Columnist Michael Arace is tentatively assured to find that the potential new part-owners of the Columbus Crew are apparently not interested in moving the franchise to Las Vegas.
Arace and Dispatch beat reporter Shawn Mitchell talked to agent Dave Whinham, representative of Mark Noorzai, who is the man with plans to build a $500 million hotel, leisure and sports complex in Vegas. Whinham told them that he wanted to counter some of the “wild speculation” about the Crew’s future, and to clarify that “the Noorzai group that is pursuing an expansion team for Nevada is the Las Vegas Sports and Entertainment Group — and it is separate from Crew Sports Holdings, the group that is pursuing a piece of the Crew.”
Arace points up the “important distinction” and says he is inclined to believe it, but will remain skeptical until “Noorzai shows up and speaks directly to Crew fans.” He reports further that Whinham indicated “deep commitment to Columbus on the part of the prospective new owners. He said the group will include local investors, more of whom are being lined up. He indicated that Noorzai might even move his family to the area.” All of this is “good news if it is true,” says Arace, because “a greater breadth of local owners would mean the best interests of a Columbus franchise are being served.”
Nonetheless, if Noorzai has stakes in both the Crew and a future Vegas franchise, that doesn’t fit with the MLS plan to end owners having stakes in multiple franchises. Hunt Sports Group will still run the Crew and FC Dallas. “One must guess there is a long-range plan where all of this is cleaned up,” writes Arace. “Hopefully, a plan that includes a change to wholly local ownership of the Crew — but given the strange and secretive way the MLS [sic] conducts its business, who can know?”