The scene: Sunday, this past Mar. 6, 2016. Opening Day of the MLS Season. It was, of course, a rematch of the previous year’s MLS Cup Final, which the Portland Timbers won 2-1 over Columbus Crew SC. Columbus hosted that Cup final, but this time around, the game was in Portland. That didn’t mean, though, that in Columbus, all was quiet.
In Franklinton, the original, now-revitalizing settlement in central Ohio, spirits were high and beer was flowing. At Land Grant Brewing, Crew SC’s official watch party bubbled madly from the beginning, a few hundred friends and strangers, fellow team fans all, hoped for revenge.
Photo by Kris Landis
The match started poorly for Columbus, with the Timbers’ Diego Valeri scoring an early goal, but spirits stayed buoyant. As the half wore on, though, enthusiasm started to wane. Enter Frankie Hejduk.
You know Frankie. Former Crew SC captain. Multi-time MLS Cup winner. US Men’s National Team legend. Now he is Crew SC’s official brand ambassador, his actual job to get “out there” and get people going—and there’s no one better at it. By half-time, standing on a table, he had the entire full bar back in full voice, leading them in a rousing round of “We love ya!”
And then, 23 minutes into the second half, came the special feeling of watching your team play in a packed bar full of fellow fans. Federico Higuain took down an Ethan Finlay cross, popped it up to himself, and scored a sublime bicycle kick. To say Land Grant went crazy would be an understatement — there were high fives, even hugs, some between total strangers. The goal itself was wonderful. The joy it elicited, the feeling of togetherness — that was magic.
That magic is something the Columbus Crew SC are trying to spread as wide as possible with their newly robust bar partnership program and their pub tour. Eschewing the traditional notion of having an “official away bar” for team supporters, the Black & Gold now hold official watch parties at venues throughout Central Ohio.
It’s a part of Precourt Sports Group’s continuing effort to bring the greater Columbus metro area and its soccer team closer together. These efforts have taken many forms, from increasing the local food and drink options in MAPFRE Stadium, to the new “For Columbus” kits based off the City Seal, to a partnership with Land Grant to brew a beer for supporters.
Photo by Kris Landis
Now, the bar partnership and pub tour are aimed at bringing a high-energy, exciting experience to as many corners of Central Ohio as possible, including places you wouldn’t usually consider “soccer bars.”
“We love working with ‘non-traditional’ soccer bars,” said Andy Loughnane, Crew SC’s president of business operations. “But we hope that one day they’ll become soccer bars. We believe that viewing a live Crew SC match is the best way to turn people into soccer fans.” With the bar partnerships standing at 25 and growing across various parts of the city, the club is well on its way.
It is not just these “non-soccer” bars getting in on the fun, however. The team’s pub tour also stops at more well-known soccer-centric establishments. The Crew have partnered with Fado Irish Pub, a stalwart of the Columbus soccer scene, for Crew SC away game watch parties and USMNT matches. Beginning with the 2014 World Cup and continuing on to this year’s Copa America Centanario, Crew SC and Fado combined forces to throw some fetes so big, that the entire back parking lot of the bar was shut down to hold a giant projector screen. Crew SC players poured drinks as guest bartenders, and hundreds of USMNT fans gathered with them to watch.
“We love having [Crew SC] here,” says Scott Neff, GM of Fado. “Having them here to party is always fun. Frankie really gets people going, and it brings in a good crowd, a crowd that sees us as more a European soccer bar, and not a Crew bar. We think we’re both, and [the pub tour] gets people in here to see that.”
No doubt Crew SC fans will turn out in full force at Fado and other establishments this weekend, when their team plays away at the New England Revolution on Saturday, July 9 (7:30 pm ET, MLS LIVE). Visit columbuscrewsc.com/bars to join the fun and get a full list of participating venues.
