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Columbus Crew Stadium
Crew Stadium
Location	1 Black And Gold Boulevard Columbus, Ohio 43211
Broke ground	1998
Opened	May 15, 1999
Owner	Hunt Sports Group
Operator	Hunt Sports Group
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	$28.5 million USD
Architect	Kokosing Construction
Tenants
Columbus Crew (MLS) (1999-Present) OHSAA Soccer Championships (2000-Present) Columbus Public Schools Boys Soccer City Championship (2001-Present)
Capacity
22,555 (1999)

Columbus Crew Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

As a charter franchise in the MLS, the Columbus Crew commenced play at Ohio Stadium in MLS's inaugural season of 1996. As it is principally an American Football stadium, the facility was never popular with the team or its fans. When renovations to the football stadium forced the Crew out, their owner, oil billionaire Lamar Hunt, decided to build the team its own dedicated home. Thus, Crew Stadium was born - purpose-built for the Columbus Crew in the winter of 1998/99. The construction cost of $28.5 million was covered entirely with private funds from Mr. Hunt and his Hunt Sports group.

The stadium seats approximately 22,500 (with room to expand to 30,000 total seats) and is located on the grounds of the Ohio Expo Center and State Fairgrounds. Crew stadium opened May 15, 1999 with a match between the home side and the New England Revolution. It is first soccer-specific stadium in the United States for Major League Soccer (including a FIFA regulation 115yd x 75yd pitch), and has been credited with inspiring the wave of construction of so called soccer-specific stadiums throughout the league.

In addition to hosting the Crew's home games, the stadium has hosted numerous United States Men's (most notably, the 2001 World Cup Qualifier between the U.S. and Mexico known as La Guerra Fria due to sub-freezing temperatures) and Women's National Team matches, the 2001 MLS Cup championship, the 2000 and 2005 MLS All-Star Games, the 2001 and 2003 NCAA Men's College Cup national soccer championships, and the 2003 Women’s World Cup. It was the host stadium for the 2002 Major League Lacrosse championship game. Crew stadium has also hosted games for the Ohio High School State Championship tournaments in both football and soccer. The stadium also hosted the first annual Rock on the Range festival in May. It also hosts the annual Westerville Football Classic, featuring the Westerville Central, Westerville North, Westerville South, and New Albany football teams.

• The stadium features a 384 ft² (36 m²) video board as well as a 32 ft (10 m) of scrolling matrix board.
• It took 274 days from groundbreaking to the inaugural game (9 months, 1 day).
• The stadium is also 48 ft (15 m) tall at its highest point and is built on a 15 acre (61,000 m²) site.
• The first goal was scored by Jeff Cunningham during the inaugural game.^[1]

• crewstadium.com

Coordinates: 40°0′34.56″N, 82°59′28.36″W