No thread on this yet? Seemed like team #27 deserves more than just a post in the daily news thread. Delete if one already exists. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/01/15/austin-fc-begin-mls-play-2021-leagues-27th-club "Austin is the country's 11th largest city" If use the arbitrary city limit lines...yes it is technically the 11th largest city. If you use the metro population it is #31.
As a native of Southeast Georgia and a Jaguars fan, to the extent I give a shite about pointy ball, I like those metrics. Jacksonville is the nation's largest city.
Yes, but “Austin is a . . . metropolitan city," per Don Garber in the league's press release. As distinct from all those non-metropolitan cities.
The Austin Bold will be playing this year in a soccer specific stadium in USL. It will be interesting to see if the two clubs affiliate - if for no other reason than for survival. It would decrease operating costs for the Bold as they would be given a steady supply of players that they wouldn’t have to pay, act as an inexpensive player development tool for FC as they wouldn’t have to run an entire USL franchise and make survival in a crowded market easier for everyone. The only problem is that owners of sports teams very often don’t do the obvious, easiest thing. It is possible for both teams to survive if they work together, but somehow I question whether that will happen.
Austin Bold may be in some trouble. While Austin FC will have prime real estate in an growing and swanky north side neighborhood, Austin Bold is at the race track which is barely in Austin. Far, far east.
There will be no cooperation between the Bold and FC Austin. The Bold's owner is one of the sponsors of the petition for an ordinance that would make it harder for Austin government to give stuff to entertainment venues.
100% chance that Precourt sells at least the majority of his stake in this venture before they kick off. No way can he finance the stadium and operations.
Let’s see what Precourt can do with his tradition of bare bones player spending and no Berhalter this time.
The names are confusing enough: "Austin Bold FC" and "Austin FC". I suppose "Bold" will be the commonly used name for the USL team.
Any word on who the local investors might be? https://www.statesman.com/sports/20...y-announced-as-27th-mls-club-with-local-roots The team will be majority owned by Anthony Precourt, but the California-based investor acknowledged during an exclusive interview with the American-Statesman on Tuesday morning that he plans to announce local investors soon. Precourt was one of the presenters at Rustic Tap on Sixth Street, along with Garber and Mayor Steve Adler. “We will shortly be announcing that we’ll be welcoming in local Austin partners into our ownership group,” Precourt said. “I’ve had very productive conversations over the last year, and we have very strong interest in a great lineup of local Austinites that will be part of this going forward.” Indeed, Garber has hammered home in recent years that local ownership is a key for franchise success. Precourt said that he has already bought a home downtown and plans to be heavily involved in day-to-day operations. “If not for those plans, we probably wouldn’t be here today,” Garber told the Statesman. “The final ownership structure will be one that would satisfy our real strong desire and preference to have our clubs have local roots.”
Yup! The first step to his complete removal from the MLS Investor group is to add local ownership. Who then ultimately buy him out...
At least these assholes could have come up with something involving “I am groot” in their fake ass chants. That’s very low hanging fruit.
Any team who willingly chooses the nickname "Bold" not only deserves to be driven out of business, but also should be taken outside and shot. What's the matter, you couldn't get around the trademark use for Mutiny, Burn, Wiz or that other team they didn't try to steal from Cow-lumbus, the Xoggzzz? But as bad as that may be, they are still my favorite Austin-based soccer team. I hope Precourt winds up so broke he's living in a van down by the river, except this river is dry and he couldn't afford to be by a real river.
Any team that willingly chooses the nickname FC (or umpteenth United) deserves an even more gruesome demise.
El Tree. Broccoli FC. Austin Astroturf. Whatever you want to call the Rosemary's Baby Garber, Precourt, and Greeley have delivered into MLS at the expense of much worthier fan bases and cities (San Antonio, Sacramento, etc). Still hoping it all unravels due to the stadium being built on a toxic waste dump. Fitting.