Thank you all for joining us. I will call this uh hearing to order. Um today's hearing on the proposed investment related to the expansion of the National Women's Soccer League. Uh Columbus is currently in the running uh to receive the latest team expansion of the National Women's Soccer League, which will require a joint public private investment in both Scott's Miracle Grow Field and a new training facility. And although we're in the running, I'm bullish. I think that we are at the top and that's why we are here today. Over the last two or so weeks, uh I have led deliberations between council, the administration, and the ownership group, uh to discuss options of how to finance a deal that will give Columbus the best shot at receiving this team and would also address concerns that I've heard from my colleagues and earn their support. On Friday, the council president and I announced a deal that we believe addresses many of the questions and concerns that were raised by our council colleagues after the first proposal was announced. Uh the goal of this hearing is to have a conversation about the mechanics of that deal, the economic viability and benefits of this investment for the city and the philosophies around investments such as these. I know that this is a huge opportunity for our community and sometimes when large difficult uh things like this particularly around public private come up it can cause tension in our community. So we wanted to ensure that we were having a discussion uh with the community around the deal that we have struck and where we are today. Uh before I move forward council president uh would you like to open us up with some remarks? >> Well sure thank you uh chair Mr. chairman. Uh it is not hyperbole to say that we would not be here uh but for your leadership. So I'm grateful for you. Uh as the chair said, we're here to talk about a fair and balanced framework to bring a national woman's soccer league team to Columbus. I believe it's balance. It balances our city's uh being ambitious but also being bold while also being financially responsible and equitable in an allocation of our limited resources. It protects taxpayers. it pays for itself and will eventually become a revenue stream for our city. And of course, it shows we are serious about bringing a professional women's soccer team to Columbus. Uh when the original uh plan was brought before council, uh it was a $25 million grant about two months ago. I opposed it and so did many of my uh council members. Now, I'm a soccer fan. I love the crew, but this felt like more of a tonedeaf handout to wealthy team owners who didn't need it. We had just had a to amend this tightest city budget in a decade just to keep homeless shelters and community health centers open. And what I felt was a lot of what I heard from residents this weekend that as Columbus is growing, we are becoming a great city for folks who have the means to enjoy it. But for those who don't come downtown, see the Sciota River, attend a Crew game, or a future NWSL game, they are starting to resent the growth. They're seeing their rent and their property taxes go up. They wonder if that built if that growth is coming at the expense of the families who built Columbus and have always lived here. One person told me just last week that Columbus, what what Columbus is becoming, she loves what Columbus is becoming, but she asked if she could get grandfathered in on the deal because she isn't sure she has a place in the new Columbus. I also heard a lot about the big business of professional sports and public financing for it. So, let me be clear. I'm not here to defend anything before uh this uh but I am here to say that I am supportive of this conversation and I'm supportive of this deal because I believe we have worked out a revised deal that is better than the first one presented to us. We've spoken at length why Columbus is the right fit for an NWS NWLS team. We need to do a better job of telling Columbus why an NWSL team is right for our city. We are past the pomp and circumstance of pitching ourselves to the NWSL. The point of this hearing is to pitch it to the public and to hear their feedback. I believe in the framework we're uh going to hear about today. I believe that it moves our city forward. I believe that it's going to land us this NWSL team which will be transformative for our city. And my message is clear to residents. If you don't care about soccer and won't go to the games, then no worries. You won't be paying for this. And once it is paid off, you will benefit from it though because the city will be able to spend the ongoing new re revenue in perpetuity on things like homelessness, housing, and youth programming. And I also believe you will benefit because of the spillover economic development impacts of having Crew Stadium programmed all year round and the arena district alive and vibrant with activity and of Columbus becoming this global soccer capital that we are becoming. And if this plan doesn't perform the way we hoped, then the plan does include multiple ways that we as a city can recoup the investment and make sure we're not left holding the bag. Not everyone will like this and I get it, but I'm a believer in bringing people together and having tough and honest conversations and making a bad deal better, not just walking away from the table. So, we have a lot of women in in council chambers today. So, let me also say this. This is a big day for the women of Columbus, but also for the men who have wives and daughters and sisters who will feel supported. What we know is that when young girls see success on the field by other women, that su success can translate in the classroom, in their communities, but even more so for their future. Now, I I'll just end with this uh which is gratitude for those who spent a lot of time and I hope that everybody uh felt that we approached these conversations with sincerity of trying to get the deal. One of the things that um I see my friend here, Cassie Cyrunk, uh when I first talked to her about the deal a month ago, she made this point to me and I believed it. She said, "This might be Columbus's last big shot at getting an expansion team. You don't want to let that go away." And after I heard that from C from his cy trunk, um I had two philosophies to make a deal better and get this team here. And I think that that's uh what we were able to do uh with this deal. So, thank you again uh Chair Bangston for your leadership and uh thank you for getting us here. >> Thank you, Council President. Any other opening remarks from my colleagues? Oh, Council Member Rio. >> Thank you very much, Chair Bankston. Uh to my colleagues and all of you here today. Um you know, I'm excited at the prospect of bringing an in NWSL team to Columbus. Columbus could be a very strong home for women's professional soccer and I understand why so many people are excited about what this could mean for young people, for families and the future of sports in Columbus. But support does not mean we stop asking questions. And if the city is going to be involved, then we have a responsibility to make sure this is fair and balanced and responsible for the residents and t taxpayers of Columbus. That means being clear about the public return, serious about community benefits and honest about how this investment would actually work. So, I'm excited at the work that's been done. I do believe that the updated proposal moves us in a better direction. But today is here for listening and I'm here to learn from the presentations here from the community and make sure that Columbus moves forward. We do it in a way that people can trust and communities can truly feel. Thank you, chair. Send it back to you. >> Thank you, Council Member. Uh seeing none, we'll just uh move right in. Again, want to uh thank all of my colleagues for engaging in the process uh this far. Uh and again just really excited about uh this opportunity uh the same way that we've invested in so many other uh men's sports in this community to have the opportunity that when the opportunity is risen uh for us to support women's sports that we should do it the same way uh unapologetically. Uh so tonight with us in CA uh chambers to discuss the mechanics of the deal as well as its economic impact uh we have our director of uh development director Mike Stevens as well as our city auditor Megan Kilgore to talk through some of the geeky financing pieces of this uh that me and her like to talk about behind the scenes. Uh with that I will turn over to Director Stevens to walk us through uh this current revised uh deal that we are proposing. Director. >> Thank you, President Harden, Chair Bankston, members of council. This proposal represents a strategic public private partnership to best position Columbus in its bid for a national women's soccer league expansion franchise. At its core, this is about a targeted public investment to leverage a much larger private commitment. On the private side, there is a $310 million investment to secure and operate the franchise. In addition to that, there is a $12 million There's $12 million outlined for shared community priorities along with programming and partnerships designed to lift up Columbus residents. On the public side, the total investment is $50 million shared between the city of Columbus and Franklin County with 21 I'm sorry. $25 million coming from the city. It's important to be clear about what the public that public investment is and what it is not. The city's investment is focused on enhancing important community assets with a new team practice facility and training complex at McCory Park and improvements to Scott's Miracle Grow Field. It is not being used for player salaries or team operations. The city will retain ownership of McCoy Park and make the site available through a long-term lease structure. The proposal also includes an adjustment to the city's emissions fee at Scots Miracle Grow Field from 5% to 7%. That is an important part of the financing structure. The intent is to support the city's investment through revenue generated at the stadium, including the incremental 2% emissions fee on ticketed non-team events and the full 7% city emissions fee on ticketed team events. The team in this case would be the NWSL franchise. This follows a familiar and proven appre approach for Columbus using public investments to leverage significant significantly larger private capital and deliver long-term impact and benefits to for the entire community. The figures on this slide come from a third-party analysis and reflect conservative assumptions. Over a 30-year period, the project is projected to generate approximately $118 million in combined state and local fiscal impact, including roughly 52 million to the city of Columbus. So the return on the city's $25 million investment is projected at a net present value to be $52 million once the pro the project is expected to generate approximately $2 million per year to the city of Columbus as an ongoing revenue stream once it is fully operational. The project is also expected to support over 200 jobs in Columbus. Taken together, this opportunity is expected to generate economic vitality activity, support local jobs, and create recurring source of value to the city and our residents. And it underscores the basic structure of this proposal. A limited public investment leveraged against a substantially larger one, larger private investment. The economic impact is one part of the picture. This slide brings those points together and adds the broader community benefits. The proposal also includes $12 million in private investment focused on shared community priorities like early childhood education, workforce development, and addressing food insecurity. There are programming commitments as well with a focus on youth soccer camps and clinics and broader community engagement. At McCoy Park, the training facility represents the first phase of redevelopment at the site. Future phases are intended to expand community access through dedicated programming. The structure, this structure is intentional, pairing infrastructure with programming, so the public benefit extends beyond the physical investment. As you review this slide and the two other slides, a few things come into focus. The private sector is making a substantial commitment. The public investment is targeted and tied to long-term community assets. The funding approach is aligned with the activity the project is expected to generate and the result is a project designed to generate economic activity, support jobs, produce recurring city revenue and deliver broad community benefits. This is exactly the kind of opportunity where structure matters and the structure here is meant to balance investment return and long-term public value. And that structure only works because it brings together substantial private investment with targeted public role. Each aligned, each accountable, and each essential to delivering the full outcome. And finally, beyond the numbers and the structure, this is also an opportunity to expand visibility and access to women's professional sports. You'll hear from others today about what that means in more detail, particularly in terms of creating pathways and opportunities for women and girls in our community. So, in closing, I want to emphasize that through this public private partnership, we have placed our community in the best position to secure an NWSL expansion franchise. >> Uh, thank you uh for that, director, and I think we'll have some more questions here after I ask the uh auditor to to chime in. I think a big piece uh of this uh revised deal is around uh the financing mechanisms madam auditor of uh capital as well as the ad new emissions fee and how that goes back. Uh the city will of course issue that debt. Um I think we get that at of course a much better interest rate. But can you just talk about the mechanics of uh that debt issuance uh this new structure of utilizing admission fees and how that will actually work mechanically behind the scenes? I'd be delighted to um largely speaking, you know, my office gets involved, the office of the city auditor to really optimize the financing of any transactions, whether it's this or traditional water projects, traditional, you know, public safety facilities, etc. And so to be very kind of clear about what you've laid out, the structure is fairly straightforward. Um quite simple. The city will issue bonds to support this project and the primary source of repayment will be the emissions tax generated by the events that are taking place at the facility. This is um I think finance chair really comparable to the way that the city of Columbus finances things like our parking garages where we build the garage and then we repay ourselves from revenues that are generated by um you know folks who are actually parking at the garage. So in this case rather than uh relying upon existing revenues here at the city what this transaction is effectively doing is capturing new economic activity that is tied directly to the project itself. So each year those emissions taxes that are being generated by events taking place will be internally applied to the repayment of debt service or our principal and interest. And you know, simply put, I think your um maybe the ultimate goal is to create a closed loop system where the project really helps support its own financing while of course also benefiting the broader community. >> Uh thank you for um that madam auditor. to to go back I think that uh just so we can level set for folks and and director you can either speak to it or uh the auditor we we use this for this ticket tax right uh it's really more of a fee can you just talk about what that fee is uh how it currently works and in this proposed deal what happens to that formula and how are those being used >> thank you chair bankston the efficient the emissions fee fee is essentially a user fee from those individuals who are buying a ticket to attend a event at a stadium or um other ticketed type of facility. So what this deal does is it um increases the fee specifically for M uh Scots Miracle Grow Field from 5 to 7%. The 2% in as I said earlier the 2% incremental increase uh on non NWSL events will go towards the debt service repayment. The additional 7% on NWSL events will go towards the debt service payment. The existing 5% that is already generated from activity from that stadium will continue to be be received uh by GCAC and the arts community is how those dollars are programmed. Uh, thank you for that. And again, just to clarify for folks, that 2% is going to be on top of everything that's currently there. Uh, so nothing changes with that formula for the arts and the 5%. Uh, the full 7% for all of the games that will be played by um, our women's team as well as NWSL go back to this investment as well. Uh and then you know after we meet those debt obligations uh the goal is that this will continues to be a revenue source in perpetuity particularly for our human services sector. Is that correct? >> Yes that is correct. >> Thank you. And and then director if you could speak to or madam auditor I know that those numbers are still estimates because the team is not here operating but you know at its peak or what are we anticipating uh that that those seven that full 7% plus that 2% what does that generate? >> Chair Bankston. Um I hesitate to put a a firm number on it and I've seen a range. Um, conservatively, I think we could say 1.5 million annually. I think it could grow up to anywhere close to $4 million annually. I think what um the ownership group intends to do and and the ownership groups that are using that facility is continue to maximize that community asset at Scots Miracle Grow Field and have as much activity there as possible with then will generate additional revenue. >> Thank you for that. Uh, I'll pause there. Are there any questions at this point from my colleagues? Council member Whitech. >> Thank you, Chair and Director Stevens. Appreciate you walking through the presentation there. Can you just the estimate that you gave for local fiscal impact? Can you talk a little bit about what would make up that impact? >> Sure. Um, thank you, Council Member Weiss, members of council. What what I'd share is on the economic impact side, it it is generated from th those jobs that are created from directly from the work. Um it is created from the economic activity. So there's going to be folks who are going to the stadium who will be parking. They will be hitting some of the facilities in the arena district and around the arena district. um those individuals who are working and and generating income from the project will then spend that outside of just the arena district and and that community benefit there. So, it's really kind of that economic multiplier is how we got to that number. Well, how the uh from the analysis of how they got to that number. Yeah. >> So, it's really kind of a ripple effect of economic activity that could occur if we were to secure the team. Um, and they're playing games at Scott's Miracle Grove Field. >> Correct. >> Thank you. Almost reverted back to the old name, so we're we're still working through that. >> Thank you, chair. >> Thank you, chair. Um, for resident or I'm sorry, the pres we're talking about a long-term lease of McCoy Park, right? What protections does the city have around public access, maintenance, and future use if the team is not awarded, the timeline changes or the project doesn't move forward as planned? >> Uh, thank you, Council Member Remy. Um, if the team is not awarded, we will not be leasing this facility to the ownership group and we will continue to move forward on whatever programming that could be determined. If the team is awarded and for whatever reason there's a change in operations um that will site will revert back to city control um the team during the uh operations will be maintaining the fields and the facilities. If for whatever reason it reverts back then we would work with um our colleagues in the city to understand what type of programming we can do. Uh, and I'm fortunate I work with a set of professionals that have a very uh, high entrepreneurial spirit in our department of recreation and parks who just across the highway from where we're proposing this, Berliner Park is uh, very active and a what I'd say a net contributor and revenue to their operations. So, I would expect that they would uh, bring that same spirit to uh, utilize that space and maximize having probably some of the best soccer fields in central Ohio. and the $12 million in community investment. Can you walk us through exactly what those commitments are and then how do we, you know, how firm is that commitment on the $12 million? >> Um, thank you. The commitments are around community priorities like early childhood education, food insecurity, and workforce development that impacts all our residents. I'll ask um Miss Shepro, the ownership group representative to talk a little bit about the firmness of the commitment, but the commitment is for $12 million to go back into the community and with those community partners who are focused on those areas. >> Yeah, >> there we go. Thank you everyone. uh Mary Shepro, president of business operations for the Columbus Crew and I'm here on behalf of the ownership group for the future NWSL team which is Hasslam Sports Group, doctors Christine and Pete Edwards and Nationwide. So, thank you for having me today. um to the question about the 12 million for community programming, we are still finalizing the exact parameters around that, but to director Steven's point, those three buckets um of early childhood workforce uh development and food insecurity will be the focus of that and it will be um what we still have left to work through is the annual amount allocated. Okay. But it it's guaranteed that there will be a $12 million commitment through the >> we are working to finalize it. But that is right now the deal that we're we're working on the details for. >> Okay. Thank you. That's all that's all I have. Chair. >> Um thank you council member White for your question earlier. So, we're talking 52.1 million of economic impact essentially, Director Stevens, not like a $52 million ROI. I feel like those two things are different. Um, quick question for you though. The um so while we were going through the frack process, we heard a lot about the ticket tax uh from the arts community that the ticket tax was currently um is currently across the board underperforming and needs to be increased to 7% across the city. I also heard from some partners um across the human services sector where we just recently identified a $200 million gap for um that sector as a whole about you know what about if we increased the ticket tax everywhere to 7% and then were able to directly start benefiting from some of these things. Um my question though is related to the terms of repayment of this uh deal that's being proposed. you know what if this ticket tax as it is everywhere else currently continues to underperform in this environment as well. You know at what time frame are we anticipating to see that money recouped? Is that built is that timeline built into the terms of that agreement? Um, and what mechanisms are we putting in place to ensure that if the ticket tax is underperforming that we are then being, you know, recouping funds at an appropriate rate to ensure that there's no budgetary impact. >> Thank you, Council Member Green. As part of this agreement, we are working through the timing of let me stand back or step back and I think the auditor would uh kind of confirm this. the the bond market and the cost of financing a project like this um shifts on a daily basis and we are working through um getting a a best estimate on what that cost of money will be, how long it will take to repay that based on the revenue generated from the emissions fee. What we've done though is we've identified a dedicated source of funds that will pay for that um debt service on that cost. So um while we haven't finalized the actual number of years it's going to take yet because there's a significant amount of underwriting uh that needs to be done before we go to the market and you know one of what things we're working through is the flexibility of when we would need to go to the bond market um to get those dollars. Um, so that's a somewhat of a moving target. What I can tell you though, the development agreement will include language that makes it clear if after I believe we said the 2032 2033 NWSL season, we will sit down and review the projected revenue and see how that matched with the actual revenue. And if the projected revenue is less, I'm sorry, the actual revenue is less than what the projected revenue was, we will sit down with the ownership group and explore other sources of funds to meet that um to meet the expenses. And sources of funds could could include um the emissions fee. It could include other um it could include NCA charges on non- tax uh sales that occur at the stadium. But really the goal is what type of activity at the stadium is generating revenue, new revenue that could offset or be part of that dedicated revenue source if our projections uh come in below what the actual amount of revenue um that we when we do the review back in in the future. I I just want to say I have a lot of hesitation moving forward with any sort of deal that would not include clear terms of repayment and clear schedules so that we do not find ourselves in a situation like another nationwide arena scenario. um and and that I believe that there there must be some sort of structure um or we find ourselves, you know, 10, 15, 25, 30 years from now without, you know, if we're just expecting money to trickle down and flow without any clear parameters. I think that that's a little unwise. >> And thank you, uh Council Member Green. Let me be clear, the development agreement will have clear parameters around that in time frame. As we sit here today, I can't tell you if that's going to be over a 12-year period or a 15-year period. What I can tell you at 2032, 2033, at the end of that 2032 333 NWSL season, the parties will sit down and make sure what we're projecting as revenue generated from the emission fee align with actual and those numbers will be included in the development agreement as we work through that. And there and and just to be clear, then there would be clear um clear language for recouping those costs, I guess. You know, sitting down and having a conversation about revenue. I do that all day long looking for human services money. um you know but having clear defined like this is the obligation of the you know HL sports cruisers or whoever would be named as the as the responsible party I guess is what I'm trying to get at. So, thank you, Council Member Green. The language will make it clear that we will find additional sources to to from the activity at the stadium that will um cover the use of the funds. So, it's uh what we don't want to do in an agreement in 2026 is limit what could be available in 2033. So we have examples uh and we could put we will include examples in the development agreement but that won't be limited to that if there are other opportunities to provide source of funds from the activity at the stadium to cover that use of funds. And I'm so sorry. Uh, last question. Uh, as as the administration has been thinking about possibly increasing the ticket tax, have have you given any thought or consideration to increasing the ticket tax across the board to 7% as was recommended in the Frack report, whether it be used to uh increase funding for the arts, funding for human services, addressing some of our own budget gaps that we have to fill currently. Uh am I aware of ongoing discussions across the Yes, we I'm there are ongoing discussions. Am I a part of those discussions, council member? I I am not. Uh so I I can't confirm one way or the other, but I I know that um when the frack report was received, it is clearly being um reviewed and discussed not only with the administration of council. So, um, I I I can't give you much more of a sense beyond that conversations that I'm not part of. >> Um, C, President Prod. >> Uh, thank you, Sher Banks. And, uh, director, just building on some of the questions from Council Member Green, just to make it hopefully um, a couple things clear. U, couple pieces of jargon used in there. I just want to make sure that, uh, everyone who maybe does not live this every single day is on the same page with us. So when we talk about again when the council president with his opening remarks talking about you know if folks want to attend a game whether or not that's the men or the women's or >> conf can you speak into the mic a little bit more? Might be hard to hear you. >> That better. Thank you. >> Thank you for always helping me out council member. Um, so again, as the council president mentioned, the intention here is to make sure that folks that use this facility help to pay for the asset that the ownership group has said is necessary in order to bring this team here. We've talked about this mechanism being the the way in order to do so. So again, as Council Member Green pointed out, the ticket tax is something that is not static, right? Maybe higher or lower based upon what the actual revenues are based upon how many events happen um throughout the year at that facility, how many tickets are literally sold. So the the biggest question that remains that I think council was pointing at was well what if we don't sell enough tickets or there's not enough events and there is a deficit compared to what the city owes because of where the ones issuing the bonds and what the actual tax revenue is generating. And I think if if I heard your answer correct is that a number of years down the line we are going to be obligated the city and the ownership group legally to sit down and again compare those numbers. are we meeting that debt service so that the public is in fact not paying for this for this practice facility? And then two, if we're if we're not generating enough revenue that we're memorializing several options that are on the table right now. You mentioned a few and if you could mention what a NCA charge is for folks that may not be in the know. uh so they can see what other things are already on the table, but also you mentioned there may be other tools and I know you you didn't identify what those are, but that comes down to what the city is able to do under the Ohio Revised Code. So, if could you just walk us through a little bit of that because I think some of the intense interest here is about again you're saying the the public will not be on the hook for this but we don't know how many events we don't know how many tickets are going to be sold to fund that which generates this question and you're telling us hey there's one we will have a legal pro contractual process in place um and we will not just have just the ticket tax we may have other options so if you could sort of walk us through a little bit of that I think that may be helpful folks to wrap their heads around um what is a very complicated financing situation Thank you, President Proen Dors. Um, I appreciate you keeping me honest on my jargon. Um, NCA is a new community authority, and a new community authority is an um, I'd say creature is not the wrong word, but it it can be established through the Ohio Revised Code. Gives communities like ours the ability to create a new community authority, which we did as part of the deal to save the crew. we would utilize that existing NC new community authority and what what what they that has the ability to levy charges within the new community authority district. So that's what NCA charges could produce another source of um funds that can be used to offset the um the cost of the debt service that the city has. Um the goal is and any item we identify to produce additional use sources of funds for that use that debt service use is to align it with whatever is generated activity from the activity at the stadium and we we we're using facility and stadium. I want to make clear the facility that is going to um be built at McCoy Park is not one that's going to be gener selling taxes and everything. So everything is going to be generated at the stadium and the activity at this stadium. Um so as we have new activity or additional activity at the stadium, what other tools can we put in place to generate um sources of funds to meet the obligation? So really this is continues to be a dedicated source of revenue to offset the the debt costs for this investment. >> Thank you. Again, hopefully none of that's necessary when we talk about what's being generated. But you know, I think one of the things that is very important to me is to make sure that that vehicle the the development agreement has those safeguards built into it. Uh because again, if we are saying that the the public at large is not going to be paying for this facility, it really is going to be the users of that stadium. um then we need to make sure that that is actually reflective from a contractual basis between what the city's agreed to with the ownership group and I I from my understanding we are there um but I think it's important to make sure that folks understand it's not just one potential revenue stream there are others and potentially others down the line if in fact the state allowed us to have other um tax levying powers uh in a situation like this um I think it's important just to put all those on the table consider we're not putting all our eggs in just the ticket tax you know basket um that there are other ways for us to make sure that again fundamentally the taxpayers themselves are not on the hook here. Thanks. >> Thank you. Um Madam Auditor, >> forgive me. Um Council Member Dorren, I'm sitting behind you. I tried to kind of get your ear but I want to share a little bit of perspective from our office which looks at this very in a complimentary way but we do things um quite differently in the sense that we really have two objectives. Number one is to optimize the financing meaning to try and get the lowest cost of borrowing possible for this transaction. And so one of the recommendations I made um early on was when we have a project like this, there are different parties that could issue the bonds to finance. A new community authority could be one, but with the city of Columbus's our AAA ratings, which are the highest possible, we can actually achieve the lowest cost of borrowing possible. We also and this is I think relatively unique because of this transaction and exactly what you were suggesting council member Dorans around not knowing exactly or precisely what are the revenues that will be coming in in 3 years what precise level will they be by doing this and issuing this ourselves we're preserving a lot of optionality meaning that in the event that for example emissions taxes either come in stronger or maybe slower than anticipated. We reserve a lot of optionality to adjust our own debt service in order to best make this project come together. And again, this is um from my perspective, this is very uh customary of like the way that we treat a parking garage. We cannot predict how quickly an individual will start using that garage and so we try and just put ourselves as much in the driver's seat as possible. >> Thank Thank you for that, Madam Auditor. and and why you have the mic. U this may seem a little rudimentary, but I just want to make sure we clarify and level set cuz I think that there's been things said around what we can invest in and what we can't, right? The city has a operating budget and we have a separate capital budget and yes, they inform each other, but it is not a one for one. that's simply because the operating budget uh may be tighter uh than in years past that that is a direct one-on-one of what we can invest out of our capital budget. So could you just talk about kind of that correlation uh as we talk about this specific investment? Yeah, the city of Columbus, uh, Chair Bankston, members of council, the city of Columbus, we really manage to what I call AAA principles wherein, for example, one of the many financial policies that we hold dear here is that we say we need to bring in 1.5 times revenues over expenditures for purposes of being able to finance our capital program. And so if you kind of just visually think about when we if council chooses to support this project and so forth, what you'll do is effectively say we are going to be issuing bonds to support and then just kind of visually imagine now the emissions tax coming in and that being applied as a source of revenue to offset the cost of the project. So, it's an it's an out, but then there's also an in. And and that's the objective. Um, several of uh director Stevens kind of projects and development often take this cadence because in in essence, you're trying to figure out how do you create um I'll say like a self-fulfilling prophecy. How do you create enough of an economic feedback loop so that you are actually using the project to pay for itself? >> Yeah. And to that point of the the project paying for itself and we think about economics, you know, I know that you and I were talking about this, the valuation of the team itself and the property value that all goes back into our our coffers. And so when we think about the income tax that will come from the valuation of the team and the income tax from the new players and the income tax uh from those businesses being activated twice as much at the stadium and the income tax uh from the ownership group that goes back into our calculation, right? Because 25% of that income tax goes back uh to pay for other debt services. So, in addition to, I think, us recouping this money, if you will, through admission fees and user fees, it's a double uh investment, return on our investment that we're getting from the income tax alone that goes back to that set aside that pays for everything else out of our capital budget. >> Yeah, Chair Bankston, that's absolutely correct. Um the word optimization is is again the best thing that I can really offer and and the the reason for that is because um and council member Green you ask a great question about trying to look at you know what is our exact debt service schedule today and it's interesting in in my world we usually do that at the end because that is when it's going to be most accurately timed up to the market conditions at the time you can imagine the last six weeks in my office with uh the war in Iran, the market has been all over the place. And so what we find comfort in is really working in ranges. And when I say ranges, like I mean a pessimistic case, a realistic case, and maybe an optimistic case based upon what the varying conditions and assumptions could be. And so the the optionality that we have is also really because of when the project as this kind of comes to life and for example a project that is um let's say painting is quite different than a project that is for storm sewer meaning I do not want to recommend issuing bonds for painting over a certain sum of years but certainly for a project that is long lasting absolutely and So it's very iterative. Just imagine over the next you know x number of months as all this comes to life we will be running scenario after scenario and in the event that the market stays where it is today you can rest assured that as soon as the market improves where we're able to do a refinancing just as you know individuals can do with like a mortgage we do the same thing all the time. we would want to best position oursel and that would be a great opportunity subject to what the actual admissions tax cadence really looks like for us to realign the length of that debt better with respect to admissions tax revenues to really mitigate any any exposure council member bankston to capital. >> Thank you. Any other questions for the director or before we move to our invited guests? Thank you. Um and and just want to you know on this other thing around our our capital budget and I think folks have heard me say that uh we have the ability to do both and I truly believe that. Um, and so I think even to this idea of our capital budget, uh, this will have implications on that. But again, we repay ourselves back over time, but I also want to the the public to know that we're not choosing one thing or over the other. When we talk about this narrative of we can't invest in rec centers or police stations or fire stations, that is just we're not taking money from that to to do this. And also I wanted to make sure folks know that when we talk about things like rec centers or uh police stations and fire substations which are critical infrastructure, those also have operating implications. So it's not as simple as us just building a new rec center or simply building this new infrastructure. Some of those things take operating implications and so the timing of when they come online is based off of our operating budget and those types of things. So again, they inform each other. Uh but I do want to make sure that uh folks understand we're not taking money from some pre-planned rec center or something like that to make this happen. Uh we have the ability and we're blessed to be able to have this strong capital budget to be able to have a AAA bond rating because of our auditor and her work that allows us to make these types of investments when the opportunity arises. Uh so again just wanted to put a finer point on that. Uh we do have some invited speakers here uh with us uh today who are probably much more knowledgeable about all of this than many of us sitting up here. Um and so first up I'm going to uh turn it over to uh Mary Shepro who's the president of um and you can you don't you can sit there if you want to Mary. You don't have to >> to come up to the podium. We can catch you just as as good. >> Great. That's easy enough. Well, thank you all again for having me here today and especially I know this marks the culmination or at least another step in the process of many months that we of work that we have done as an ownership group to try to bring NWSL to Columbus and then months and weeks of work with you all with the director of development with Odor Kilgore the mayor's office. I mean, this has truly been uh a full city public private effort, including our our friends in the community, which thank you all for coming today to weigh in on this. I think it is so important that the broader community gets to hear about this partnership and to weigh in on it. And for me especially and for Hasslam Sports Group Nationwide and Drs. Christine and Pete Edwards, we have been diligently working and to bring the NWSL here means so much. It it means, you know, prioritizing girls and women in our community at the same level that we've prioritized our boys and men. It means giving them the same level of access to infrastructure that we've done with our male professional sports team. And it's also an incredible opportunity to advance and transform our sports landscape and to attract more and major events here than we've been able to to date. We've spoken a lot about in private, some of us, how having this second training facility really unlocks more marquee events, things like the Olympics, things like the Women's World Cup in 2031 and makes us more and more competitive to land these events. And as we've been working with the National Women's Soccer League, any expansion process or relocation process, they're highly competitive. You've probably seen them play out in the media and other markets and you you see the tension and the investment that are behind it because people feel so strongly about these teams and what they can do for their community. And so we have been for months working with the NWSL to show them why Columbus is the best city for the 18 franchise and what is most likely to be the last expansion franchise in the NWSL for quite some time. and they've had two teams come online this year. Two more teams will come online in 2028. We hope to be one of them. But it has been incredibly important to show them what Columbus has to offer. And I think a lot of us in this room know we know what Columbus is, but not everybody does. And so when we're speaking with people from coast to coast, we're educating them on what our city has to offer, what we've been able to build together as the heart of American soccer here. So thank you all. council members, mayor's office, Auditor Kilgore, all of our guests today, and and the public for being here because that support and being able to show that to the league. I think we went from maybe a middle-of the road bid to top of the list, and that is no thanks just to us. It is thanks to everybody here and the immense outpouring support that we've seen over the past few months. Director Stevens talked uh a little bit about the community benefits here, this public private partnership. Yes. Uh enables the training facility which enables us to hopefully win the 18th team. But there's so much more to the deal than that. We have um committed to having public access uh youth access to all of our women's matches just like we have with the men's. So that means not just tickets to the matches, but food vouchers, transportation assistance. We want to make sure that our entire community can attend these matches. At the same time, it means making sure there is access to this state-of-the-art training facility, the best-in-class for women's athletes for our community. So, we will work with Columbus Rec Recreation and Parks Department to program our academy fields when they're not in use by the team. And that allows us to not only match what our expertise is with all of our wonderful coaches and our facilities, um, but also what with what we know is the top sport for girls in our region. So, to bring this facility online is yes. so important for our professional women but also important for uh our local youth as well. At the same time, we're committed to prevailing wages and all that we are building. We are going to um engage and we already have engaged a womenowned and a minority owned design firm and construction firm to design and build this facility. We're well underway uh with that project. So, we will continue to invest in our local businesses so that this isn't just about the admissions tax over time. It is about all of the economic activity that this team is going to be generating. So, we will continue to work through, as director Steven said, in the development agreement, all of the community benefits, but we are going to make sure that the benefits of this team are not just felt by the people who are in the stadium and get to go to the games, but by our entire community, doubling down our soccer and schools program, our stay in the game programs, um, with the community benefits around food insecurity, early childhood um, development, all of that will be part of this public private partnership. And as we've talked about a little bit, this is key. This partnership is key to landing a team. The leagues look for fan engagement, which we know we have. They look for uh private sector engagement, which we've had great support from the likes of A Nationwide and Ohio Health. They look for this public private partnership. So, this truly is enabling us to win the bid. Um we did we already did it to save the crew. We can do it again to land the 18th team here. And as we've said, this is going to double the number of events at a minimum. And that's on top of what hopefully we can bring here in terms of more marquee events. So, um, happy to take any questions, but at the end of the day, I just want to thank again everyone here for the commitment to this women's team. We're really excited about the NWSL. This is the top women's soccer league in the world. the two teams that came online this year, Boston and Denver. Boston just had a 60,000 person attendance at their inaugural match. B um sorry, Denver did. Boston had a 30,000. To put that into perspective, Scott's Miracle Grow Field holds about 20,000 people. So, these women's teams are rocking North America. They're going to continue to rock uh women's professional sports. And to be able to have that here, we know will have reverberating effects. So, thank you and welcome. Any questions? >> Thank you, mayor. Any questions for Mr. Shepro? Council member Green. >> Quick question. Um, is the 2% ticket tax just on the women's team or it'll be for the men's? It'll be there. There'll be parody there, right? For the men's and the women's. >> So, there'll be a 7% admissions tax on all ticket events at Scott's Miracle Grow Fair. >> Okay. So, the whole stadium. Okay. And then um second question is and you and I had talked about this before and then um I reached out to some folks at the Columbus Eagles just to talk to them and they were actually really excited and supportive of this partnership which I was really glad to hear. But have there been any additional uh conversations there or any thoughts to I know we're having a lot of good conversations about the facility um having access for like youth leagues through Recken Parks but also I think you know we already have a semi-professional women's soccer team here you know we had talked about how that you know as long as there's like thoughtful way of like integrating and you know kind of growing our own folks here um how we might be able to use that facility to integrate that semi-professional team or even the stadium itself. Yes. And and Cassie probably can weigh on in on this a bit too when she uh testifies, but um we are fully committed to building out a player development pathway for our women's team just like our men's teams has. So if you've been to the Ohio Health Performance Center, you you know it's not just our first team practicing there. It's a bustling building with uh young players as young as 13 all the way up to our first team. That pathway exists right now for men in America. It does not exist for women. So, we do not have that same pathway and US Soccer, the NWSL, and other leagues are working to build it. And that is where we're really excited that the Columbus Eagles and other organizations like it should one day be able to fit into that pathway. But we're going to have to build it together. And it's going to take time with US Soccer, with the NWSL to really put that in place. But, as we've spoken about, our plans fully anticipate an academy. So for us, it's not an if, it's a when. And we want to make sure um by being at the table and having this 18 team that we get to participate in those conversations because we know we have some of the best women's players in the country here. Uh we have the OSU women's soccer team that are consistently champions. And again, Cassie can speak to that better than I can. We have professional players in the NWSL. So we want to weigh in on that. And I think um in the next few years we'll have a great idea of how we can continue to build out that pathway for women. >> Thank you. Uh Mary, one question I have if you can just uh speak to it a little bit is uh there is a clear I mean this is on the scorecard for NWSL is this public private partnership. Can you just talk to why that's so valuable to them and why they see that as a big sticking point uh when they're looking at scoring? It's a great question and I think this goes back to we we all probably well aware of the public private partnerships that have enabled uh sports infrastructure across the country for as long as we remember and unfortunately that infrastructure has been almost exclusively for male professional teams and the NWSL by making this part of the criteria for being awarded a team is saying we want our female athletes to be treated the exact same way that our male counterparts have been. And so that's why too, we're not building a training facility that's different than the men's. We're building a training facility that actually took the base of the Ohio Health Performance Center, modified it based on learnings since we've opened it, and the women are now going to have a facility that probably for the first time ever, at least that I can think of, is superior than the male facility in their um and I don't want to, you know, upset our Columbus Crew players, but you know, we've learned a lot from that facility. And so we are going to have these two incredible facilities and that's what the league is looking for. They want to put our female players on the same footing as the male. >> And thank you. And then when we talk about that public private partnership, you know, investment in hard dollars is just one thing that's really that feels transactional. Uh but the crew has I think been a central partner in this community doing things around youth programming. I recall when I was president CEO at uh Gladen Community House, it was one of the uh great things of our little soccer team that crew cat came out to actual practice and our uh team actually got to go to uh the crew stadium and and see the crew play. Can you talk about kind of all the other things that is that are happening that maybe the community doesn't know about and how uh this expansion will amplify that and and continue to build on that? Yes, I was actually just speaking with our director of community relations, Stephanie Sado, about this. And one of the things we're really excited about is to be able to double what we can do in the community. We're going to have a second team. We're going to have women players to go out in the community and be representatives. And we're going to be able to take the programs that we have in place with the crew, our soccer and schools program, which were in every single Columbus City School providing access to the game and that is growing across the state, and then our stay in the game program, which is aimed at reducing chronic absenteeism. Again, we're in every single uh Columbus City School and all of the surrounding districts. So our intent is to once we are awarded the team, look at what we're doing with the men, figure out what is the best community programming that the women can implement that will have impact and be able to continue to do that. So those programs are very successful with the crew. They're also implemented by um our brother teams in the Milwaukee Bucks and the Cleveland Browns. So that expand, you know, outside of central Ohio. Then other things that we do that I think sometimes aren't um spoken about is we work with our facilities to make sure that if there are nonprofits or uh like organizations that need somewhere to host events or to uh build Habitat for Humanity houses that they can do that at our facilities. And so we look to wave fees for that. And so there's really a whole host of community um actions that we take. And most recently this year, the Kilborn Run Sports Park will be completed and opened. And that marks a public private partnership between the Hazam Sports Group and recreation and parks. We invested 10 million in that in that park and it's opening and it's beautiful and it's going to attract so many events to our region. And it doesn't stop there. We didn't write a check and move on. But we've actively been working with director Ree. So for example when the Olympics came and said where should we look to host trainings we said you should look at Kilborn Run and we will help reckon parks and work with recken parks to make sure that it is up to standards for Olympic teams to practice. So those are sort of ideas of what we do. Um but hopefully that answered your question. >> Yeah absolutely. Uh and then I think a very important question is what is the name of the team going to be? Have we >> Oh my gosh, you have to lay this one down. Uh we so we do not currently have a brand or a name for the team, but we are really excited to work with the community if and when we're awarded to hear people's thoughts. We want to find like any good team, it needs to be rooted in our culture and identity here. So we'll have a a diverse uh group weighing in on that to make sure it's well represented. >> I'm still shooting for the Columbus Comments. So if any So I'm just saying my vote is out there. >> That will be noted in the record. Thank thank you again uh Mary for all the success and work you've been doing with the crew. Um again want to thank you for being the tip of the spear uh on this and and getting this team here. Uh next we have another great champion of sports uh and of women's sports. We have our um our president and CEO, excuse me, of the Greater Sports Commission with us today, Miss Linda Logan. And with that, I'll turn it over to her. Thank you, Council President Harden, Chair Bankston, all the member of City Council. So happy to be here. Just getting back from the women's final four in Phoenix. We're on the clock now for next year. But it's important to talk about what sports uh bring to Columbus. Sports teams, they their events are often the front porch of a city. They bring visitors here and help form the first impressions for many of Columbus. They also drive social and economic growth, not only for visitors, but for the people that live here as well. Sports teams provide a place for residents to gather and unify in passion. They give people a reason to make noise, to make friendships, and inspire them to make a difference in their community. We recently of course worked together and so thankful for this for city council and the Franklin County Board of Commissioners for your for your support with the transition time for the Columbus Fury. The Fury are a charter member of major league volleyball. They're also a current level top level professional women's sports team here in Ohio. If and when we get an NS NWSL team in Columbus, we'll join cities and markets like New York, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Chicago, and Dallas with two or more professional women's sports teams. Columbus is a soccer city. The crew has been here since the start of the MLS, and they are one of the league's most successful clubs. Three simple words still speak volumes about the RC's support for soccer. Save the crew. Columbus showed up for soccer and the soccer world knows knows it and they trust us and Columbus time and time again delivers. We've hosted three MLS All-Star games most recently in 2024. The US men's and women's national teams have played here a combined 28 times with only two losses. Ecuador chose Columbus for its base camp ahead of this year's FIFA Men's World Cup, and the NWSL is coming here for a match later this summer. Earlier this year, we also formally launched Ignite Her Columbus with the city and other key stakeholders. It's a program that exists to elevate and accelerate Columbus's place as a top city for girls and women in sports. We have a long legacy of supporting and celebrating women's sports here. From local athletes who have gone to professional ranks to national champions who call Columbus home, Ohio's capital city is where women break women break barriers, build legacies, and inspire the next generation. Since the Greater Columbus's Sports Commission was founded in 2002, women's sports has been a key focus. hosted events range from the FIFA World Cup back in 20 2003, the 2018 women's final four to hundreds of state championships across 10 sports, and more than 15 NCA women's championships have been held here in recent years. As mentioned, we're currently gearing up to host the 2027 NCA Women's Final Four, the 2027 Division 1 Women's Volleyball Championship, and the LA28 Olympic soccer tournament for women's matches, men and women. So, we have fantastic support throughout the community, and the time is so right to be a home for the W NWSL. So, thank you for your time today. Thank you uh Alinda and thank you to all that your organization does to bring uh these types of events. Could you just talk about I mean your organization works to get all kinds of sporting events both men and women. Uh it seems to me though there there's been this niche around women's sports and this seemingly home they found in Columbus. Can you talk about that that enthusiasm that you see with uh and maybe it's there or not, but between women's sporting matches or events that we get versus men's or other uh organizations? >> Yeah, I think our city we put a stake in the ground almost two dozen years ago um to be one of the the best cities in America for girls and women in sports. And it's really something that we that comes naturally for us. There's over a thousand college athletes that reside here each and every year. So think about the great programs at not only Ohio State but of our division 2 and three colleges and and so it starts there but we also think look around as our community. We have great leaders not only just sports but think about the fact that we have you know our police chief and other women women leaders like Mary that are in this community. So I think we walk the talk not just in sports but in other things that we do but I we are recognized as one of the top cities in America for girls and women in sports. Thank you. Any questions for Miss Logan? All right. Seeing none, our last invited uh uh speaker and then we'll get into public comment. But I do have a note that I for forgot to mention there. Thomas Paul Graph, if you are here in chambers, you left your wallet down at the security station. So I believe we have that. Um so Mr. Thomas Paul Graph, we have your ID and your wallet for you. Uh so with that, I'll move into our final invited guest uh speaker. uh who knows a little bit about soccer uh and all other kinds of sports. Uh Miss Cassie Cy Trunk. She's a senior director of soccer growth strategies for US Soccer Federation, but she is here in her personal capacity as a great resident of the city of Columbus. >> Thank you, Chair Bankston and Council President Harden, members of council. Uh, as you guys have heard, I do work for the US Soccer Federation as a senior director of soccer growth, but I am also a former captain of the Ohio State Buckeyes women's soccer program. And I will tell you without hesitation that I played some of my best years of soccer right here in this city. Columbus didn't just shape me as a player, it shaped me as a person. This place, the university, this community gave me things I couldn't have gotten anywhere else. And because of that, I feel like I owe this game and this city a lot. So, I could not be more ecstatic that Columbus now has the opportunity to write itself into the history of women's soccer in this country, and I intend to help write every chapter of that. The NWSL is not an emerging league looking for a chance. It is the premier women's professional league in the world. Many of the best players on this planet play in this league. Bringing a team to Columbus is not a gamble. It is a recognition that this city has earned a place at that table. I think about the girls playing on fields across the city right now who will grow up watching professional women's soccer right here at home. That visibility is not a small thing. It changes what girls believe is possible for themselves. And I know this because I was one of those girls who saw the 99ers and is now somehow standing in front of you to ensure that the next generation has even more to be inspired by. And it's not just the girls here. It's about the girls and the women who play this sport all over this country and around the world that who will one day want to play for this franchise. I think about the soccer fans and the sports fans across the country who will watch us field a team in Columbus and what that does for how they see our city. This is not just a local story. This raises our profile on a national and global stage. And I believe not just Columbus, but all of Ohio and beyond will show up for this team. If you can look around, I'd be willing to bet there are some Browns fans, maybe even some Bagels fans, and do I dare even say a Steelers fan in the chamber today. And I say that to say, this state rallies behind its teams. A Columbus NWSL team may be the only one in Ohio. And I believe this entire state and region will claim it. With the infrastructure, the fan culture, and the momentum already built by the crew, the HALM Sports Group, the foundation is already here to build one of the best franchises in the league. So, I urge everyone, the city, the council to support bringing NWSL to Columbus. The city is ready and the moment is now. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Mrs. Sis Trunk, as long as you weren't going down the list and say Michigan, then we're good. >> I I know where to draw the line. >> Okay, that's draw the line. You were getting close with Pittsburgh. So, I mean just >> uh any questions from my colleagues? >> Chair, I I'll ask a question. I I do want to go back to that day that uh you really changed my perspective on this, Cassie. we were I think it was your birthday and um I told you about this cool thing that I heard and um but I told you about the concerns that I had and then you said well you should look at it this way about Columbus's opportunity to bring in a team. Would you kind of zero in on that that conversation and and what you mean by uh why why you see this as such a big last big shot for us as a expansion team um and what it would mean for the city. Yeah, absolutely. I I said it in multiple regards. Uh, one, I'm very passionate about girls and women's in sports in this city and the opportunities that we're providing, the exposure that we're providing to girls uh, and women. And when you think about not only what Mary spoke to that this is likely one of the last times to get an NWSL franchise, I believe that it's also one of our last chances as a city to get another professional team franchise. And not just a professional team, and I was very intentional about saying this, the NWSL is truly the best of the best. And so when we think about expanding our presence in a professional capacity in sports in this country and in this city, the NWSL is probably the best and highest league that we could get right now. >> Thank you, U Mrs. Trunk. And then I was ask all three of our if you all want to jump in here. You talk about uh the team, talk about women's sports as well. And Cassie, I think you can speak to this, right? You said it in your remarks. This is a global sport uh and city and and Columbus is a global city. It is the language that so many of our immigrant uh and refugee uh brothers and sisters and residents see as their sport. Uh but in particular women's soccer. I I've I've heard these numbers. You probably all know them, so I don't want to make them up here or Columbusize them, but the growing fan base and the growing uh uh u you know energy around women's soccer in particular. Could you all speak to that? and then also to this uh team and getting the expansion. There's a likelihood that there's only going to be one in the state of Ohio. Uh so this isn't just simply about Columbus. Uh this is would be that there will probably be one of us that wins the day for the entire state. Um so that was a big leading question, but anybody you want to jump in just to talk about kind of that enthusiasm we see around uh women's sports and why this moment is so critical I think for this NWL expansion. Yeah, I think what's awesome about women's soccer in the country is that we have been the world leader for a very long time. Uh, arguably some other countries are on our heels when it comes to developing women's soccer players. Um and what but what we see and what we know is that soccer truly is the world's game and we as a country holistically are coming up behind and making it our game as well. But the ND NWSL has been able to leverage the fact that soccer has been the leading sport for women in this country and girls in participation and they're able to use that in order to grow their brand, grow their reach, grow their impact. And so when you think about the different communities that we can engage in in Columbus and be able to activate that global passion, I think that's really exciting as well because it's going to reach far beyond just our traditional, you know, thinking of of what a soccer community is and we can truly start to tap into all of the cultural greatness that our city has to offer and all the different spice and flare and activity that we have going around in all the different neighborhoods in Columbus. So, when I speak to growth of soccer, women's soccer is absolutely there. We uh even speaking about the Columbus Eagles, I thank you for bringing that up, uh Council Member Green, because Columbus has had a semi-professional team who has been fantastic and has been a staple in their league for a very long time. And when you think about the pathways into women's soccer, our women's program, our women's soccer uh leagues are actually fantastic at collaborating and working together in order to bridge different gaps uh that may exist before there aremies and things like that in place. So women's soccer in general in the country is expanding so much. We have the ability to tap into the cultural differences and I think that's what makes the way that other franchises in the NWSL really successful already. If you look at other cities like Kansas City, Gotham, Angel City, that's what their bread and butter is and that's what makes them so successful and that's why they're putting 30,000 60,000 you know fans and seats every weekend. >> Great. Thank you. Well, with that we will move to um the public comments portion and so thank you all for hanging in there with us and continue to hang in there with us. There's a lot of enthusiasm around this subject. So, as of today's 12:00 p.m. deadline, we received 23 uh requests for in-person testimony, as well as seven written pieces of testimony um from uh members of the community. So, there were three uh letters uh written testimony in support and four letters in opposition. Uh and again, today we have uh 23 speakers. So, we'll get jump right into it. And to kick us off is someone who uh is uh not shy to uh the competitive field, our own Olympian uh our president and CEO of the Columbus Urban League, Miss Stephanie High Totower, will kick us off, followed by Morgan Hughes. Then uh on deck will be DJ Burns. Thank you, Mr. Chair, Mr. President, members of council, you know, you set me up just now um by saying what you just said, how you introduced me. Um Stephanie High Tower, president and CEO at your Columbus Urban League um Olympian uh Hall of Famer of the Ohio State University, and I'm the current chair of World Athletics Gender Leader Task Force. Um, I know you're probably wondering, uh, me being the president and CEO of a human service organization, why I think that this is so important when we're at a different time of the human services community needing resources. However, I'm going to take a little bit of different approach on this. It may seem illogical given the times we are in, but our community, we all have to shift our mindset. The decisions we make and all of our mo all of our work must focus on abundance, not scarcity. This is an incredible opportunity for abundance, bringing this team here, which will benefit central Ohio right now and in the future. So, I hope that the information and the testimonies that you're going to be hearing today and you've already heard have really outlined what do we need to do collectively to help people be a part of this future success. We are grateful for a city council who has curated a responsible ticket admissions deal and for being great stewards of our tax dollars. And in closing, I want to say thank you for shifting your mindset to focus on abundance that benefits all of our citizens. Thank you. >> Thank you, Madam President. Any questions for President High Tower? All right. Next, we have Morgan Hughes, followed by DJ Burns, and then on deck is Miss Rachel Winning. >> Morgan, welcome to council. You have three minutes. I'd like to say my address. >> Uh just your name, any organization you're representing. >> Name is Morgan Hughes. Um I think I'd be doing this situation a disservice if I didn't begin my remarks with the tip of the cap to uh council, especially President Harden and Council Member Bangs. It's clear to me that whether intentional or not, you got put between a rock and a hard place. Uh your ability to identify, craft, and execute on a plan that is, in my opinion, a best case scenario for all involved parties is noteworthy and admirable. Thank you for doing that. Thank you for doing what you do. Uh so nine years ago, I stood at this very spot in the early days of Save the Crew movement and the theme of the remarks I made that day was legacies. Uh not the legacy of the crew as a team or the stadium as a place or even Columbus itself as a city. Instead, I asked everybody involved, from the volunteers in the movement to the elected officials and our government and all people in between to consider how their legacies would go down in the history when the book of Save the Crew was written. And written, it was. It's called Accidental Heroes. Pick it up. It's a good read. Today, almost a decade later, I rise to ask the same questions of many of the same people. The state of Ohio, Franklin County, the city of Columbus, and the sports fans in our region have a long history of supporting men's sports. with our time, our energy, and our resources. The outcomes in the wins and losses column may not always look like we hope what we hope for, but the results off the field have been massive and undeniable. Generations of kids have grown up in our city dreaming of the day that they could play for the Crew or for the Clippers or the Jackets or the Buckeyes, and I'm one of them. I may have ended up too slow to go pro, but the lessons I learned along the way, playing on teams and having those dreams help mold me into the person I am today. and I have a 5-year-old daughter who just so happens to currently play in a soccer league at McCoy Park. Uh, and I desperately want the same opportunity for her. It is statistically unlikely that she'll grow up and play for the Columbus NWSL team. Uh, but the likelihood of her having that same dream of putting on a jersey with Columbus across the front and playing for and in front of her city is as close to 100% as you can get. And I wish we lived in a country where our billionaire ownership class simply funded their private business ventures with their own absurd wealth. But since we don't, I'm grateful that we have leaders like Shannon Harden and Nick Bankston and Megan Kilgore who refused the initial fiscally irresponsible request and instead found a way to secure a forward-thinking investment strategy that funds itself. As one of the targets of this new revenue stream, a season ticket holder for the crew and eventually the NWSL team, I'm willing and able to pay a buck a game to help establish a team that my friends and family will be supporting and rallying around for generations to come. Columbus is one of, if not the most important city in the long history of American soccer. We've earned a seat at this table a thousand times over. I look forward to cheering on the great professional women athletes in Columbus the same way that we always have the men. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Hughes. Any questions or comments? All right. Uh, next we have Mr. DJ Burns, followed by Rachel Winning, and then on deck will be Paul Edgar. >> Mr. Burns, welcome back to council. You have three minutes. >> What's going on, y'all? You know who I am. I've been hearing the word equity bandied about by the consultants and executives linked to the Columbus Partnership in this corporate astroturf campaign to manufacture consent. My first thought was it's about damn time. But as often is the case in this city, the devil is the de in the details. Council President Harden, I commend you for rejecting the Hasslam's initial offer, citing the need to build sidewalks, rec centers, and fire stations in Columbus, but the 2% ticket tax simply isn't good enough. It's a slight of hand to hide the upfront payment with no guarantee that taxpayers will meet by our own emission at least 26 years. It also ignores that that new revenue stream could be spent on literally anything else. One public scent to a billionaire crook and MAGA super donor like Jimmy Hasslam bankrupts the phrase equity in this plan. Let the record show Jimmy Hasslam paid $92 million to settle a federal lawsuit in which Flying Pilot Jay, his father's company, defrauded minority truck owners. Private or federal prosecutors in that trial, played a tape where a former executive said Jimmy not only knew the particulars, but loved the deal. Last year, the the Hasslam group successfully extorted $600 million from our beautiful Republican dominated state legislature. Their solution was to steal $600 million from the private property of private citizens. Days later, they closed on $25 million mansion in Palm Beach. The same number, coincidentally enough, that they're asking for you guys now. His mediocre son-in-law, I learned just today, arrived at a meeting with city council to discuss this plan on the hilltop of all places in $160,000 Lexus base price. Leslie Wexner, you know, oh, and the other part, Hasslam's wife, the so-called sweet D, sits on the board of adviserss for the Columbus Partnership. Leslie Wexner, an unindicted co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein and partnership and a co-founder of the partnership, told the Harvard Business Review that the Wolf family patriarch JW Wolf founded the partnership to decide who got to be mayor and where the highways went. And now, and coincidentally enough, four highways went through Franklin, the city's poorest neighborhood, leading to a life expectancy of 16 years shorter than the state average. And now with your help, the Hazams want to extrapolate the only public green space in that neighborhood. I can only assume that Mr. Wolf is looking up right now at the public partner private ship that he envisioned for Columbus with pride. And I'll just close it with this. I heard somebody say that they can go across the highway to Berliner Park. I would encourage you guys to go spend some time on Harmon Avenue where there is no sidewalk and what it is like living next to our beautiful highways and what is actually going on in that neighborhood before you further propagate the scam that has given these billionaire MAGA freaks more money for their pet projects and million-dollar mansions in Florida. Prosecution rests focus. >> Thank you, Mr. uh Burns. Uh next we'll have Rachel Winning followed by Paul Edgar and then on deck is Mr. Jason Hall. >> Excuse me. I have a bit of a cold so my voice is a little off but uh President Harden my name is Rachel Wenning. I am a Hilltop resident and I'm here just on my own behalf today. Um, since today we are being told, I think for the first time that this would involve issuance of bonds, I just have a couple questions about the bonds. Um, first, I don't understand how bonds could be issued without voter approval. Um, secondly, I'm interested in how the bond repayment could come from speculative income streams given that there's no guarantee that we are actually going to receive a team. Um, I understand that, you know, the the goal of this is to um put forth the best effort to get an expansion team, but since we have no guarantee that we will have a team, how can we fund that bond with tickets from a team that we don't have yet? Um, but generally, I don't think that anything in this plan will benefit women and girls in my neighborhood in the Hilltop or in any other area of the city. Um this is really a gift of $25 million which you know the true value is 52 million uh in present dollars and it seems that this is being put forth as somehow benefiting women when there are so many programs that are being defunded this year. Um we have a $200 million budget shortfall in the city this year uh due to mainly decreases in federal and state funding. Um programs that city council has funded for years are being defunded this year. Uh particularly I would note the summer programming for youth run by mothers of murdered Columbus children was funded for the last four years and this year is not being funded. Um Glatten Food Pantry in Franklin was forced to shut down last month. uh the cost to operate that pantry is only $118,000 per year could literally be funded for 200 years with what we're going to give in this deal. Um that money could obviously be used for many other things. So it is a choice between other investments and this deal. Um I think you know trying to portray this as not a choice between different investments is um just disingenuous. There are women and children, girls in Columbus who were depending on that food pantry and depending on those programs for the summer um that aren't being funded this year and are directly losing out because of the choice to invest in something like this instead. Um women and girls in Franklin need to eat and children need to be mentored and kept busy during the summer and billionaires do not need anything. Jimmy Hasslam makes large financial contributions year after year to national and state Republican parties, Republican committees, candidates, and conservative packs. These are the exact people in power who have defunded this city. They are the reason that we have a $200 billion million budget shortfall. So to turn around and give him $25 million as a thank you for putting those people into power is ludicrous. And I think that in any functioning local government, he would have been laughed out of the office. So I think this is a ridiculous proposal and not something that should be considered whatsoever. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Miss Winn, you had a um you had Miss W, real quick. You had a couple questions that I want to make sure I address and then if we don't get them, we'll make sure that >> not as rude as the last time you spoke to me. Yes. >> Oh, I'm happy to. Um, if you I mean you were not as rude to me this time as you were last time. So >> I was not rude to you, sir. >> That's fine. I think to your point about the the the food pantry and this again, these are capital dollars. They're not operating dollars. So they can't be used for anything other than infrastructure. Uh two, as far as issuing of the bonds, they won't ne necessarily be issued if we don't get a team. There's not going to be a need to build a facility if we don't get a team. Um, and so I think the other question was about repayment. Is that correct? >> How it could be paid with funds from tickets for a team we don't have yet. >> Yeah. So to that to that to that point and that's why we're structuring the deal in a way that the city will issue the debt so that we can have maximum flexibility on how that's paid back. And so uh the analysis of those admission fees uh feels that those will be able to pay this debt service back uh that the city will upfront issue that. So therefore, we have the flexibility of paying ourselves back. Uh at the again at the 20 end of the 203233 season, uh we will in fact review where those projections are to ensure that the emissions fee is keeping pace with that projected uh schedule of payment uh back. So there's a couple of things that are in there to help have some safeguards. >> Yeah. I I guess my kind of overall point there was if we don't know if we are getting a team, why are we going to spend $25 million for the chance to get a team? >> Well, we wouldn't spend the money unless we get the team. There's actually a clause in the legislation that none of this happens if we don't get the team. So, it is predicated on the NWSL announcing that Columbus gets the team and that the ownership group actually pays for the franchise fee and we get a team. That is the only way that this will actually happen. um we are doing this to signal to the NWSL that we are ready that we are committed uh but in the fact if we don't get the team then there will not be any uh debt issuance and all of this is really for uh not >> that does make sense in terms of the bonds so thank you for that clarification >> thank you >> I'm still generally against it but thank you >> thank you um Mr. Council president. >> No, no, thank you, Rachel. Um, but I do want to ask a question of Mary. Um, because this larger conversation or why do we have to give billionaires uh why does the city have to step up and give billionaires money >> if they already if they have the resources to do it? You know, 150 200 million, what is another 50 million? Can you explain why and what that that is about and and who is asking who is who who whose requirement that is? >> So to win win an expansion franchise and in any league and I think if you think about how rare they even occur, you'll probably can count on one hand the number of expansion franchises you can think of. It's highly competitive and there are several factors that the leagues look like look at and they're all pretty similar across the leagues. Does the the market want it? Will fans show up because they they need full stadiums. They they want that energy around it. Is there private support for it? Meaning, will the local companies invest their dollars into the team to help support the operations and the players? Because there's two or three main revenue streams in sports. You have tickets, you have corporate partnerships, and you have media. So, all of that goes to directly opening our facilities up, paying our players. So, that is a huge component of it as well. that the the corporate support public private partnership is incredibly important factor as well because these facilities if you think about the scale of them if you think about a a $400 million stadium or a $2.4 billion stadium the size of these facilities is enormous and they are used by the public for public events that generate revenue and so those partnerships are another key factor in being awarded a team. So this all goes and then of course the city itself. What is the local economy? Can it support the team? Is it a right home? So all of these different factors are considered by the leagues when looking at what cities to choose. And we've done a lot of leg work over the past few months to educate the NWSL and their expansion committee about our city and showing them that we check all these boxes off. And quite frankly, we're if you know, Linda listed some of the teams and cities where they exist. we're actually would be one of the smallest markets and so as they think about media deals and going to the biggest you know quote unquote best markets we had to demonstrate that Columbus is one. So this is a huge part of that and we know what we have here and we've now believe we've successfully showed the NWSL that. But we do have to check all these different boxes and we appreciate the collaboration in getting to this public private partnership. Thank you, uh, Mary. And I, and I do just want to point out, I think that there's a lot being centered around, um, one particular owner. Um, but there is a ownership group here, uh, right, the Hamm Sports Group, but also homegrown champions like Nationwide and Dr. Pete uh, and Christine Edwards who stepped up uh, to save the crew uh, who stacked hands. And those are two homegrown uh entities uh that I think are stepping up here yet again uh to expand that. So I just want to make sure that it doesn't get lost that there are other folks that are also uh at this at the table stacking hands to get this done. Uh next we have uh Mr. uh Paul. I I just I just want to say I think what I think what Miss Wenning's testimony was really getting at is like the heart of a lot of challenges that I have in these conversations that we're having, which is that, you know, I understand these are different buckets of money. One is capital dollars, one is operating dollars. I really thought your the point you made about the operating cost associated with a lot of capital investments was a very good point. It's helpful to be reminded of that. But they're capitals because we make them so. And we have such a great need on the other side. Um, so many needs across our community. And the business of taking care of business seems to move with such speed and urgency. And the business of taking care of all of these other challenges requires so many so many years of commissions and time and studies and um and so I think it is just it's um it's frustrating. You know, we're here talking about economic development. Just since January of last year, the Health and Human Services workforce has lost 1,000 full-time positions, full-time jobs of workers in our community that are now unemployed because they don't have the resources being invested into our fastest growing and largest job sector to be able to keep it stabilized. That has a real economic impact. And I and I don't, you know, I understand people, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. I don't have a problem with this deal. Like I think this is a great opportunity for Columbus and I think I'm grateful to everyone who's you know John Tenuse and everyone who and and especially you know to you and council president for working so hard on making it better. Um and I think it would have a positive economic impact but I just um I'm I'm um I'm incredibly frustrated um at you know we keep saying we can walk and shoot gun at the same time but I only see us walking. And I think that that is at the heart of what Miss Wenning's testimony was getting at and and the heart of what I think a lot of the frustration is that I'm hearing from people across the community who are like scratching their heads at this at at what we're here talking about today. I'll put stop there. Thank you. >> Thank you for that um Council Member Green. And I agree these are these are not easy things that we're talking about. Uh but I believe that forums like this and it is incumbent upon us as elected feeder elected leaders not to simply feed red meat but also to educate. So saying things as if we make them capital dollars because we do would basically be saying that we're going to get rid of our decades tradition of putting aside 25 cents for every cap for to pay debt service. And that would mean that we would be abandoning the billions of dollars of debt that we already have issued for things like recreation and parks and water and safe drinking water and and streets and sidewalks. And so it's not as simple. I know it's it's it's easy to say that. It's easy for me to look at $25 million and say, "Oh, you could just buy something else with that." But there are literally restrictions on how we can spend money. And so we have to also be okay with having a conversation that we educate folks and bring them along and not simply say that we could build something else without talking about the implications that it costs money to run a rec center, that it costs money to run fire departments. Those types of things are real and can be said at the same time. So, I'm not discounting uh what you are saying or what Miss Winning is saying, but these are difficult conversations and I think that we're in a point in our city where yes, we are going to have to make some hard decisions, but we can do both. If we're not doing that, then that's on us up here to figure out how we do that better. >> Yeah. So, >> and and I agree and I and I just want to be very clear. I am not in any way advocating that we throw out the very smart and long-standing fiscal policy that has allowed us to build and grow and and um you know create a beautiful community around us. What I am saying is that there has been a massive effort undertaken to move this forward and every you know amount of energy put into finding a creative solution that would have a minimal budget budgetary impact for us. And I think that people are seeing that and observing that and would probably feel less concerned about it if there was an equal amount of um intentionality um around the way that we are trying to to create as many creative solutions and pulling all of the most powerful and um you know thought leaders of our community together to be able to figure out how to get that other stuff done. Mr. Edgar, >> esteemed members of council, my name is Paul Edgar, uh lifelong Columbus resident and a club soccer coach. Um, unrelated to my comments, just reflecting on what I'm hearing, uh, a simple sort of paradigm comes to mind, which is both things can be true. Uh, and while there are a lot of important issues at hand, um, this is a timely issue that is specific to the here and now. But uh great great feedback from from all the the speakers thus far. To start my remarks, just do it. It's three simple words. And just based on what I've heard from the room today, we're all pretty familiar and with sports and sports teams and sports fandom. And I'm imagining you can all see the Nike swoosh sign in in the iconic slogan, which of course is just do it. Now, as a club soccer coach for Central Ohio Elite Girls Travel Program, I've learned that a simple phrase can often describe what our collective mindset needs to be, whether it's for a game or even just for a training environment. And for the next couple of minutes, I want to share some coaching points with this group to help team Columbus win this NWSL franchise. Just do it for the third or fourth grader who makes that sign at home the night before the match with markers and glitter, who cheers for her favorite hometown superstar, who sees her after she scores the goal and comes over to take a photo with her after the game. Just do it for the middle school player whose team gets to meet the players in the tunnel before the pregame and then gets to hold hands and walks out with the starting 11. That same middle school player who dreams of playing professionally, whose dream isn't something she only sees when she sleeps, but now it's something she can touch when she comes to the matches on game day. Just do it for the teenagers and the college students who go to games with their friends or watch the highlights on social media to see that we as a city support and pay professional women athletes who have careers injuries milestones maternity leaves, and championship moments. Just do it for us as a community so we can not only embrace but actually promote equity in women's sports. And if those reasons aren't enough, well, just do it because as leaders of the city, this one's a win for everybody. We spend too much time in halls like these, arguing and debating in a divided manner. Each side trying to score points, trying to find wins, avoiding losses. This is something we need you as star players for our city to fight for together. Imagine what we can accomplish when we're all pulling the rope together. And if we pull the rope and do what's needed for team Columbus, there's no reason we should lose this bid to the likes of Nashville or Philadelphia. Now, while my time as your coach is coming to an end, I'm challenging our city leadership as our star players to navigate against and around the opposition, work with the league, our expansion bid partners with our collective focus, our goal to bring the NWSL to Columbus. Lastly, as a coach, I'd be remiss to not leave you with one quote. So, here's one from Art Williams who talks a little bit about the primary difference between winners and losers. The winners do it. They do it again and again and again until it's done. Columbus wants the NWSL. Just do it. >> Thank you, uh, Mr. Edgar. Um, uh, next we have, uh, Jason Hall, followed by, uh, Tanny Crane, and then on deck is Pastor Michael Young. >> All right. All right. Good afternoon, members. Jason Hall, CEO of the Columbus Partnership. As you know, we're an organization of civic-minded business leaders working in a collaborative way to help advance the prosperity of the Columbus Metro. We have an opportunity for Columbus with the NWSL as we've heard today. You know, we become Ohio's first Olympic city in 2028. An unlikely victory made possible because of an earlier bold investment with council and the private sector stacking hands. And now we must do it again. Winning this franchise will further reinforce that we are the soccer capital of America in the Midwest's breakout economy this decade. As you heard, the NWSL is the the premier global professional women's soccer league. We find ourselves in an intensive competition for the 18th and likely final expansion team for many years. Columbus is one of the fastest growing metro populations in the country. We're one of only three outside of the Sunb Belt among the leading fast growing metros. We now face intensive competition for talent, for investment, and the next set of opportunities. The projections from winning an NWSL franchise are clear. The projections have hundreds of millions in new investment and direct spending, tax revenue, and hundreds of jobs. New visitors, spending at restaurants and local small businesses generates even more tax revenue. And of course, the Columbus brand elevated on the global stage. That's priceless. We know that soccer is the global sport of choice for young people and foreignb born populationations that are powering over half of our population gains in the metro. Just as important, as we've heard, professional women's soccer isn't just about what happens on the field. It's the impact that it has on women's leadership. We also call this workforce development. 80% of women executives within Fortune 500 companies played competitive sports. 61% of them say it directly contributed to their career success. The connection between participation in sports and leadership is clear. We have a generational chance to invest in the future and build an even stronger pipeline of inspired women's leaders. We are competing head-to-head with other leading metros, but we've proven we can win against much larger cities because of our unique Columbus Way model of leadership, which has given us a winning advantage against much larger for many decades. I assure you that our members and investors are firmly in support of this effort. In fact, families and businesses involved in forming the ownership team and others involved at the partnership are deeply committed to the long-term health of our community. The league is watching closely during this competitive process. Not just what cities do, but how they do it. Columbus deserves this team. The case is strong and we're grateful for council's leadership. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Jason, and I just have one question for you, sir. you are our uh chief partner in uh the economic development space out there competing for other job opportunities for Columbus. Uh talk about what this does for that brand and when your team is out there looking for the next uh large employer or looking to bring that next opportunity to Columbus. How does having a team like this and the vibrancy of the city play into those folks decisions on where they choose to move their headquarters or open up uh their new facility? >> It's it's a great question. Look, there's there's many things that go into this. One of them, and especially for the opportunities we find ourselves able to compete for now, including new technology jobs in industries that would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. They want to know if we build, if we invest in the community, is it a place that they can fundamentally attract and retain talent to? They want exciting things for people to do, things that excite a workforce to be here. I would also say if you look at the winds in the metro last year, 43% of them, 43% of the deals closed came from foreign direct investment. This is a global sport. This is a sport and again over 50% of our gains in the metro from a population perspective from immigrants, refugees, the foreignb born community for whom this is a global sport of choice. These kinds of assets are not only drivers of the economy, they help us shape and compete for those next set of deals. Thank you for that. Uh and also thank you for your service on the financial review advisory committee uh where we all stack together in that room to talk about how we fund important things like this but also our human services. So thank you again. >> Absolutely. >> Next we have Tanny Crane followed by Pastor Michael Young and then Miss Christine Troyer is on deck. >> Good afternoon. Thank you Chair Bangston, President Harden and members of council. My name is Tanny Crane and I'm executive chair of Crane Group and I'm here as a business leader, but also importantly as a mother of four daughters, four grandchildren, and someone who has spent decades working to create opportunities for the next generation of leaders in our community. I am really here to urge you to support bringing an NWSL team to Columbus. This is about more than sports. This is about what kind of community we want to be. For too long, we've treated women and women athletics as secondary. We have asked girls to dream smaller. We've told them their achievements mean less. That stops here. Columbus has a chance to say loudly and boldly and clearly, "Women's sports deserve the same investment, the same enthusiasm, and the same stages as men's sports." I've raised four daughters in this community. All four played high school athletics, two soccer girls, and two went on to become college athletes. I have watched them navigate a world that too often tells women to take up less space, to accept less. Bringing an NWSL team to Columbus sends the opposite message. It tells every girl in this region that her talent matters. Her ambition is valid and her dreams deserve our full support. When the women's national soccer team came to Columbus in the9s in the early 2000s, our family was there and my daughters couldn't wait to get Mia Ham's autograph, their role model. Let's bring that opportunity right here to the 100,000 young soccer players to watch their role models on the field right here in Columbus. The economic case is clear. Women's sports are growing faster than men's sports. The NWSL itself is breaking records. Valuation is up. Viewership is up. Streaming is up. Attendance is skyrocketing. The league is international broadcast deals across six continents. This is smart business. Columbus has proven we can support professional supports. Let's elevate Columbus on the global stage. The NWSL will put this city in front of millions of international viewers as we've talked about before and strengthening our brand as a forwardthinking region. A professional women's team team creates role models. It builds those pathways for young athletes. It demonstrates that leadership, excellence, and success aren't gendered, they're earned. As someone who has spent my career in rooms like many here who often the only women in the room, I know how much representation matters. And residents have showcased their support. We saw it in the plaza today. We're seeing it in the presence of the fans in this room. Thousands of posts and petitions, signatures within days are continuing to tick upwards as we speak. Columbus prides itself on being a forward-thinking, inclusive community. We say we value equity and opportunity. This is our chance to prove it. Let's not talk about supporting women. Let's invest in them. Let's build infrastructure for them. Let's give them the platform they've earned. I urge you to vote yes. Our daughters are watching and so are our sons and my grandchildren. Let's show them what Columbus stands for. Thank you. >> Thank you, Tanny. And also, thank you for your service on the frack as well. uh Pastor Michael Young, followed by Christine Troyer, and then on deck is uh Liz Reed. >> Thank you, Chair Bangston, President Harden, to council, and to uh the passionate people who are in chambers today. My name is Michael Young. I have the pleasure of being the lead pastor of City of Grace Church located on the northeast side of Columbus. And part of my pastoral responsibilities is to be an advocate for those within our community that are in need. So regardless what the project is or the policy is, they're always at the forefront of my mind. In addition to my pastorial responsibilities, I have the privilege and the pleasure to sit on many boards throughout this city. One of them being Frack, which gave us the opportunity to examine not just the economic needs within our city, but also the financial opportunities. Uh so because of my seats and my roles that I sit in, I believe it gives me a unique perspective on this matter. Uh if all the numbers hold true that have been presented and I do appreciate the challenges from council and those who are in the chamber, uh this deal makes economic sense and uh it is an opportunity for us to bring greater revenue to our city and to our community at large. The thing that I commend council for uh is you said no the first time which means it's not just a pushover presentation uh but you challenged the deal to make sure there was not a burden on those who are already struggling financially. Not only does this deal make sense from an economic perspective but uh overall edification of our community. One of the things that I liked in the research is is that this particular project would bring approximately 450 jobs to our community. Councilwoman Green spoke to the fact that there are certain jobs that have left the community. This is an opportunity to bring more jobs to our community. Not just the uh employment edification, but there is also an opportunity with more resources coming because of this particular team uh that there's more dollars that could flow to programming that's going to benefit those uh who may be the least and less within our community. Uh, and then thirdly, as a proud dad girl, a father of a 22-year-old young woman named Kaylee Danielle Young, uh, anything that has to do with the empowerment of women is something that I'm going to be on board for. Not only am I the father of a daughter, but I pastor a church that is filled with uh, hundreds, maybe even over a thousand women. So, anytime we can uplift uh, the ladies within our community, I think it is wise. Jason spoke to the statistics associated with sea suite executives that happen to be female and the percentage of them that actually have an athletic background. Uh so I think it makes economic sense. I think there is edification that will come along with this deal for our community at large and I love the empowerment for females. The one thing that I challenge council to do, the one thing that I challenge the city to do is to make sure that the equity piece comes to realization. So many times when we hear about deals like this and we hear about the theoretical benefit that could trickle down to uh communities that many times miss out, uh it looks good in the beginning, but somehow someway it doesn't make it to our community. When we look at this uh wave of uh uh youth sports and youth soccer, the reality is is more often than not it doesn't reach people who look like me. According to research, only 2 to 8% of young people who play soccer are black and brown folks. So, yes, it makes economic sense. Yes, it appears to be an overall edification for our community, and yes, it's women empowerment, but I challenge you to follow through on the equity piece. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, uh, Pastor Young. Um, Madam Bush. >> Yes. Um, Chair Benson, first of all, I am uncharacteristically quiet today because I'm a bit under the weather. Nothing that anyone can catch, but I just wanted to say that if you follow me, then you will know. Um, can you just talk about the frack because I think a couple times people had referred to what it is. I just want to make sure we're bringing everyone along. So, if folks don't understand what that is or whatever, can you just quickly just say what what the frack is and the impact as we're having this conversation? and I think it might be helpful for folks who might be watching. >> Yeah, thank you for that, Madam Vice Chair, and um happy to I do have an announcement that I clearly missed. Our invited speakers, thank you for being with us. If you have to go, you can go. You don't have to stay the entire time and sit with me. Director Steven, that is not you cuz you work for us, so you have to stay. Uh uh to that end, the Frack, which stands for Financial Review Advisory Committee, uh was seated last year uh actually by President Harden, uh Mayor Ginther uh and uh then President Commissioner Erica Cwley and really challenged the community, a group of uh business leaders as well as civic leaders uh to take a look at uh and review the city's funding mechanisms for three particular sectors. uh the human services sector uh which makes up our nonprofits and health and human service agencies that are doing great work uh every single day as well as the arts and culture uh sector and the travel and tourism sector. And what that uh committee did and and I happen to serve on exopicio as a council member uh was looked at those different funding uh resources and came up with recommendations. What I was really proud of is that those recommendations weren't confined uh to the current revenue streams that we see today. It really took an abundance approach and said how can we solve all three of these issues in these sectors not necessarily take money from one or that there be winners and losers. Uh and so some of the recommendations came out are easier lifts and some are harder ones in part in particular I think our human service recommendations are the harder ones which is that we have to raise and find a dedicated revenue source uh for the human services sector which I think that folks around this dis are uh uh uh supportive of uh but that takes a lot more uh willpower from the people as far as voting to raise taxes and some of those other things. So that's what the frack was. It took us about a year or so to come to those recommendations, but I think it was a very fruitful exercise and one that I think folks took serious. So, thank you for u the question. >> Yeah, absolutely. I just I just wanted to make sure that folks as we have this conversation and we're talking about tough decisions and how the budget works, it feels some there's layers to the different things that we're talking about and I feel like we were getting lots into what the frack is and how we're dedicating funds to one sector or another and I just want to make sure that everyone can follow along in the conversation as folks are watching us at home or even the folks who are here advocating today. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, and I think if I kept my place in line, I think Christine Trover Troyer, sorry, is next. Followed by Liz Reed, and then on deck is Maggie Olitin. >> Thank you all for having me today. I am here on behalf of Watch Women Win, a group of women who just want to watch women's sports. Um, And just to show you how dedicated I am to being here and to women's sports, I have number one had to leave work to be here, hence the scrubs. Number two, I have to return to work after this and even washed my hair for this. So, that's big. So, when the volleyball championships were here in 2018, I was there within the record-breaking crowd. And I'll be there again next year in 2027 and at the final four for the women's basketball. Every game that the US women's national team has played here, I've been there. Whether it was the Shea Believes Cup or a friendly or even wind mageddon of 2018 at historic Crew Stadium. And the minute I find out they're scheduled to play here in Columbus, I immediately request off of work, just so I never miss an opportunity to support these athletes and watch their greatness. When all three crew finals occurred here, I attended those games as well. So, I've seen the attendance numbers increase each game regardless of weather or the day of the week. I have traveled to Cleveland and Cincinnati for the US women's national team and to three different US cities for the NWSL finals where I have once again witnessed the growth. For example, it went from $40 a ticket in 2021 in Louisville to five times that in 2025 in San Jose. I don't love spending that much money, but honestly, these women have earned it and are worth it, and I have no regrets. If I'm doing this, imagine how many more people do this and will do this and bring all that revenue here to our growing and deserving city. We have seen the impact of providing women a place to grow and show fans their talents, aka the most recent being the Denver Summit. as mentioned before, one of the newest NWSL teams where they sold 63,04 tickets to their home opener in Empower Stadium. Literally showing us if you build it, they will come. I saw the impact of what a city support can do for a team firsthand, not only with the Save the Crew movement, but also witnessed it in the 2024 NWSL finals in Kansas City. Unfortunately, their own team failed to make it to the finals, but the city still had banners, buses, flags, merchandise, and everything in between covered in their signature teal color. Their players faces were plastered all over the city. I know with a little backing from our great city, the women of the NWSL will be able to grow and succeed and show little kids what is possible for their future. So, all that's left for me to say is where do I sign up to become a season ticket holder for our next Columbus NWSL team? Thank you for your time, and I have to go back to work. >> Thank you uh for being here and and for your testimony and support. Uh next is Liz Reed, followed by Maggie Olen, and then on deck is Emily Keg. Liz, welcome back to council. You have three minutes. >> Council and community members, picture a therapeutic recreational park specially designed with pickle ball, softball, soccer, space to benefit community members with physical disabilities, mental health conditions, and chronic illnesses. A park where children with all abilities take advantage of a splash pad. a park with sheltered picnic tables and restrooms so families can gather and enjoy outdoor space. Then imagine the same park with a small lake for fishing and pass for rolling and strolling. The park also includes a community center with accessible elevators, windows and windows overlooking the amazing new park. Then imagine this new park created in one of the lowest income neighborhoods in Columbus. This neglected community is home to the census track with the lowest average life expectancy in the state of Ohio, 60 years of age. I'm Liz Reed and I and the Southwest Area Commission have advocated for McCoy Park improvements for over seven years. We've seen the incredible plans developed by Columbus Recreation and Parks for this park. We were informed last year that funding was approved by city council and the groundbreaking will start this year. We began to dream about the life-changing impact this park will have on a resource-deprived neighborhood. These plans for McCoy Park are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We began to see McCoy Park as the beginning of an economic development that thrust the entire community forward. Then suddenly we hear that McCoy Park plans will be zapped. City leaders are going to give the park away, lease it to become a privatelyowned training a privateely operated training camp. A training camp is closed to the community. A training camp does not offer jobs, homes or community resources. The real plans to transform McCoy Parks would be shattered. The planned lake at McCoy Park is a muchneeded reservoir. If this NWSL proposal goes through, city staff suggest an underground reservoir instead, increasing the price an additional 25 to $35 million. Don't give McCoy Park to billionaires. Save the better vision for McCoy Park. Save an extra 25 to 35 million taxpayer dollars for a reservoir. If the city decides to move forward with an NWSL proposal, move forward without taking McCoy Park. Save McCoy Park. Move forward with the plans for a therapeutic recreation park with a lake reservoir. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh thank you, Liz, for your advocacy and for all the work you're doing on uh the area commission. I'm going to ask uh Director Stevens if he can talk to uh McCoy Park, the site selection, how we got there, and uh and if any conversations with recreation and parks about what was planned or programmed there, if that is going somewhere else or any details you can give us, director. Thank you, Chair Bankston. Um, as part of the site selection process to identify location to put the training facility, um, work through a number of options, uh, with the ownership group. This was selected as probably the, uh, best spot based on location to downtown and access. When the city purchased additional land at McCory Park approximately 16 months ago, one of the some of the funds we used were utility dollars, so repair dollars to help mitigate some of the storm water concerns in the community. We will address that. Um we explored do we um do the undergrounding paid for the mitigation all underground that cost is not feasible for rate payers. So, we are exploring other options to put the um storm water management outside of McCory Park at different locations and working through the real estate site selection on that. with regards to the design around the um the park land itself or the the the some of the proposed programming at uh McCoy Park. That is still a goal of recreation and parks to have um that type of programming. We will work with them on finding it from a real estate perspective, finding um additional land where we could do that programming. >> Thank Thank you for that, director. And I think Liz to that uh point I think it's a worth a conversation with recreation and parks. It doesn't seem to me that they have abandoned this programming that they want to do. The location may change and maybe that's an opportunity I think for us to look in that quadrant of the city uh that I know is a park desert uh to ensure that we can find a a location in that quadrant of the city. So happy to have that conversation uh alongside also my my chair of recre our chair of recreation and parks as well. I'm I'm sorry. This is the first time hearing about any of this. So, I want to thank you for bringing it to our attention. I'm I don't like what I what I I don't like any of that. I'm very uncomfortable with it and I'm This is my first time hearing any of it. So, I need to obviously get more information. Um, but I think director, you know, I like the questions that I'll have are, you know, thinking about like what were alternate sites, you know, how to, you know, I I think it's really important if we make a commitment to a community that we are doing our due diligence to follow through on that, especially when the commitment we made is going to impact our most vulnerable kids that have no access to facilities. Um, anyways, so I I'm just going to pause there, but I'm really troubled by everything I heard and I'm hoping to hear better things next time we talk about it. >> Okay. Thank you, M. >> Thank you. >> Uh, next is Maggie Olant, then Emily Keg, and then on deck is Mr. Glenn uh Tumala. Hello, my name is Maggie Alfett and I'm a junior at Wetstone High School. I played soccer since I was four years old, starting in the Wetstone Recreational League with my dad as my coach. Ever since then, I've played club soccer through the Wetstone Park Rangers, Worthington United, and Confluent Soccer Club. In the fall, I play at the varsity level at Wetstone High School, and I've had the privilege to be a captain for three years. I even have my US soccer referee license. Soccer touches every aspect of my life. My family has season tickets to the Columbus Crew and has for years. I love going to those games in such a great stadium with the electric atmosphere, but I've never had a local women's soccer team to look up to and watch with the same passion. I'm so fortunate to be surrounded by family and friends that have supported me in my love for soccer. But I know that not everyone has that support and soccer culture surrounding them to inspire them. In Columbus City schools, many girls end up quit quitting soccer once they reach middle school, which has led to a far less competitive high school soccer environment than we could and should have. Out of the 16 high schools in the district that offer athletics, only five have girls soccer teams and none of those have JB squads. All 16 of those high schools have boys soccer teams. This disparity is not because of a lack of interest. It's because of a lack of infrastructure and inspiration to see what's possible for women in soccer within our city. When young female athletes don't have role models they can look up to in their community, their athletic aspirations don't feel achievable and they can feel left behind in the sports narrative. Bringing an NWSL team to Columbus could change the landscape of women's athletics for the better by allowing young girls to see themselves reflected in the athletes and create a community that doesn't just passively allow women's sports to be played in the background, but to empower and support them. As a soccer player and a wrestler, I've seen firsthand the enthusiasm surrounding women's athletics. And I'm not surprised at all that women's sports are growing faster than men's. Being an athlete has led me to push myself beyond what even I could thought I could achieve. It's made me the person that I am today. I've learned how to lead, how to persevere, and how to be resilient. I'm proud to live in an area that has historically valued women's sports, and I hope this opportunity to bring the NWSL to Columbus isn't one that the city passes up. Thank you. >> Thank you, Maggie. Uh, next is Emily Keg, followed by Glenn Tumala, and then on deck is Whitney Harding. In that order, welcome. You have three minutes. >> Good afternoon. Thank you for giving us this platform. My name is Emily Keg >> and I'm Ashley Heggerty Smith. >> We are board members and volunteers for the Nordc. For those unfamiliar, Norduk is a nonprofit organization of soccer supporters with the mission of enriching and growing soccer in the Columbus community. You may recognize us from the chance, drums, artwork, and smoke at crew games. Our amazing army of volunteers puts that all in motion every single match. We also volunteer with local nonprofits, make contributions to local charities, march in the pride parade, and do so much more. We are here today to express our excitement and joy about the propo the prospect of NWSL coming to Columbus. We believe this city through its love for soccer, rich history of inclusivity, support, and admiration for women's sports is the best place for NWSL to lay its next roots. Nordc proudly and energetically supports an NWSL expansion to Columbus. True to our core mission, Nordak is also prepared to do our part in raising awareness for the potential new club, educate the local soccer community of NWSL, and grow this beautiful women's game right here at home where it belongs. The NWSL and its athletes bring a set of values rich in pride and LGBTQ plus advocacy. NWSL offers a platform of support, inclusion, and individuality that seamlessly aligns with the value of the soccer community here in Columbus. Nordc recognizes NWSL as a pioneer and leader in LGBTQ plus activism for both its fans and its athletes. We have seen members in the Columbus Crew ownership and the proposed NWSL ownership group shy away from being leaders in important community events such as pride night matches, participation in pride parade and celebrations, and donations to anti-LGBTQ plus political causes. It is our hope that the ownership group behind this bid not only recognizes and endorses the strong W the strong values of NWSL but also takes necessary steps to immerse themselves in the very culture that NWSL has built. We believe taking steps to align with the values of NWSL and its athletes is paramount to the long-term success of the club. We thank you for your time and your consideration. Glory to Columbus. >> Thank you. Uh, Mr. Glenn is up next. Then um then followed by Whitney Harding. And then on deck is Kelsey Gray. Hello, Columbus City Council. It's great to see you. I am a big supporter of women's sports as well. Columbus needs to have this women's soccer team. It needs to happen. What I'm concerned about and what some of you are starting to realize right now is we've got a breakdown of democracy going on here. This whole process and how it was done and packaged. We have less democracy going on in Columbus than ever before. And it's terrifying to me right now. And this is just one of the one of the symptoms of what's going on. You you put a meeting like this at 300 p.m. on a weekday. I had to get a babysitter so I could come and attend. Uh Mr. Banks, I need about $30 and and I tip for the babysitter as well. Like I have to go out of my way to participate in democracy because you make it difficult. You've also turned off the elevator, so I had to walk up the stairs, which is a violation of ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act, so I can't do that. You've gone out of your way to make this difficult for everybody. And you're spending all of this time instead of what happened to zone in? We're not working on zone in anymore. What What happened to the homeless? What about private equity taking? You're not even working on all those things. It's all about speed. Speed, speed, speed. And this is where all the time is. And for the love of God, not a dime for a billionaire. I'm not a billionaire. I don't know what it's like. Must be fun. All right. He doesn't need our money. The people that are dying on the streets because they're homeless. Yeah. They they they need our tax dollars. Not a single dime to the Hasslam family. All right. They don't need it. He just brought bought a uh a mansion down in Florida for $25 million. Same amount. Yeah. So, stop stop giving billionaires our money. Look at Cooper Stadium. Instead of sacrificing a public park in the poorest area of Columbus, Cooper Stadium's right there. Do that. Why did Why we chose a park and we didn't even know that there was already a design in place? That's the lack of communication and that's the lack of democracy that's going on here in Columbus. It's a breakdown of democracy and it doesn't seem to bother anybody that there's no serious public input. Have you read any of the comments on Facebook? Some of them are horrendously vicious about city council and city hall and how they're doing this. Everybody wants women's soccer. Awesome. You're doing it the wrong way and you're sacrificing so much. Oh, I'd love to have you ask questions, but I know one, two, three, four, four of you have already got gotten up and walked out. Uh, I would love to have have you ask questions. >> Yeah. >> And I am, full disclosure, I love you. >> I love you too, Glenn. Um, and I mean that genuinely. >> I'm ashamed though for you to speak to the previous person up here the way that you did. A little ashamed and I know you are too. I still love you, >> but I wish you would treat people better in that way. >> Yeah. No, >> come on, ask me some questions then. Come on, ask me some questions. >> No, no. Thank you, Glenn, for your testimony. I don't have any questions, but I do want to want to apologize about the elevator if that's an issue. We want to make sure we get that uh addressed because we do want to make sure that city hall is accessible. As far as scheduling, it's just a scheduling thing. So, most of our meetings, as you know, are after 5:00. At least we try to accommodate as many as possible. Um and and so again, thank you for your testimony, beer. Any questions for Mr. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. It's uh $30 cash >> and I would probably give her a $5 tip. Her name is Tammy. >> Give me your cash app and I'll and I'll send it over to you. >> Thank Thank you. Yeah. >> No, but honestly, thank you for being here. >> Babysitter. >> Uh next is Whitney Harding. uh followed by Kelsey Gray and then on deck is Corey O'Neal. >> Thank you, Chair Bangston and members of city council. Thank you guys for hanging in with all of us because obviously we're all very impassioned in many ways about what is happening today. My name is Whitney Harding and I am here today as a Columbus resident, not a journalist. I'm not going to ask you questions. You get to ask me them if you so would like. Um, for those who don't know, I was a competitive gymnast for more than 10 years. I grew up in a gym with Olympians. And it is so hard to explain as a young girl, if you get to see that greatness in front of you, like just you can almost touch it, what that does for your confidence, for your belief. You the dream is there and it is right in front of your face. That is what highlevel women's athletics can bring to young girls. When I was 10 years old, the WNBA came to my town in Houston, the Comets, and created the first professional women's dynasty in athletics. It was amazing to see the the basketball, it was more amazing to see the city get behind a group of women in a professional sports capacity. Columbus has that same opportunity. Maybe a new dynasty of the comets. If you can see her, you can be her. We've heard it. But it's not just a saying. It is founded on research, some done right here in Columbus, Ohio. The group rocks, ruling our experiences. Research that began at the Ohio State University, has found that girls who play sports are more confident. They're more likely to believe they are smart enough to dream and have big careers. They're happier with who they are and they are less likely to want to change their appearance. So in a world that makes girls feel too small, too big, too what have you, sports teaches them they are powerful and their bodies have power. And the demand is already here for women's athletics. I mean Madison Square Garden sold out just a couple nights ago for the PWHL. And get this, seven former Ohio State Buckeyes were on those two hockey teams. This city not only creates women a female athletes, we develop them and they go on to represent us in so many ways. As a sports reporter for more than 15 years, including my final six here in Columbus at NBC4, I made it my mission to tell the women's stories in our community because I felt they weren't being told. And it's not just here. In 2019, a study from Southern Cal and Purdue showed how much smaller the coverage is for women's sports. Every major outlet was here today at the possibility of a professional women's sports team. That is just truly remarkable. And last spring, I shared the story on NBC4 about the P Central girls basketball team. They were gi they were funded or given gear, sponsored I should say, by Donovan Mitchell with the Cavs. We were able to get a video of Donovan congratulating them on their state championship. And those girls looked at me and one of them said, "Oh my gosh, he sees us." That is what this can do because they can see an athlete, a council, a city, stand behind them, support them, and make them feel as powerful as we all know they can be. Thank you so much. Thank thank you for your uh testimony and for being here today. Uh next is Kelsey Gray, followed by Corey O'Neal, and then on deck is Roy Wel. >> Thank you, Miss Gray. Welcome to council. You have three minutes. >> Hi, thank you. My name is Kelsey. I am a Columbus resident, taxpayer. I live in Franklin. I'm also an educator in Columbus City Schools. I'm a high school English teacher and I'm here to just sound the alarm on the legislative behavior that is occurring and the harm that is being done on families and children in this city at your hands. I'm going to start with Columbus City Schools. We're sitting in a $50 million deficit this year with a projected $50 million deficit next year. This is due to the state house, right, defunding us. However, there's a whole lot of blood on your hands when it comes to that via tax abatements. You took $84 million from us last year alone in tax abatements. So right now we have an entire workforce that is scared of losing their jobs. Rightfully so because we're sitting in $50 million deficits from the state house with an additional 84 million deficit from y'all. And in addition to the 50 million next year, I'm sure the tax abatement from Columbus City Council, I'm sure that number is only going to go up because that's what it does. At least that's what it's been doing since 2019 is going up every single year. And so it's not your fault that the state of Ohio chooses to unconstitutionally funded schools by over relying on property taxes, right? But you are aware of it and you choose to do certain things in light of that anyway. And so I I get that you don't want to fund the schools. Message received. I've got it. But you are now using $25 million of taxpayer money and giving it to the rich. And you can't even read the room on that. It is not serve the rich. It's tax the rich at best. At best. So with the $25 million of taxpayer money that I myself, an educator and homeowner and resident here and paying into, I would like to point out that you could choose to do different things with that money that would still benefit the schools because it would benefit the people the community and the community and the public schools are one. It is the same entity. It's bound. You cannot break it. So you could, for example, take $25 million and give people access to clean drinking water and you don't. You could take $25 million and, as Rachel pointed out, give people access to food and fund a food pantry, but you don't. You could take $25 million and invest in actual robust youth programming to curb the violence in this city because educators lose students to gun violence every single year. Aphroentric just lost a student last week. That whole community school community is in mourning and you don't do any of these things. Instead, you are giving money to a billionaire. Jimmy Hassam can pay for a sports system. He got $600 million from the state house just last year. And if you vote forward this as is giving this money to Jimmy Hasslam, you are no better than the slop at the state house just up the street that we see defund public education year after year, decade after decade. And I hate to say it, I'm sorry, Mary, but the crew stay in the game initiatives don't work. It's a joke. There is no way that a sports team actually combats chronic absenteeism. The only thing that actually fixes that is investing in our city schools with money, taxpayer money preferably. Thank you. >> Thank you um uh Miss Gray. And thank you for um and uh and thank you for your dedication to our students um and all the work you're doing. Thank you. And I'm only here because I'm on spring break. >> So inaccessible, but I'm only here because I'm not. >> Uh next we have uh Corey O'Neal uh followed by Roy Wel and then Lauren Cox is on deck. >> Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Corey and I'm a local business owner here in Columbus. I work in the mental and emotional health space specifically for underrepresented and marginalized youth where I spend a lot of time thinking about what shapes young people into resilient, confident, connected adults. Over the past few weeks, I've been out in the community seek speaking directly with families and coaches to understand the level of interest in bringing a professional women's soccer team here. One of the places I visited was Big Air Trampoline Park and Fieldhouse in Polaris. I spoke with parents on the sidelines and coaches running youth youth practices. And I want to be super clear. Every single person I spoke with not only expressed interest, but urgency. They want this here. They want their kids to see professional female athletes up close, not just on screens. Because what we know is this. Young athletes of all genders look up to professional players. These athletes become blueprints. They model how to handle loss, demonstrate sportsmanship, lead, show up with discipline and heart. These are not abstract lessons. They're lived, visible, and deeply influential. And something else happens in sports that I think is also important right now. Conversations around gender equity can sometimes feel abstract or even divisive. But when experienced through sports, through performance and teamwork and shared community pride, they become human. They become accessible. They become something we can all rally around. This is not just about team. It is about strengthening the fabric of our community. Personally, I have already done pre-sale on the upcoming Challenge Cup. I'll be attending and bringing eight female business owners from East Columbus. We're showing up not just as fans, but as stakeholders and what this could become. In my work in mental health, I consistently see how important it is for young people to have real visible role models. Athletes serve as mentors and examples, helping to shape identity and confidence and a sense of what's possible. And right now in Columbus, young athletes are watching professional women's soccer from afar. They admire these players, but they don't get to experience the energy within their city. They don't get proximity to what is truly possible in their lives. And this is our opportunity to change that. As a business owner, I can tell you that some of the strongest leaders I hire are former athletes because the lessons that are learned in sports translate directly into leadership accountability and resilience in our workforce and our community. So, when we talk about this investment, yes, it has an economic upside. Yes, it creates jobs. It's going to drive spending, but it also builds something just as important. It builds belief. It builds identity. It builds a stronger, more connected Columbus. The community is ready. I have been leading the grassroots efforts, speaking to them. I have seen it firsthand. Please take the step forward in supporting public private partnership that allows Columbus to compete for and win an NWSL team. Thank you. >> There you go. Thank you for being here and thank you for your testimony. Uh, next is Roy Wel, followed by Lauren Cox, and then Megan Lush is on deck. >> Mr. Wel, welcome back to council. You have three minutes. >> Been a while, but thank you for uh listening to us and appreciate you hanging in there with your female counterparts where uh seemed like the boys had to go or do something else. But anyway, uh my name is Roy Wel. I'm a community activist and a downtown resident and I appreciate all the work you've done uh to get this far in the uh bringing professional women's sports soccer team to Columbus. I fully support that. As you may be aware from my previous efforts with the city and recreation and parks, I'm a strong advocate for parks and provide that provide multiple recreation opportunities to the residents of the surrounding communities. The original plan for McCoy Park, which has been in the works for several years by community members, met those objectives by providing a home for outdoor inclusive and therapeutic recreation programs as well as numerous other amenities. I'm surprised that you had this is well, this is the third time you've heard about it today, but there's been letters written to the dispatch and to city council in regards to this uh this park and giving up McCoy Park now will further delay the muchneeded park to those who need it the most. And I'm asking you, what is your priority here? As others have stated today and in letters to the dispatch and city council, another option does exist, the vacant Cooper Stadium, which is in the west side and has been sitting vacant for a number of years. It's pretty much an eyesore to the west side of Columbus. It is has established infrastructure, ample parking, and it sounds like a perfect option to me. My question for you today is, what is the alternate plan for the neighborhood for McCoy Park to provide those same types of recreational opportunities now that the original plan has been changed? So, thank you. >> Uh, thank you. Uh Mr. Wow, thank you for your uh years and I would say decades of advocacy around parkland in our uh city. Uh as I said, I think that there it sounds like to me there's a commitment from recreation and parks uh not to abandon the programming that was at that specific location. Uh I think now hearing this I think that we need to uh sit with our real estate division as well as recreation and parks to ensure that uh as we look to do programming of that kind that we look for something on that side of the city. Uh at this point I know that the site plan has been uh given to NWSL. So I'm not sure if we're at a place where we can necessarily switch the site. Uh but I do think that we can work together to try to identify uh another site uh within the the area. But want to continue to have those conversations and we will continue to do that. >> Why is that illegal? >> That's not a that that's just me opining. I'm not saying that I know, but we can ask that for sure and get uh questions. I do want to make sure that we get to the rest of our our speakers. Um I'm sorry, Council Member, did you have a >> Yes. Um uh director, can you just I know that we've talked about Cooper Stadium a couple times. Weren't we trying to buy Cooper Stadium and wasn't there some sort of challenge before? Weren't we trying to do turn it into a sports park or do something with Cooper Stadium? Can you remind me if if I if if I'm misremembering, please tell me. >> U council member, uh thank you for the question. I don't recall us trying to I'm not aware of us trying to purchase it for a sports park. I do know when the county chose to um when it was sold close to 15 plus years ago um there were a couple different iterations around it uh of what would be developed there. It is privately owned. It has a um site development plan that includes redevelopment of the stadium that is projecting some type of um entertainment venue as well as uh there's plans for I've seen proposal around some housing being built on the site. Um I know there was some interest a couple years ago on maybe some storm water mitigation. the property owner at the time was not interested in selling it because he had there were some tax credits assigned my understanding there were some tax credits assigned to the property that uh they were using for redevelopment. So that was kind of limited it um with regards to the specific does it meet the um some of the requirements around what the training facility has it it when the initial site selection search was done it didn't fall into that cate it it did not meet those requirements around the site selection >> thank you thank you I I think maybe I was just misremembering the the repurposing of that stadium in all of the different conversations but I just wanted to bring that up since it's been brought up a couple different times of why that may or may not work. So, thank you. >> Thank you for that. Um, Madam Vice Chair, uh, next is Lauren Cox, followed by Megan Lush, and then on deck is Paula Corti. Okay, I don't see any movement. Lauren, no. Okay, Megan Lush. Thank you, Megan, for being here. You have Welcome to Council. You have three minutes. >> Hello, my name is Megan Lush, and I'm a volleyball player and the captain for the Columbus Fury. I'm here to support Columbus's bid to be the home for the new NWSL's 18th franchise. Thank you so much for allowing me a few minutes to share my thoughts and my feelings as a professional athlete currently living here in Columbus. Ohio has only one professional sports team in the entire state. I'm on that team for now at least. Cleveland is adding the N WNBA team in two in 2028. And while I'm in the business of winning and losing, let me be very clear that there should be no competition between whether women's sports should exist in the same sta space or the same city. I want to share my well I want to share this experience and this job description with so many more incredible athletes specifically female athletes. Second, the city of Columbus already has a soccer following. The crew has been a cherished part of the city's community sports community since its inception. The soccer fandom is already here. When the Columbus Fury team was announced, I'll admit I was a little nervous about the attendance and how the city would react to a new women's professional team with no male counterpart. Columbus over the past three seasons has showed up in a big way time and time again. I would expect nothing less for the addition of the NWSL team. Sports are one of the great unifiers in this country and in our world. I truly believe that this addition will continue to bring the city of Columbus together. And lastly, and possibly the most important, I would like to speak to you as a mother, not as an athlete. I'm a proud mother to a soon to be three-year-old daughter. I cannot think of a more amazing way to raise her than in the gym with my counterparts, my teammates. She gets to firsthand witness teamwork, leadership, hard work, and community, and just how viable that is to young girls. The more visibility that our younger generations have seeing women pursuing their dreams, the more that they can see themselves do it in the shoes that they want to be in. The possibility of having this opportunity in our own backyard feels like a no-brainer. And as a mother, I want nothing more than to let her chase her dreams and to be there to support her along the way. Female athletes, sorry, females deserve a chance to be to prove themselves. And once they are given that chance, boy oh boy, you better watch out. women have been trailblazers and will continue to be trailblazers for generations to come. Thank you so much for your time. >> Uh well, thank you uh Captain Lush and looking forward to continue to cheer on the Fury. Uh I was got to be there for the opening uh match at Nationwide Arena. So, it is very electrifying. If you haven't gone, uh I encourage you to get to a Fury uh game. I am still trying to figure out the points and all of that, but I'm going to figure it out and I'll be able to follow much uh better. We'll talk later about that. >> Thank you again. >> Uh, next is uh Paula Corti, followed by Bri Los uh and then on deck is Lisa Rush. >> Good afternoon everyone and thank you council. My name is Paula Corte and I have the privilege of working with the Columbus City of Columbus Department of Neighborhoods and supporting the new American program and the immigrants and refugees that we serve. As a daughter of immigrants, this topic is not just professional for me, it's personal. Want to know why immigrants love soccer or what we say football. When we talk about women in sports, we are talking about more than just the competition. We're talking about access, identity, and belonging. Columbus is home to a growing and vibrant new American population with tens of thousands of immigrants and refugees contributing to the cultural and economic strength of our city. Many of those families are raising daughters who are navigating new systems, new cultures, and new opportunities all at once. And for these young women, sports can be transformational. As professional soccer player, Katarina Macario says, "I've always wished that there was a professional soccer team where I grew up, but at least when I was growing up, there wasn't. But I had the opportunity to see one at last. And today, we have the opportunity to make sure that young girls in Columbus, especially those from immigrant and new American communities, don't have to grow up wishing the same opportunity. But the reality is access is not always equal. New American communities grow up for wishing for opportunities. Barriers like cost, transportation, and cultural expectations and lack of representation can make those participations feel out of reach. But that's why what's happening here in Columbus matters. Columbus has proven to be a women's sports city, hosting major national championships, breaking attendance records, and building one of the strongest sports communities in this country. And now with this initiative like Ignite Her Columbus and the push to make national women's soccer league team here in our own city, we have the opportunity to go even farther. Not to just support women's sports to lead it. Because this is not just about a team. It's about what young girls see. Right now, there are over a 100,000 youth soccer players in central Ohio. Many of them are girls who do not have a local professional women's team to look up to. And for immigrant girls especially, that visibility and change matters. The intention and involvement and engagement of new American women's and girls can open doors to so many opportunities such as networking, exposure, education, and long-term growth. And that is not just theoretical, it's real. One new American shared with me, I have a niece who loves soccer, but she's had to step away from the sport, not because she lacks passion or talent, but because there is no access. There isn't a connection to a girl's team. The options he has are playing with sports or participating in informal settings. And that's the gap we're talking about. Columbus is a diverse city and with that diversity comes a range of needs creating intentional opportunities for women, girls, and especially those of immigrant and new American communities. It's not just beneficial for them, but it's beneficial for our entire city. And that's the kind of future worth investing in. So on behalf of the new Americans, the department of neighborhoods, we join the call for you council members to head this moment and create pathways where all of us can thrive. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh next is Bri Laos, and please forgive me if I butchered that last name. Followed by Lisa Rush, and then on deck is Lindsay Rush. Welcome council. You have three minutes. >> Hello. Thank you so much for hearing us all out this afternoon. As Miss Shepro stated, there are so many nonprofits that benefit from the work that is happening here in Columbus as a result of the MLS. Um I represent one of those nonprofits. Uh so good afternoon uh members of city council. My name is Bri Losi and I serve as the executive director of student success stores. We are currently serving 17 schools between Columbus City Schools and Whiteall City Schools. Our mission is to ensure every student in Columbus has access to basic need items from socks to a warm meal to mechanical pencils to hygiene products so they feel confident to attend school with dignity and ready to learn. I'm here today to voice my strong support for bringing a professional women's soccer team to Columbus. In the last two years alone, the Columbus crew has been and continues to be an exceptional ambassador for student success stories and the students we serve. And it isn't just about sports. It's about the tangible social and economic impact on the families we serve every day. Thanks to this partnership, two schools have a full functioning store inside their school building, completely free to students. At Student Success Stores, we see firsthand the importance of belonging. We've seen the incredible impact the Columbus crew had on our students by providing tickets to games. The crew allows the boys we serve to see professional athletes who look just like them, proving that their dreams are valid and attainable. However, our girls deserve that same see it to be it moment. Nationally, girls drop out of sports at twice the rate of boys by age 14. By bringing a women's professional team to Columbus, we provide our girls with local icons of resilience, teamwork, and leadership. When a girl sees a professional athlete on that field, she isn't just watching a game. She is seeing a blueprint for her own future success. Professional sports teams in this city are more than just entertainment. They are vital community partners. The crew has already been instrumental in helping us with volunteer events and connecting our mission with new sponsors. A women's professional team would expand the ecosystem. We envision new opportunities for player play playerled volunteer days in our warehouse and schools and fresh corporate partnerships that prioritize female empowerment and youth success. The proposed investment in is in a Columbus-based women's soccer team represents a commitment to the neighborhoods where our students live and play. Columbus is already Soccer City, USA. We have the fans, the spirit, and the infrastructure. By supporting a women's professional team, this council isn't just investing in a franchise. You are investing in the self-esteem of our girls and the strength of the nonprofits that support them. In closing, let's ensure that every child in Columbus, regardless of gender, not only has access to basic need items, but has a professional hero to look up to right here in their backyard. Thank you for your time and for your commitment to our student success. >> Thank you. Uh and thank you for all that you're doing for our youth and our community. >> And we are close to the end here, folks. We have Miss Lisa Rush is up next, followed by uh Lindsay Rush. And then to uh bring us home is a Derek Bergman man. >> All right. Welcome to Oh, you guys want to Oh, now who is who? >> We're just going to do this together so that uh makes it easier. >> Okay. >> Um >> I'm I'm gonna try to keep a track of who is who in this conversation. >> I'm Lindsay. >> Yeah. Hi, my name is Lisa Rush. Um, this is my sister Lindsay. We are small business owners here in Columbus. Um, we own a restaurant, Breishy Shack, together. Uh, we're former college soccer players and spent eight years coaching youth athletes in the crew system. Uh, soccer has shaped nearly every chapter of our lives and it's ultimately what brought us back home to this city. Sorry, to this city. After college, we chose to return to Columbus because we believed in the opportunity here, not just professionally, but in the community. We got into coaching to give back and had the privilege of working with young girls who showed up every day with passion, discipline, and big dreams. But without a clear path to see how far those dreams could really go. Because when athletes can see someone who looks like them playing at the highest level in their hometown, it changes what they believe is possible. It gives them something real to chase. It helps shape confidence, driven, sorry, shape confident, driven, resilient young women, future leaders, and builders in the community. Sports did that for us. It It taught us discipline, leadership, and how to show up even when things are hard. Those lessons carried into our careers and ultimately into starting our business. At Brekie Shack, our goal is to be more than a restaurant. We want to be a cornerstone of the community, a place where people gather, connect, and feel a sense of belonging. And that's exactly what a professional women's soccer team can do to a city. Columbus has already proven that we are a soccer city. The support for the crew, the youth participation, and the community engagement are already here. This is a city with a built-in fan base and a deep pipeline of young athletes ready to be inspired. From a business standpoint, this means consistent economic activity and support for small businesses. But more importantly, it's an investment in people in visibility, representation, and opportunity. This isn't just about bringing a team here. It's about creating a pathway and building a legacy. Columbus is ready. Our businesses are ready. And our girls are ready. Thank you. >> Well, uh, thank you both. And you actually hit on something that I think strikes a chord with me. you know, I chair also the uh small business committee, and I think about now that stadium being activated twice as much. What's really unique about um uh the stadium is that the vendors in there are local uh entrepreneurs. It's folks like Land Grant uh and Kandado uh and even local franchises of Donados who will now have double the opportunity uh to continue uh to build their business, but also more opportunities to employ folks and give them a chance as well. So, thank you uh for your entrepreneurial spirit uh and and thank you for being here today and and sharing that lens as well. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> And then last but not least is Derek Bergman rounding us out. >> Thanks for your patience. Thanks for being here today. >> Thank you for the opportunity. >> All right. Good afternoon, uh council members and thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Derek Bergman and I resident of Franklin and I want to start by saying clearly I'm supportive of this type of investment in Columbus and I'm excited about the opportunity that NWSL growth and expansion could bring to our city, jobs, visibility and momentum for women's sports. But I'm here today because I have significant questions and potential concerns about this specific proposal and this specific site. Turning over McCoy Park to the Handland Sports Group for an NWSL training facility. And I hope you hear that trend among the speakers today. Everyone here is in support of the power of investing in women's sports and in bringing an NWSL expansion team. But no one is supportive of it at this specific site or location. First, the Columbus Department of Recreation and Parks has already invested years of work, thousands of public dollars, and extensive public communications about making McCoy Park the quote permanent home for outdoor therapeutic recreation programming. Moving forward with this plan would discard that investment and send a message that carefully built public planning can be wiped away when corporate interests lean on city council. Second, we have plenty of vacant and underdeveloped land in Columbus, even within a mile of this location. If this is a great opportunity, and it very well may be, then we should site it where it doesn't displace an actively used public park that the city has already invested in. Third, the process here is alarming in itself. This hearing was first publicly announced on page 251 of this past Saturday's city bulletin from the official city council communications email only 2 hours in advance today. And as of this moment, the city council's website says that there are no meetings or hearings today. That raises what I hope is an understandable question and concern of what the rush is and why it feels like an attempt to pass something without enough public awareness or opportunity to review. I have no doubt in the financial analysis of this project, but what seems to be up in the air is the social and environmental cost of removing 20 acres of open green community space in a region already suffering from underinvestment in these things. The city will absolutely recoup its financial investment, but we have not had heard any discussion or details on how the neighborhood recoups its lost access to these resources. So again, I support bringing major sports opportunities to Columbus, and I'm asking city council to pause this site decision, require a transparent funding plan, and direct the city to evaluate alternative locations through a real public process before any land transfer moves forward. Thank you. >> Uh thank thank you, Mr. uh Bergman, um for your testimony and for being here and your and your patience. I will make sure we get with our comm's folks on that. I mean, I I believe I know we had a press event on Friday and announced it there. So, I'm not sure what that lag was in getting that communication out, but we do want to make sure that we are uh as transparent, as accessible as possible. That is not the goal here. Uh this was a previously scheduled hearing and time held and it just worked for the majority of council. U again, there's going to be, I think, ongoing conversation that you can have with my office and other folks before we get to uh passage and consider considering this. So, again, thank you for being here. Uh again want to thank everyone for hanging in there with us to today u uh who are here present and those that u voiced their concerns as well as their support. I think as you can see uh on this issue very spirited uh debate on both sides and I see a lot of energy around this. We had 24 speakers uh 18 of those speakers that were overwhelmingly for this six folks that I think uh had concerns and we make sure that we continue to work as a community uh to address those. Uh but I do think that this is a moment for our city. It's a once in a generational opportunity and we should put our best foot forward and leave all opportunities uh on the table. Uh before I close and discuss next steps, are there any closing comments or remarks from my colleagues? Council member um sorry, council member Deakau. >> Columbus is a sports town. We love our local sports teams. We love hosting major sporting events. Having a professional women's soccer team will be an exciting addition to our city, and I'm glad that a better financing deal has been proposed. Sporting events bring a lot of revenue to our local businesses, and the city benefits from the tax revenue. So, I'm glad that our city is in the running for an expansion team of the D NWSL. It's an exciting opportunity for Columbus, and it's great news for women and girls. This opportunity is a happy moment for a lot of people, but let's be honest, it's a kick in the teeth to the neighborhood that has spent several years collaborating with our recreation and parks on a park for the community. This underserved community was going to get a neighborhood park where their children could play on a playground and families could gather and recreate in the outdoors. The plans included active and passive recreation opportunities, including adaptive therapeutic recreation for the differently aabled members of our community. Now they get nothing. I advocated for at least a small portion of McCoy Park to be set aside for a park so the people who live in the neighborhood could have something. And that request was not considered. Yes, the team is going to allow kids who play soccer to use a field during the off hours after phase 2 is developed. And the team supports kids soccer programs, but the overwhelming majority of people in this community are getting nothing. Residents were going to have a park they could use. Now they'll get to look at someone else's soccer fields. The proposal includes promises for the team to contribute money to community benefit programs for the city at large. And that's a great thing, but nothing has been offered for this neighborhood to replace what is being taken away from them. The people who live in this underserved neighborhood shouldn't be the ones taking it for the team. They deserve better. The team owners need to do better for this neighborhood. Uh thank you uh Madame Chair and um I know you're a fierce advocate uh for our rec centers and for particularly uh parts of our city that I think that are deserts. So, thank you for uh pointing that out and uh I I will make a commitment that I'm willing to work with you uh behind the scenes that we can make sure that uh the programming that was there and that this corner of our city uh is able to see that to fruition. So, again, thank you for your advocacy. Uh again, want to thank everyone for being here. Um again, I think when we talk about things like public private partnerships, uh it's always hard. It's always difficult conversation but I think what uh I am committed to and I think what tonight should demonstrate to all that we can have the hard conversations that uh as we see opportunities like this and challenges that come to our city that we can face them head on and if we face them headon together we can do both. Uh that is not I think that sometimes that folks think that's just a talking point for me but it is true. I truly believe that we can uh do both and that we have to to meet this moment. Columbus is at a pivotal time uh that we are becoming a a shiny beacon in a city that folks want to go to and we need to continue to double down on that. But simultaneously uh as some of my other colleagues have said as well, we also have to look at our current residents and make sure that we're not just simply building a city of tomorrow at the expense of the city and residents today. And I think that this deal one gets us there, but two, it's also just the beginning of a conversation that we will continue to have as a community. I think a lot has been said around uh again one particular uh uh uh part of this ownership um that sometimes is a lightning rod. But I also again want to continue to lift up that this is stacking hands. It is folks like Nationwide who is will be celebrating their 100redy year anniversary born and bred in this community who have stepped up when it comes to our blue jackets. they have stepped up when it comes to the crew as well as Dr. Pete and Christine Edwards who have called this community home and have been investors uh not only in uh things like sports but also investors in our human services sector. Some of our largest donors to that sector, some of our largest donors to youth sports all across this community. uh so again it is not missed on me uh that this is not uh a conversation that there will be consensus uh even around this dis but I do believe that there's consensus that we are open to dialogue uh and having a conversation uh and having that conversation here uh in front of you it is tough uh that what we are what we are uh grappling with uh but we do that honestly and we do that openly uh because that is the Columbus that is the true Columbus way is that we have honest and truth for conversations together. Uh so we will continue to move this uh proposal forward. Uh I will continue to work with uh the uh council president on when uh this will uh see a potential first reading and second reading. Uh it is right now our ideal timeline uh to get this uh for consideration by the April 20th uh agenda uh for my colleagues to consider. But we are still in dialogue. So please feel free uh to advocate. Please feel free to continue to reach out to my office and every council member's office up here. Uh the conversation is not over. Uh and we are continuing to work with uh our uh department as well as uh the the the ownership group on to to continue to strengthen uh this proposal. Um so with that um >> can I say one last thing there as you close? I ask >> just a reminder. I know. I know. I just want to give a reminder to folks because honestly I don't think there's any good time to come down to to city hall and it is difficult to get down here and it is difficult to park and it is unfortunate that this is the place where we have these meetings but I do want to say this to everyone at any time people can reach out to any of our offices at any time at any time you can send that letter it's not just about being here in front of this podium and being on TV, we listened to every we read every single letter. I read all of the correspondences that came in, all the written testimony. It matters. So, I want folks to know that just because you can't be here physically, that does mean that does not mean your voice is not heard. And this this was incredibly helpful for me. I think as we sit here and we have to weigh out these tough decisions, every voice matters and every perspective matters. So, I want folks to know that because even if we had a hearing that started at 5, it would have lasted until 9:00 and people need to get home to cook for their babies or to take care of other people. It's never ever a good time, but it's but we're our doors are always open and our ears are always open. And so, I just want to make sure that folks know that that you can reach out to us at any time and it does matter. It's not just in at hearings like this. >> That's all I wanted to say. Chair, thank you. Thank you um council member and in that spirit I think that we will close the hearing but I I do want to point out to to your point uh and then my colleagues around the table. You know I I unapologetically uh have been supportive of this deal from the very beginning. Uh but I know that I am one of a body of nine. Uh you have nine council members up here not just one perspective. Uh and it is came clear to me that there were concerns around this dis of what was proposed. And so we rolled up our sleeves and got to work to get to this point. Now that doesn't mean that it will be perfect. That's what democracy is. Um we don't always get everything that we want, but I think that we are I am open to continue to have the conversation and as you said, I think all of us on this dis are open to having a dialogue particularly with the residents that we serve and we will continue to do that. So again, thank you all for being with us this uh long evening. Hopefully you get to get out and still enjoy some sunlight. Uh and we stand a journ. >> Thank you.