope fans but I doubt they are dealing with MOVE Scunthrope demands every week.

One would also think in a city with 3.8 million people that you could find 27,000 souls to watch the ONE and ONLY Beckham play on a Sunday. Like what the hell is there to do on a Sunday? Not much really but to go to church. And, I would never trade your 13,000 on Sunday for the Crew's 7,000 on Saturday which actually represents a greater percentage of the Columbus overall population. I'm additionally a firm believer in quality over quantity in regards to fans. Look at those images real closely, who do you think will be with their team through thick and thin? I would go with the Columbus fan.

I know that Columbus attendance needs to be improved. But, does anyone look at all the numbers before starting, "well they should move Columbus to Montreal" threads or articles? If your going to make a statement this heavy without looking at any facts or having any actual evidence to back it up, then you my friend are a moron. These haters seem to not even realize that the Crew is making more money(or rather losing less money) then about 75% percent of the teams in MLS! Additionally, do any of these guys realize that out of the 30 games that I drove from Pennsylvania for over the last three years that the Crew have only won three or four. If that would have happened to any other team in MLS and if any other team had to deal with Jim Smith and Greg Andrulis then I would be shocked if you had any fans left. But, hey we keep on coming. And, if we continue to win, make the playoffs for ONCE, and schedule games when it isn't fourty degrees out then maybe we will have close to sale outs again.

Btw, has there ever been one real factual news story out of MLS HQ that has the Crew ever moving? Nope. Can't say the same for Houston. So keep dreaming and hating on Columbus, btw I'll direct you to a thread where you can pine over our unprobable demise. If we can survive the last three years we have nothing to worry about. Can't say the same for a lot of other teams. So it might just be jealously.