Success is a fickle thing in MLS, where players, coaches, and front office members so often use the league as a stepping stone to some greater goal.
If you assemble a team capable of winning a trophy, you end up catching the eyes of other clubs from around the world. When you factor in the idea that success in MLS almost always includes an underpaid role player or two growing into a high-level contributor, contract negotiations start to get tricky. In a salary cap league, you have to start making hard choices.
Or, sometimes those hard choices are made for you.
That was the case for the Columbus Crew when president Tim Bezbatchenko left in June to become president of Black Knight Football, a multi-club ownership group with teams competing in England, Scotland, France, and Australia. During his time with the Crew, Bezbatchenko made two of the most impactful decisions in recent MLS history: he signed forward Cucho Hernandez and manager Wilfried Nancy in 2022.
With each member of that trio leading in their own way, the Crew climbed to the MLS mountaintop by putting together one of the league’s all-time great multi-season runs.
Between their MLS Cup victory in 2023, their run to the Concacaf Champions Cup final this year that included wins over Liga MX giants Tigres and Monterrey, and their Leagues Cup win earlier this year that featured wins over Inter Miami and LAFC, few teams in league history have reached the heights that the 2023-2024 Crew have. Even fewer have stayed up there for as long as the Crew have.
Comparing teams across decades is incredibly difficult, but you can make a compelling argument that Columbus’ last two seasons put them somewhere in conversations with some of the best eras MLS has seen. Think early-days DC United. The LA Galaxy at their best. Toronto FC and the Seattle Sounders in the 2010s. LAFC in the last five years. You get the picture.
When Columbus abruptly exited the 2024 playoffs in the first round at the hands of the New York Red Bulls, then, it was notable – especially because there’s no guarantee they’ll get another bite at the apple.
