Farewell, Crewzers

Once upon a time, almost half of the teams in Major League Soccer had dance teams. I’m sad to report that we’ve lost one more. The Columbus Crew recently announced their decision to disband their dance team, the Crewzers. The Crew has made the following statement:

“Although the Crewzers have been a significant part of the Crew history and valued ambassadors for the team, we made the difficult decision to discontinue the program following the 2011 season. This decision was not made without thorough research with our fans and research provided by Major League Soccer. We clearly discovered that our fans were looking for a more authentic soccer experience at our games, and wanted to see scores from around the league, first-half highlights, and soccer-related content during halftime. Moving forward, we plan to create and deliver these authentic soccer elements.”

As with most “official statements” of this kind, there are a lot of words that don’t say much of anything. It certainly doesn’t explain the real reason why the Crewzers, who were independently funded and did not rely up the Crew for financial support, were let go. The dance team’s management and veteran members are greatly saddened by the decision.

There are only two dance teams remaining in the league, the Dynamo Girls from Houston, and the ChivaGirls from Chivas USA. (However, FC Dallas and New England Revolution do have non-dancing promo teams, the FC Dallas Girls, and the Rev Girls, respectively.)
Update: The San Jose Earthquakes also have a promo team, the Shaker Girls. (Thanks for the heads-up, Mia!)

A look back at the Crewzers in action