Historic Crew Stadium, previously known as Columbus Crew Stadium and Mapfre Stadium, is a
soccer-specific stadium
Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi- ...
in
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
, United States. It primarily served as the home stadium of the
Columbus Crew
The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...
of
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
from 1999 until 2021, when the team moved to
Lower.com Field
Lower.com Field is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It serves primarily as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer, replacing the club's previous home, Historic Crew Stadium. The new stadium cost $ ...
. The Historic Crew Stadium is the current home of the Crew's training facility, the
OhioHealth
OhioHealth is a not-for-profit system of hospitals and healthcare providers located in Columbus, Ohio and surrounding areas. The system consists of 12 hospitals, 200+ ambulatory sites, hospice, home health, medical equipment and other health serv ...
Performance Center and
MLS Next Pro
MLS Next Pro is a men's professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer. It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and will expand to 28 in 2023. The league comprises 27 reserve sides for MLS clubs ...
team
Columbus Crew 2
Columbus Crew 2 is a professional soccer team based in Columbus, Ohio that competes in the MLS Next Pro league, the third division of American soccer. The team is owned by, and operates as the reserve team of the Major League Soccer club Columbu ...
. Historic Crew Stadium is also the site of a variety of additional events in amateur and professional soccer, American football, lacrosse, and rugby, and is a regular site for outdoor concerts due to the permanent stage in the north end zone.
Built in 1999, it was the first soccer-specific stadium built by a
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
team, starting an important trend in MLS stadium construction. The stadium was named for
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
-based
Mapfre Insurance after the company signed a 5-year sponsorship agreement announced on March 3, 2015. In December 2020, the deal expired and the Crew renamed the stadium. The listed
seating capacity
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
is 19,968. In 2015, Mapfre Stadium and Director of Grounds Weston Appelfeller were honored with the prestigious Field of the Year award by the Sports Turf Managers Association (STMA) for the professional soccer division.
History
The Crew played their first three seasons at
Ohio Stadium on the campus of the
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
. During games, large sections of the stadium were blocked off to reduce capacity from approximately 90,000 to 25,243. Although the Crew enjoyed success at Ohio Stadium during their tenure there, the large seating capacity and limitations to the field size made the stadium ill-suited for soccer. Additionally, Ohio Stadium then required rented lights for night matches. These problems, along with planned renovations to Ohio Stadium, which began in 1999, were all factors in the development of Historic Crew Stadium. The construction cost of US$28.5 million was covered entirely with private funds from Crew owner and oil billionaire
Lamar Hunt
Lamar Hunt (August 2, 1932 – December 13, 2006) was an American businessman most notable for his promotion of American football, soccer, and tennis in the United States.
He was the principal founder of the American Football League (AFL) and ...
and his Hunt Sports group. It is located on the grounds of the Ohio Expo Center and
State Fairgrounds, between East 17th Avenue and East Hudson Street. The site was previously home to Columbus Auto Parts, an
OEM
An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...
factory supplying the automobile industry, which stood vacant for decades between the
Conrail railroad tracks and
Interstate 71
Interstate 71 (I-71) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes/Midwestern and Southeastern region of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 64 in Kentucky, I-64 and ...
before its demolition in the '90s.
Historic Crew Stadium opened on May 15, 1999, as Columbus Crew Stadium with a match between the home side and the
New England Revolution
The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...
. It is the second
soccer-specific stadium
Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi- ...
built in the country, after
Steel Athletic Field was built in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1913, and the first Major League Soccer stadium constructed in the United States. It has been credited with inspiring the wave of construction of soccer-specific stadiums throughout the league. In the 2010 Showcase issue of ''Stadia Magazine'', Ian Nuttall stated "Who'd have thought when it opened in 1999 that
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
's first purpose-built stadium would kick-start the wave of dedicated soccer-specific stadiums that continue today?" The seating capacity was originally 22,555 until 2008 when construction of a permanent stage in the north end zone reduced seating capacity to 20,455, with room to expand to 30,000 total seats for concerts. The current seating capacity for a soccer game is 19,968.
After nearly 15 years of the stadium not having a corporate sponsor, the Crew announced naming rights were sold to
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
-based insurance company
Mapfre
Mapfre, S.A. (, officially typeset MAPFRE) is a Spanish multinational insurance company, based in Majadahonda, Madrid. The name comes from the old mutual origin of the company (''Mutualidad de la Agrupación de Propietarios de Fincas Rústicas ...
on March 3, 2015. The team had been searching to sell stadium naming rights since it opened in 1999, but had been unable to come to an agreement. Mapfre maintains an office in Columbus and has its U.S. base in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
.
Events
In addition to hosting the Crew SC home games, Historic Crew Stadium has also hosted other Major League Soccer and professional soccer events. It was the site of the
2001 MLS Cup championship and was the host stadium for the
Major League Soccer All-Star Game
The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from Liga MX. MLS initially adopted a traditional all-star gam ...
in
2000 and
2005. The stadium also hosted the
U.S. Open Cup final on two occasions, in
1999 and
2002.
Both the United States
men's and
women's
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...
national teams have played numerous matches at Historic Crew Stadium, most notably, the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier in February 2001 between the U.S. and Mexico known as ''La Guerra Fria'' (The Cold War) due to sub-freezing temperatures. During the
2003 Women's World Cup, the stadium was one of the venues used during the group stage of the tournament. In 2018, Mapfre Stadium was one of three sites selected to host the SheBelieves Cup.
Historic Crew Stadium has also hosted events outside of professional soccer. The
NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship
The NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, sometimes known as the College Cup, is an American intercollegiate soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I men's national champi ...
was held at Crew Stadium in 2001 and 2003. In 2002, it hosted the
Steinfeld Cup
The Steinfeld Trophy was a trophy given annually to the winners of the Major League Lacrosse
Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere ...
, the championship game of
Major League Lacrosse
Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff ...
. In June 2010, Historic Crew Stadium hosted the inaugural USA
Sevens Rugby Collegiate Championship Invitational.
The venue was a regular site for
Ohio High School Athletic Association state championship tournaments in soccer. In the local Columbus area, it is the site for the annual
Westerville Football Classic, featuring the
Westerville Central,
Westerville North,
Westerville South, and
New Albany football teams. It has also been host to the local high school football rivalry of parochial schools
Bishop Watterson High School
Bishop Watterson High School is a parochial, college preparatory high school located in Columbus, Ohio.
History
Bishop Watterson High School, founded in 1954 under the auspices of the Diocese of Columbus, is a co-educational college preparator ...
and
St. Francis DeSales High School.
International soccer
2003 FIFA Women's World Cup
The
2003 FIFA Women's World Cup was played in the United States. Historic Crew Stadium hosted several group game matches.
U.S. women's national soccer team
U.S. men's national soccer team
![mapfre-stadium-hosts-USA-Mexico_11-11-2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Mapfre-stadium-hosts-USA-Mexico_11-11-2016.JPG)
Since the opening of Historic Crew Stadium, it has been a regular site for the
United States men's national soccer team
The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF.
The U.S. team ha ...
matches, hosting ten games through 2013. The men's national team held an unbeaten record of 8–3–0 in all competitions, outscoring opponents 19–1. This was until the U.S. was beaten by
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
on
Veterans Day
Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces (who were discharged under conditions other than d ...
2016.
The stadium has hosted five consecutive World Cup qualifying matches against Mexico, with the U.S. winning four of the five matches by the same score of 2–0 (with the U.S. fans adopting the rallying cry of ''
dos-a-cero'').
The national team was beaten by Mexico on November 11, 2016, by a score of 1–2, prompting Mexico's first ever win in Columbus, and the U.S.'s first World Cup qualifying defeat on home soil in 15 years. It hosted a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Guatemala on March 29, 2016, which the US won, 4–0.
MLS Cup Finals
Since the opening of Historic Crew Stadium, it has hosted three MLS Cup Finals, once as a neutral site, and twice as home side
Columbus Crew SC
The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...
played host. The latter two occurred following a 2012 MLS rules change which did away with a neutral site for the Final, and instead has the club with the best overall regular-season record hosting the match.
Concerts
The stadium hosts numerous concerts annually, most notably
Rock on the Range
Rock on the Range was an annual rock festival that was held at two locations. The first and main location was in Columbus, Ohio, United States at Mapfre Stadium (originally Columbus Crew Stadium; renamed in 2015) from 2007 to 2018, while the ...
, an annual festival of performances by rock bands that was held from 2007 to 2018, and replaced by
Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival
Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival is a hard rock and metal festival held in Columbus, Ohio, United States, at the Historic Crew Stadium. The inaugural festival was held in May 2019, replacing the previously annual Rock on the Range. Sonic Temple ...
in 2019. Concerts by
Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts is an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second cou ...
also closed out the
Ohio State Fair
The Ohio State Fair is one of the largest state fairs in the United States, held in Columbus, Ohio during late July through early August. As estimated in a 2011 economic impact study conducted by Saperstein & Associates; the State Fair contribute ...
in 2006, 2007, and 2009. A permanent stage, built in 2008, was constructed in the north end of the stadium to accommodate concerts after the closing of
Germain Amphitheater
The Germain Amphitheater (originally the Polaris Amphitheater) was a 20,000-seat outdoor entertainment venue located in Columbus, Ohio, near the suburb of Westerville. The venue opened as part of a large development venture off of Interstate High ...
. The addition replaced about 2,100 seats in the north end.
Post-Crew
![Drone Last Game at Historic Crew Stadium](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Drone_Last_Game_at_Historic_Crew_Stadium.jpg)
As part of the new ownership proposal for the Crew unveiled in 2018, the club announced plans to build a new stadium, eventually known as
Lower.com Field
Lower.com Field is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It serves primarily as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer, replacing the club's previous home, Historic Crew Stadium. The new stadium cost $ ...
, west of the
Arena District
The Arena District is a mixed-use planned development and neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio. The site was developed through a partnership between Nationwide Realty Investors, Ltd. (a subsidiary of Nationwide), the City of Columbus and private inves ...
near Downtown Columbus. At the time of the proposal, the new stadium would seat 20,000 spectators and include 30 suites and 1,900 club seats. Construction on the new stadium began in October 2019. With the new stadium having opened on July 3, 2021, Historic Crew Stadium was to be redeveloped into the Crew's training center and community sports park, as well as a concert venue. The OhioHealth Performance Center training facility opened in June 2021, but the stadium still remains.
In 2020, a new authority will own Historic Crew Stadium and its adjacent city sports park, with the team continuing to control the stadium in terms of its use as a practice facility. The Crew played their final game at Historic Crew Stadium against the
Chicago Fire FC
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, winning 2–0.
Columbus Crew 2 played their first game at the stadium on April 15, 2022 against
Orlando City B
Orlando City B (or OCB for short) is an American soccer club that began play in 2016 and currently plays in MLS Next Pro. Owned by Orlando City SC and based at the Orlando City training facility in Kissimmee, the club plays its home games at Osce ...
. A total of 11 games will be played at the site in their inaugural season.
Notes
* The stadium features a 384 ft² (36 m²) video board as well as 32 ft (10 m) of scrolling matrix board.
* It took 274 days from groundbreaking to the inaugural game (9 months, 1 day).
* The stadium facade is 48 ft (15 m) and its bleachers reach a height of Historic Crew stadium is built on a 15-acre (61,000 m²) site.
* The first goal was scored by
Jeff Cunningham
Jeff Cunningham (born August 21, 1976) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He is Major League Soccer's third-all-time leader in regular-season goals scored with 134.
Youth and college
Cunningham was born ...
during the inaugural game.
* The April 27, 2013, match against
D.C. United
D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...
at the stadium was delayed by 50 minutes after a fire broke out in a speaker cabinet on the south scoreboard. Firefighters controlled the blaze immediately, and the match went on as scheduled.
References
External links
*
{{Music venues of Ohio
2003 FIFA Women's World Cup stadiums
CONCACAF Gold Cup stadiums
Former Major League Lacrosse venues
Former Major League Soccer stadiums
Rugby union stadiums in Columbus, Ohio
Lacrosse venues in the United States
Soccer venues in Ohio
Sports venues in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus Crew
High school football venues in Ohio
1999 establishments in Ohio
Sports venues completed in 1999
University District (Columbus, Ohio)
Premier Lacrosse League venues