It was early December 2017. Major League Soccer’s two dominant clubs were about to play for the championship for the second straight season. One was looking for a repeat. The other was hoping to complete an extraordinary treble. And yet all most people wanted to talk about was a smaller city that was about to lose its team and another that didn’t have one. Seattle and Toronto were overshadowed as league executives and media gathered in Ontario and as commissioner Don Garber conducted his MLS Cup press conference. Despite the setting, Columbus and Austin were the story.
There was a lot at stake—more than just a single championship.