The following are quotes from the May 11 MLS media teleconference featuring MLS commissioner Doug Logan, MLS investor/operator Lamar Hunt, Columbus GM Jamey Rootes and Columbus midfielder Brian Maisonneuve. Doug Logan Opening Remarks “We’re delighted to go into a week that all of us have looked forward to for well over a year since Lamar and his family announced that they were going to build this spectacular stadium, which opens this weekend … It’ll be a real coming together of soccer and a celebration of the sport … We’re delighted to have in our offices Lamar who is much more than an investor-operator … He is the embodiment of the spirit that has propelled the league forward and has long been a patron of the sport … I don’t think the league could have gone forward without the investments made by Lamar and his family … They have doubled-down with regard to their investment and have created this wonderful stadium which we think is going to be a pioneering venture for the future for appropriate venues for our sport without the interruption of having to partner with another sport … We certainly would like to see Lamar’s partners follow his example on a city-by-city basis and follow the lead he has taken in Columbus, Ohio.” “One of the things this stadium has allowed us to do is create a bit of demand for season ticketing and we are pleased to feel confident at this point in time that before the weekend is over that the Crew will break the record of season tickets (9,078, set by the Crew in 1996) … We feel confident that we will hit and perhaps even exceed the 10,000 ticket mark … That’s important from a business standpoint because this league needs to significantly improve the sale of season tickets because that’s the heartblood of the league … Our regular customer is with us through thick and thin, weekend/weekday, good weather/bad weather … That nearly 50% of the capacity in Columbus is going to be represented by season tickets is remarkable and is a healthy step forward in our growth process.” Lamar Hunt Opening Remarks “Jamey Rootes and I have learned a lot in the last 366 days … The capacity is going to be 22,485 permanent seats … For this weekend we’ll have approximately another 1,500 people, which will include 862 construction workers and their guests … We’re providing each of the 431 workers a ticket for themselves and a guest … They’re the ones who have really built this stadium … We’ll have around 24,000 people there on Saturday … The stadium is expandable in stages and this would happen over many years, up to 40,000 capacity … The increments can be as small as 2,500 and we can add, depending where the seats are, up to 40,000 if the sport demands that.” “Until we had an open house last Saturday, no one could get in the stadium and see the seats … We had a steady stream of people for seven hours … There were about 3-5,000 people there … We tried to simulate things that relate to game operation … It was heartwarming to see … Of our 9,000 season-ticket holders, there are people from seven different states (Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois) and virtually every county in the state of Ohio … Ohio’s not a very large state, but it is second only to New York in terms of population density.” “The construction of the stadium has been ultra high-speed … We came to an agreement with the Ohio Expo center on May 14, that’s one year and one day before the stadium opens … We had our groundbreaking on August 14 (273 days out), the field was installed last October, it was grown elsewhere and cut up … We had a favorable winter and capable architects in NBBJ and Kokosi Construction … This stadium will be extremely important in the development of Major League Soccer and the development of the sport of soccer in the country … I have a lot of confidence that in the next few weeks, we will be able to exceed 10,000 season tickets.” Jamey Rootes Opening Remarks “It is an exciting weekend, the culmination of Crew Week IV … The City of Columbus has held events across the city, working with the Chamber of Commerce … On Saturday we will have a tour with MLS sponsors and league officials … The ceremony at the game begins at 7 p.m. (ET) on Saturday night, with kickoff at 7:30 p.m.” “The response from the Columbus fans has been remarkable and I think that the facility itself has enabled us to bring into the fold ticket holders who are truly passionate about the sport of soccer and the Crew specifically … Our season-ticket base has grown by 60% versus last year, and our ratio of tickets per account in 1999 is three tickets per account, compared to 6.5 in 1996 … Very few corporate blocks of tickets remain, its really the individuals who support the team and in very large numbers … We feel very optimistic that the environment that we create will bring out both hard-core soccer fans, but just like you saw in Jacobs Field in Cleveland, we’ll see the folks coming on board throughout the season have an intimate experience … This is world-class entertainment, exciting, interactive, and we should see growth throughout the season.” Brian Maisonneuve Opening Remarks “It’s hard to put into words how it feels to play in this great facility … We trained there last week … The grass is perfect, the field nice and wide, a flat surface … The atmosphere that the stadium will create is second to none … It’ll create such a fun atmosphere for the fans … Our whole team is excited and Saturday will be a day to remember for soccer in the United States.” Lamar Hunt on soccer’s viability as compared to the other four major sports “It will happen in stages and I think it will be a long time … It will happen – just look at the NBA going back 30 years … They only had nine teams, now they have 30 … It’s a great opportunity for the sport, but we need to have a larger footprint for the sport … We’re only in 12 markets right now, and that’s a small percentage compared to the other sports.” Doug Logan on ESPN2 not televising the Crew’s home opener live “I’m disappointed … We spent a large amount of time trying to negotiate with our television partner … It’s a difficult time of year to try and get the right matchups on the available slots … One of the things that occurs this time of year, from the standpoint of hockey playoffs, is that no one knew three and a half weeks ago what games were going to be scheduled on Saturday … Our television partner has an awful lot of television tonnage with regard to hockey playoffs … I wish that we could televise it live because it will be as important an event as we will have this season, but the fact that we’re able to put it up on a delayed basis is half a loaf … We have very little leverage as far as what we can exercise with our partner.” Lamar Hunt on moving Crew out of Columbus following voter refusals “Our organization and our family has tremendous confidence in the Columbus market … We had three years invested there and we did not want to leave the largest city in Ohio … We believed that it could be a good market and if we were able to have a facility that the people could be proud of that it would be well-supported.” Brian Maisonneuve on style of play at new stadium “It was tough playing in the narrow stadium … No one on our team enjoyed the narrow field, we have a skillful team and we like to kick the ball around so a bigger field is definitely better for us … The wider field will suit our purposes really well.” Lamar Hunt on what prompted him to invest in soccer “I was able to see the game on an international level and I was attracted by the crowds and their enthusiasm … Probably I was attracted to the shape of the field being so close to a football field and I saw a synergy there … Over time, properly designed football stadiums are able to handle a soccer game really well … I was able through the years to see seven of the last eight World Cups in person beginning in 1970 and I think the game has tremendous international flair and appeal… I never played the game personally.” Lamar Hunt on being lured back to the game after the NASL “Maybe I’m just a glutton for punishment … Seriously, the potential the second time around was even better because of the things that have happened in the game … The success of World Cup in 1994 and the success of the Women’s team in 1991 and at the Olympics in 1996. The sport’s recent success goes all the way back to the Olympic soccer in Los Angeles in 1984.” Brian Maisonneuve on playing seven games on the road “We knew that it would be a tough stretch … But we knew that after seven games we were coming home to our own stadium … Now that we’re done with the first seven, we have seven of the next eight at home … We knew we would come home eventually and that we would be home for awhile.” Lamar Hunt on how the fellow MLS investors feel about the stadium “I know that several are interested … The circumstances are different in every community … Certainly, the big advantage that Columbus has is that it is approximately the same size as Kansas City, but it’s a market that has no other major league team … We didn’t want to move to another city and compete against three other teams … I know that several other teams are looking at the concept of developing a smaller stadium but every one is going to be looked at differently.” Doug Logan on naming rights of new Columbus Crew Stadium “The control of that decision is entirely in the hands of Hunt Sports … I would be supportive of honoring Lamar in that way (naming the stadium after Lamar Hunt) … There are plans in the not-too-distant future to have a commercial sponsor associated with the stadium … I’d be delighted to refer to it in that way until someone comes up with a negotiable check.” Doug Logan on other cities’ construction plans “The interest was stimulated last August during our meetings in Orlando … The issue was thoroughly threshed out … The league itself has made a commitment to reciprocate to anyone who privately finances a soccer-specific stadium in the future … There is a rebate program that can rebate back to an investor as much as five percent of the construction costs from the stadium out of incremental revenues that are generated each year for 10 years … Conceivably, 50 percent of the costs of a stadium could be rebated back to an investor who chooses to take the risk and construct a privately financed, soccer-specific stadiums.” “Four teams have sent groups of planners to the Columbus Crew stadium during this process … We think that this stadium and the leap of faith that Hunt Sports took last summer will be a real catalyst that will lead to the development of one of these stadiums per year for the next four to five years … That’s our fervent hope, and we think it’s entirely possible.” Jamey Rootes on business advantages “From the fan’s perspective is the entertainment we’re able to provide … The fans are right down on the field (24 feet at midfield and eight feet in the corners) … Having 22,500 seats provides an intimate environment for the fans … That’s what people fork over their money for is to have an exciting, interactive sporting event to participate in.” “The biggest benefit is to provide European atmosphere with the amenities that fans have come to expect, and it’s paid off … You see our season ticket base jumping 60 percent and our corporate base of support has doubled … The way we are perceived in the community has changed dramatically from last year to this year … We are truly perceived as one of the major-league sports entities that will be in this community for many years to come.” Doug Logan on co-tenancy and other team’s following the Crew’s lead “I believe that Lamar had it right in saying that every market is different … Going out another 8-10 years, the majority of our communities will gravitate towards stadiums of this type … But where we have common ownership, such as Kansas City or New England where teams share a stadium, it is much different than being the third tenant or sharing with another sport … Every situation is different.” Lamar Hunt on Lockhart Stadium’s design and its influence “That was a positive influence and they did a good job there … The difference is that they took an older facility and remodeled it … They don’t have the natural site that we have in Columbus, we have 9,000 parking places and we had to build no parking, no access roads, no entrance ramps, they all existed at the Fairgrounds which has been at that location for over 100 years … We have a location that’s on an interstate freeway with 48,000 cars going by each day.” “Their field is a beautiful field and their intimacy is quite nice … Unfortunately they have not had the good fortune ticket-sales wise as we did in Columbus.” “Miami is a much more difficult market than most in this country … There’s so much going on … They, like everyone else, have to do a better job of marketing and group sales … We have a rare opportunity in Miami, it’s just difficult to seize and grab hold of it.” Doug Logan on Fusion foreign roster spot “We’ve had numerous discussions … Mickey Trotman is a player that could be the solution, at least temporarily .. He’s being looked at in Miami and in LA … He’s one of two MLS players to have scored in Trinidad’s 2-0 win against South Africa … There have been more than a handful of rumors to the availablilty of Welton … We are investigating two to three players on their behalf.” Doug Logan on reports of Bebeto going to the MetroStars “That’s the annual Bebeto rumor … There have been no discussions between the league office and the representatives of Bebeto.” Doug Logan on the Fusion’s struggles and concern within the league “The struggles at the gate that the Fusion face don’t have anything to do with the fact that Carlos Valderrama was not deemed to play a role in their future … There are struggles in the marketplace that are being addressed … Anyone who is looking for a quick fix of a single player to cure box-office woes doesn’t understand that this is a business of hard work selling season tickets, group tickets, 2-3 tickets at a time.” “We are working cooperatively to help the Fusion fill a roster spot short-term and perhaps even a different one long-term … but that’s not being done to try and do any quick fix at the gate.” Lamar Hunt on growth of soccer-specific stadiums as it pertains to Kansas City “I would doubt it would be feasible in Kansas City … The success there has to come in a different fashion … We’ve just completed an amalgamation of the marketing staffs of the Wizards and Chiefs … It doesn’t make any financial sense to build a small stadium from scratch there.” “Every player in the league is going to like what they see in Columbus … Players and coaches have an enlightened attitude, very much like the AFL, where everyone is pulling for each other to be successful … But I don’t think that people with the Wizards are going to be jealous … They will look at it as a positive asset for the league.” Doug Logan on the MetroStars’ foreign allocation “We are waiting for Charlie and Bora to identify what player they want to pursue … There have been informal conversations regarding a host of players, but no specific request to sign a specific player has come through.” Lamar Hunt on acquiring a third MLS team “It’s not something we’re considering … We have our hands full with the investment to the two teams and the stadium … We’ve got a long way to go in Kansas City to make it as ‘successful’ as Columbus is, and I do think the Columbus is going to be a bright, shining star this year.” Doug Logan on the quality of play, as affected by the reduction in the number of foreign players “That’s not the case at all … All you have to do is list the specific fifth member of each team that was let go or not contracted for and contrast that against the emergence of a fine crop of young players who have joined us this season and I personally don’t think there’s any validity to that.” Doug Logan on Jorge Campos’ future with MLS “He’s taking a one-week vacation and we’ll talk next week … The difficulty is that he has commitments to play in international competitions with the Mexican national team.”