‘It leaves a bad taste in my mouth’: Columbus embraces NWSL while questioning the cost

S ports fans’ connection to their team of choice is usually strengthened by high points – wins, championships and the like. For Emily Kegg and thousands of other Columbus Crew fans, their connection was reinforced by a potential loss of their team itself. When the Crew’s then-ownership group and Major League Soccer threatened to relocate the team to Texas in 2017, Kegg and her family were eager to join the grassroots movement to Save the Crew . They made friends through the effort to keep the team in the city, bonding over a shared love of soccer. In late 2018, when a new ownership group announced it intended to buy the team and keep it in Columbus , Kegg decided to stay involved. Now she’s the community director of the Nordecke, the supporters’ group of just under 600 members that coalesced during Save the Crew. The Nordecke are a passionate bunch, and in April, they were given a new reason to cheer. The National Women’s Soccer League announced Columbus as the location of the league’s 18th team, to begin playing in 2028. “We put all of our heart into our team,” Kegg told the Guardian. “We want to do that for the women’s team too.” But the incoming team is evoking mixed feelings for many supporters. The weeks leading up to the allocation of the team were marked by controversial local politics, as city and county officials grappled with how to appease the billionaire ownership group, the league and the city’s residents. …