Editor's Note: Ahead of the Columbus Crew's final game at Historic Crew Stadium on Saturday, we're resharing Sam Jones' story on the roots and history of the iconic stadium, written ahead of the 2020 Eastern Conference Final.
The end is undeniably near.
For the Columbus Crew, the task is to ensure that Sunday’s Eastern Conference Final against the New England Revolution (3 pm ET | TV & streaming info) is not the final postseason game at their historic home. They would like the finale to be the biggest game of all: MLS Cup on Dec. 12.
For that to happen, New England will need to be defeated. And, as they look to achieve that aim, they may well be looking to draw upon the memory of the very first game at MAPFRE.
On May 15, 1999, Columbus beat New England by the 2-0 scoreline it would eventually become famous for. MAPFRE, originally known as Crew Stadium, welcomed 24,741 fans that day for the first match at a soccer-specific stadium in MLS history. Before those fans packed in, the game and the stadium itself felt like a moment.
“I can vividly remember sitting next to John Harkes on a flight,” former Revolution defender Brian Dunseth said. “The approach pattern of Columbus airport took us right over the stadium the day before. And I just remember thinking, ‘Holy s---. MLS is taking a huge, huge step forward tomorrow. How amazing is it that we get to be a part of it?’”
Dunseth started for New England in that game and eventually spent two seasons playing in MAPFRE as a member of the Crew, but that flyover view almost never happened. The Crew spent years trying to get the stadium off the ground, because they couldn’t get the right site finalized.
The club lost on a ballot initiative to raise public funds for the stadium in two separate places, first in 1997 and then in 1998. They finally found a home at the Ohio Expo Center and State Fairgrounds in Northwest Columbus. While stadiums these days are often surrounded by bars and restaurants, Crew Stadium would be right next to Interstate 71 and a historical model of a 19th-century schoolhouse.
MAPFRE Stadium became the de-facto host of US men's national team vs. Mexico World Cup qualifiers | Pablo Maurer
No one cared, not yet anyway. The lack of much of anything but a nearby Lowe’s Home Improvement store in the surrounding area is one reason why the Crew are moving into a brand-new stadium in 2021. One in downtown Columbus’s Arena District. But in 1999, the Crew had their own stadium and that’s what mattered.
The Crew spent their first few seasons of existence playing in Ohio Stadium, the home of Ohio State football. The 100,000 capacity stadium with plenty of scarlet and grey didn’t quite feel like home. Outside or inside. The Crew had to use the football team’s locker room on match day and clear out afterward.
Longtime Crew forward Jeff Cunningham remembers that finally getting to leave belongings in lockers added to the sense of belonging they had in the new stadium. But what really made the new surroundings comfortable were the fans who had taken up a new residence just feet from the field.
“It became more intimate. The fans were obviously closer to the pitch and it just felt like it's home, you know?” Cunningham said. “You go to someone else's house no matter what they do, I don't care, it's not yours. Finally, we had our own place.”
Cunningham and Crew Stadium got acquainted very quickly. Cunningham scored the first goal at a soccer-specific stadium in MLS just nine minutes into the match. Like the stadium, he nearly didn’t find himself there. Starting forward Brian McBride had picked up an injury a few games before. But Cunningham found a cross coming his way, brought it down and then thumped it from close range and into the back of the net.
“Can't take that from me, man. Just how things kind of played out in hindsight, it was just meant to be for me,” Cunningham said. “Having that memory now, and then that being such a big part of my accomplishment, it’s a valued and an important memory, something I can share with my kids. It was meant to be written in stars. It was meant to be there.”
Fans and opposing players also got the chance to take in a soccer-specific stadium and big moment. ESPN2 broadcasted the game, and Columbus and the Revolution weren’t often televised.
“I remember running out and warming up and just being like ‘Damn, Columbus has some fans.’ You felt like the fans were on top of you. To be in Columbus and be out there for warmups and to see the cameras and know you’re going to be on national television, it was important,” Dunseth said. “To see the belief that [Crew owner] Lamar Hunt had to put that kind of money up to build that stadium, it was like ‘Yeah, we made it.’”
Fans were equally impressed. Whether it was the noise, or the pregame tifo, or the stadium itself, or the inexplicable giant cat mascot, being there at the stadium that day meant you were a part of something special.
“There's two things that stuck out to me,” longtime Columbus fan Nate Beckman said. “One was the towering lights. Like the four towering lights that kind of bend into the stadium totally reminded me of all the soccer stadiums that I saw from FIFA. When I saw those lights, I'm like, ‘Oh, this [is] for real. This is for real! We have a real soccer stadium.
“Then when you sat down in your seat, I would say I was shocked. I don't know if everybody was shocked. I was shocked at how close I was. I had never seen how the rest of the world treated games or built stadiums.”
Not everything went perfect that night. The first effort at getting cars back onto the road went poorly enough that a local alternative paper made it their lead story instead of the actual soccer game.
Not everything would be perfect the rest of the way either. Fans would deal with aluminum seats, no overhead coverings protecting them from the elements, a press box that left reporters regularly blinded by the sun and wary of rain leaking through, a lot of drives away from the city and more. But MAPFRE became a home and an icon in American soccer.
The COVID-19 pandemic has meant most games at MAPFRE Stadium in 2020 have been played without fans | USA Today Sports Images
“It doesn't compare well to Mercedes-Benz Stadium or Banc of California Stadium. But it was ours. The benches were gold and black and we had The Nordecke,” longtime fan Matt Bernhardt said. “The fact that we were now hosting international games at the stadium in addition to other games felt good. This is the kind of thing that we're going to be able to see coming. And we knew the All-Star Game was coming, we knew the MLS Cup game was coming. These were the kinds of things Columbus was never set up to host before.”
Now those major games at MAPFRE might be coming to an end. The Crew can give their fans one more MLS Cup if they get a win over New England on Sunday, but that’s not a given. It’s also still to be confirmed if we’ll see them back in MAPFRE with fans before the new stadium arrives next summer. We definitely won’t see them on this big of a stage.
However, it won’t be the end for MAPFRE. The stadium is being repurposed into the club’s training ground and will still have the ability to host other games.
“There were more than knots in my stomach when I was considering the fact that they may, you know, fold the stadium and turn it into, like, a parking lot of a Target,” Beckman said. “Now it’s like when a horse wins the derby and then they just send it out to be a stud the rest of his life and chill out, you know, and hook up with lady horses. I'm really happy that it's going to be maintained in its physical form.”
Even if it’s still around, it won’t be the same to not have MAPFRE be the Crew’s home. After 21 years, the club is understandably moving onto better things. But for better or worse, it will never be the same.
“Selfishly, I would have liked to see it in use 10, 15 years from now to go back to the stadium and have that part continue. But there are always changes that need to happen,” Cunningham said. “I’m sure it’s going to be a part of the history that continues with the organization. But yeah, just that stadium, man. It’s part of MLS. I don’t know who I’m going to feel to be able to experience that anymore."
