Another absentee from the submissions was the mooted Las Vegas franchise, previously championed by the Californian businessman Mark Noorzai, the leader of an investor group that is pursuing an ownership stake in the Columbus Crew, writes Shawn Mitchell.
Noorzai had wanted an MLS franchise to be the primary tenant of a new $500 million, retractable-roof stadium/hotel/casino development in Vegas. Crew General Manager Mark McCullers told Mitchell he’d recently met representatives of the Noorzai group, and that Las Vegas’ withdrawal from 2011 expansion is “not surprising. I think it jells with everything we’ve been saying is going on.”
McCullers said the Noorzai-led group is supportive of the Crew’s ongoing attempts to secure a public-private partnership that would fund a planned training facility and community soccer complex. But progress on that front has slowed since the new investor group emerged, with public officials concerned about the safety of any future investments after there was talk that the new group’s eventual plan was to move the Crew to Vegas. How any such facility would be funded also remains a sticking point, while the current credit crunch has also slowed the progress of negotiations.