It's been less than a year since the doors opened on Columbus Crew Stadium to a sell-out crowd of 24,741 soccer fans who helped usher in a new era of growth for professional soccer in the United States. The business of soccer soared to new heights in 1999 with the nation's first soccer-specific venue, Crew Stadium.
Nobody wants a multi-purpose stadium any more.
Sport-specific stadiums are better venues for many reasons. Like Camden Yards, which is integrated with the character of the city of Baltimore is the prototype. Crew Stadium is the prototype for soccer and is the perfect packaging for soccer because it is sport specific. Fear not, says McCullers. The Crew and the sport of soccer as a whole remain the central focus of the facility.