(The Center Square) The city of Columbus and Franklin County have approved $50 million in public funding for a professional women’s soccer team to start play in the city in 2028.
The money will help pay for construction of a team training facility at McCoy Park and improvements to the home of the Columbus Crew, Scotts Miracle Grow Field, where the National Women’s Soccer League team would play.
“When a city gets an NWSL franchise, it doesn’t just get a team,” Franklin County Commissioner Erica Crowley said before the commission approved its $25 million share of the funding. “It signals to the rest of the country the caliber and the type of community we all want to be. It makes Columbus one of the few cities in the country where the full story of American soccer – men’s and women’s is being written at the highest level.”
As part of the agreement to come to Columbus, the owners of the women’s team have promised to spend $12 million over the next 25 years for early childhood education and food insecurity, Franklin County officials said Tuesday.
Commission chair John O’Grady said he initially opposed the soccer contract after the team owners rejected the “community benefits” agreement.
“When the ownership group agreed to the community benefit agreement, it became a really good deal on behalf of the residents of this county,” O’Grady said. “I could not possibly say no to this deal.
Commissioners said the $25 million will be public money but not tax money. It will come from fees charged by the county, not taxes, and will not require a tax increase.
But Columbus citizen D.J. Byrnes told the commission that the deal is still a public subsidy to the rich.
“For the last 30 years, the billionaire class has propagated this scam on municipalities, states and America itself,” he said. “If you look at the research, it’s a scam. It is nothing more than public money going to private profits.”
He challenged the commissioners to invest the money instead into some of the poor neighborhoods of Columbus.
“What could $25 million do for this city?” Byrnes asked. “People in this city are struggling. I can take you to the westside right now and show you how $25 million could be spent rather than some Astroturf campaign with a bunch of stooges coming up here pretending this is some opportunity.”
An NWSL team would generate $118 million in taxes over 30 years, create hundreds of jobs and “show Columbus girls and women that we believe – and invest—in them,” Columbus spokeswoman Jenifer Fenning told The Center Square. “Everyone agrees this is a once-in-a-decades opportunity. Mayor Andrew Ginther remains focused on working with the ownership group, the community, county commissioners and council to get this right, so Columbus can win this transformative opportunity.”
