The Columbus Crew is a professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio that participates in Major League Soccer. The club was owned by Lamar Hunt, who also owned the Kansas City Chiefs and FC Dallas until his 2006 death, upon which his son, Clark, took over his sports properties. The Crew currently plays their home games at Columbus Crew Stadium, the first MLS soccer-specific stadium. From 1996–1999, the Crew played their home games at Ohio Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University. The name "The Crew" is the result of a local fan contest and refers to Columbus' blue collar community. The team colors are black and gold. The team mascot is Crew Cat.
The Crew has won one tournament to date, the 2002 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, defeating the 2002 MLS Cup and Supporter's Shield winner Los Angeles Galaxy 1–0. The club has reached one other final, the 1998 Open Cup, which was postponed due to a hurricane and controversially relocated from Virginia Beach to Soldier Field, the home of the Chicago Fire, who won the match in overtime 2–1. That is not the only championship the team has won, as they also won the 2004 Supporter's Shield for having the best record over the course of the regular season.
The team has 3 major support groups: "La Turbina", "Hudson Street Hooligans" and "Crew Supporters Union". These three supporters groups sit together in a section in the northeast corner of Crew Stadium, known as the Nordecke. Nordecke (pronounced Nord-eck-uh), which is German for North Corner, is a tribute to the German heritage of Columbus.
The Columbus Crew is a charter member of Major League Soccer. The club played its home matches in Ohio Stadium from its inaugural year in 1996 through 1998. Beginning in 1999, the Crew played all of its home league matches in the newly built Columbus Crew Stadium, the first soccer specific stadium for a top flight club in the United States.
The Crew won its first trophy in 2002, capturing the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, which in turn earned the club a berth in the 2003 CONCACAF Champions Cup. In 2004, the Crew won the Supporters' Shield for earning the most points during the MLS regular season.
In 2008, Crew matches are telecast locally on the Ohio News Network. Long-time Columbus Crew TV/radio announcer Dwight Burgess provides play-by-play coverage, while Dante Washington provides color commentary for home games. Bill McDermott provides color commentary for away games. Katie Witham is the sideline reporter for all games being broadcast by ONN. A number of other matches will be televised nationally on ESPN2, Fox Soccer Channel, HDNet, and Telefutura.
English radio broadcasts can be heard on WTVN (610 AM) with play-by-play done by Neil Sika and color commentary from John Bluem. Spanish radio broadcasts can be heard on Radio Sol WXOL with Marcelo CarreraRolando cam10 (talk) 05:49, 7 July 2008 (UTC). The Crew Soccer Updates air weekdays on WBWR (105.7 FM) and WRXS (106.7 FM). During the first half of the 2008 MLS season, the Crew's matches were televised by the now defunct Columbus Sports Network.
The Crew announced Glidden, an ICI Paints brand, as their presenting partner. Beginning in 2008, its logo will appear on the front of Crew game jerseys, training jerseys, t-shirts, and on other various team-related materials.
The Crew competes with Toronto FC for the "Trillium Cup" each year starting in 2008. This new cup however is not without passion, with the two fan bases becoming increasingly competitive with one another. The Opening game of the 2008 MLS season was TFC visiting Columbus with over 2000 TFC fans making a trip down to see the game. In light of this and the new Traveling trophy the Mayors of Columbus and Toronto made a bet that should their team win they would wear the others jersey at their next public appearance; Columbus won the match 2-0. Columbus currently led the all-time series 3-0-2.
