COLUMBUS, Ohio - Major League Soccer keeps striving to become a better, higher-profile league -- and it keeps using Columbus to help its long-term goals.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber was at Crew Stadium on Thursday to announce that, for the second straight year, Columbus will host the MLS Business Summit from Sept. 10-12. The event, designed to bring together MLS employees at the league office and from the member clubs, is structured around the U.S. National Team World Cup Qualifying match vs. Mexico.
Garber said the event will bring 250-300 employees to Columbus, which he said is "a market close to our heart."
"The Crew is an original MLS franchise and one that helped us establish stability and get us to where we are today," Garber said. "We have 14 soccer-specific stadiums now and we might not have any...if not for this one."Garber knows he's speaking boldly when he outlines his vision for MLS to be regarded as one of the world's top soccer leagues by 2022. He said it's possible because North America is a "powerful, powerful continent with great interest in the sport" and the MLS is entrenched in cities like Columbus -- "markets exploding with their interest in soccer."
Crew Stadium has long been a key location for MLS and U.S. Soccer efforts and events, and all involved hope to keep it that way.
"We are proud to have been selected once again to host the MLS Business Summit in Columbus," Crew president and general manager Mark McCullers said. "It continues to be a strong endorsement from the League and weíre honored that it recognizes all of the hard-earned positive momentum being enjoyed right now by both the Crew and the city of Columbus."
