Crew owners maintain Austin plan after Columbus attracts potential investment

News of the Columbus Crew possibly staying put in Ohio won't halt plans to establish Austin FC some 1,200 miles southwest.

Amid confirmation from Major League Soccer that a group consisting of Cleveland Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam is in talks to take over the Crew and keep them in Columbus, the team's current owners Precourt Sports Ventures released a statement, courtesy of Andrew Erickson of the Columbus Dispatch.

With the recent news of a possible investor group stepping into Columbus, Austin FC is on the verge of becoming the first major sports franchise in the history of Austin.

PSV has made remarkable progress in Austin, and when the definitive agreement with the City of Austin is finalized, MLS in Austin will be a reality. Regardless of the possibility of any bona fide investor group in Columbus closing on a transaction to assume operating rights to Columbus Crew SC, Austin FC will be playing MLS matches in the Texas state capital in the near future. The club will likely begin playing at a date no later than the spring 2021 opening of the new, privately-financed stadium and soccer park at McKalla Place.

Wednesday will mark one year to the day when Anthony Precourt, CEO of Precourt Sports Ventures, shocked Crew fans by announcing his intentions to relocate the franchise to Austin if it failed to move into a new stadium in downtown Columbus. Precourt's announcement persuaded Columbus supporters to fight back with the Save the Crew movement hopes of keeping the team where it is.

According to ESPN's Jeff Carlisle, the Haslam family intends to keep the Crew's personnel intact from the squad to the front office, if negotiations prove successful.

The prospective owners have already discussed locations to build a new stadium in downtown Columbus, a source with knowledge of the situation told Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl.