COLUMBUS, Ohio — 2018 was nearly its last season in Columbus, but now the Crew is advancing to the biggest Major League Soccer game of the season.

What You Need To Know

• Columbus Crew is ready to take on Los Angeles Football Club in the MLS Cup Finals


• It’s a big achievement after a time of uncertainty

• The team nearly moved to Austin, Texas, after the 2018 season


• The Save The Columbus Crew Movement is a big reason why the team stayed

Columbus Crew is taking on Los Angeles Football Club in the MLS Cup Finals, and it’s been a journey.

Meanwhile, the team’s fanbase, known as Nordecke, is channeling their excitement before game day.

They’re painting a 60-foot banner for the Major League Soccer Cup Finals, but the design they’re creating remains a secret before the big game.

The banner will go up behind the north goal at the Lower.com Field on game day.

Ashley Howard is one of the painters. She’s been a Columbus Crew fan almost all her life.

“As a kid, I used to get tickets from my mom, and seeing the stuff they would do back then and these big banners that they’ve done, it was always cool,” she said. “I’d be sitting there in the stadium and be like, ‘Oh my god, I want to be over there one day.’ And so now I get that opportunity.”

Nordecke makes banners for major games, but this weekend the stakes are even higher. The Crew could win their third cup, so the pressure is on. 

The Crew’s victories are impressive after a time of uncertainty. The team nearly moved to Austin, Texas, after the 2018 season. 

“To lose our team, or the thought of losing our team, just because you know, someone, an owner that wasn’t even from the city, wanted to just go somewhere else... it felt awful,” Howard said. 

But the team is here today and thriving, and the Save The Columbus Crew Movement is a big reason why.

“I know players came out to support the community,” Howard said. “It was just a huge morale boost all around to show that, you know, we were being told, ‘oh, there’s not any fans and no one comes to the games anymore.’”

Howard, for one, is proud. 

“Especially now,” she said. “It’s a new level of pride.”

And she's ready to cheer on The Crew as they go for another title since the threatened move.

“Just go Crew,” she said. “Ready to watch that 3rd star.”

A local construction firm and developer is showing its appreciation by hosting a Save The Crew reunion and is reserving a block of tickets for the Save The Crew board members.