A fire in the Columbus Crew Stadium scoreboard delayed the start of the match between the Columbus Crew and D.C. United on Saturday night.
Kick-off was previously scheduled for 7:37 p.m. ET and that start time was pushed by 50 minutes to 8:27 p.m. ET. The players took the field for warm-ups just before 8 p.m. ET.
A club statement confirmed that the Columbus Fire Department made an immediate response and promptly extinguished the small fire. No injuries were reported.
“At the moment, we had a fire in the speaker cabinet of the scoreboard. The Columbus Fire Department addressed the situation swiftly,” Crew president and GM Mark McCullers said in a club statement. “They have the fire under control; in fact they have given us the all-clear to move forward with the game.
The Crew say they are looking into the cause of the fire with authorities. In the meantime, power to the scoreboard was shut down and it was not functional during the match.
"We are working on some auxiliary sound at the moment and we are going forward with the match," McCullers continued in the statement. "Thankfully there were no injuries whatsoever thanks to our operations staff and the Columbus Fire Department. The safety of our fans, players and all attendees is always the top priority.”
For more on the scoreboard fire, check TheCrew.com.
