From what I have heard, some are not surprised at the move cos from an attendance perspective the Crew is not in the top half. I am not surprised he wants to move and i am surprised at the choice of Austin. Didnt they have some soccer team a while back that folded and also the other Texas teams Houston and Dallas also have subpar attendance rivaling that of the Crew ?
Also as far as FC Cincinnati goes - they are in the second division not MLS. So the tickets are guaranteed to be cheaper. If they jump into MLS i am sure their ticket prices will increase as well and i dont know if that will have an impact on attendance.
Idk if this is right but my boss told me that the owner signed a 10 year deal or something in Columbus with the one exception being he could move the team to Austin. But Again not sure if that's right.
That's a good point about attendance and prices. MLS will always struggle in certain markets because few want to see a second tier product when the best leagues and teams an players are largely in Europe.