Columbus plans $50M for women's pro soccer

(The Center Square) – The city of Columbus plans to spend $50 million in taxpayer funds to lure a women’s professional soccer team to join the Crew in the capitol city. Plans call for the city to convert McCoy Park on the southwest side into a training facility and make improvements to downtown’s Scotts Miracle-Gro Field. If a team comes, it would be the sixth professional sports team to call Columbus home – joining the Crew, the NHL’s Blue Jackets, Cleveland Guardian affiliate Columbus Clippers, women’s volleyball’s Columbus Fury and the new United Football League’s Columbus Aviators. “We intend to support a professional women’s team with the same seriousness we’ve afforded to the Columbus Crew and Columbus Blue Jackets in the past,” Jennifer Fening, Columbus deputy chief of staff told The Center Square. “We want girls and women here to see women take to the pitch at Scotts Miracle-Gro Field and be inspired to lead on the field, in the c