[emoji23] You guys are so easy to annoy. You base your whole pride in city on one music festival. I’m sure it’s a great event. Doesn’t mean much outside that two weeks, much like the Arnold.
The whole point is the only thing that matters in life. Money. The only thing that matters in sports. Money. Also nobody outside of Columbus gives a shit about the the Arnold except for some people who work out. SXSW is the single biggest marketing mecca in the world. It's where almost every major app explosion takes place. SXSW is probably the biggest single deciding factor for the MLS move. This is also paired with the fact that Austin is one of the most invested in cities in the world at the moment, not just the United States.
First, Columbus Crew ain’t moving. Second, you really think SXSW would put millions into the coffers of a soccer team? Man, ego knows no ends with you guys! Oh, and the vast majority of the people that attend the Arnold aren’t Columbus residents. I would give you more info on it but it would get lost in your attempt at a dick measuring contest. If Austin is so great, why have all these expansion rounds gone by without some hotshot sxsw app guy putting a bid in? I mean, guaranteed $$$, amiright??? All right all right all right [emoji23]
Most people in Columbus only care about the buckeyes, ohhhhhhhhh the irony coming from Austin of all places. Might wanna hold off on the "college football is life" defense there super chief, for obvious reasons. Especially for a "fanbase" that cant muster more than a half dozen fans to a city council meeting at a time. Realistically, Austin is going to cease as a discussion come June 2nd once the city council asks PSV for more and he wont be willing to give them more.
Mopac is evil, but there are plenty of ways to get to Mckalla, not just Mopac. If you cant figure out how to get there on 183, I-35 or parmer to metric, then you dont deserve to be driving anyways.
..............if someone were to drive from downtown Austin (or south Austin for that matter)......to the Domain. What is the common sense route they would take? When you plug in your directions on the fancy GPS from UT Austin, South Congress, The Bee Cave/Galleria........ critical nodes of the Austin populace, what route is it going to have you take?? Even my phone is not stupid enough to ever take me up I-35 to the domain, lol. And 183......dude, you sure you live in Austin? What the hell good is 183 going to do for.........anyone living south of Lady Bird? Are you just trying to pretend South Austin doesn't exist or.....?? I mean that's what Precourt is going for obviously.
From lady bird, Take I-35 to 183 and from 183 you can get onto both Braker or Burnet. In rush hour friday traffic it doesn't take more than 20 minutes. Ill say it again, if you cant navigate your way around traffic, you shouldn't be driving in Austin.
20 minutes?! in rush hour traffic??? You are out of your freaking mind. 10:20 a.m, right.......now, on google. It takes 20 minutes WITHOUT traffic, it is all green from Home Slice Pizza to Addison Kramer apartments (where I used to live and would be practically the same distance north as McKalla is south on burnett), right now. When this is rush hour, it is 45-50 minutes on Mopac and 50-60 minutes on the other route between 3-530 pm. Its like, I did this literally daily for my commute or something. Now imagine lets tack on some soccer traffic for that. You are talking out of your rear end bro, and I'm calling you out on that right now.
That's the way I go (from Airport/35) and it's typically quick unless it's during the peak of rush hour, so maybe a couple games a season.
Ill tell you guys what, have yourself a Hopdotty with a couple brews on SoCo at around 4 pm to beat the lines, then hop on the road (any road, your choice) to the whole foods at the domain. and on a scale of 1 to my bladder exploded 10 minutes ago tell me how you feel after that drive. There is not a city council member on the stand that will be willing to play that game ANY day of the week.
Why do you think they have not? If they have, they are not going to tell you through media or otherwise.
As an Austinite, living downtown in the middle of all that SxSW stuff -- there is no way we have 500,000 people for it. Nowhere close. Further, I think Coca-cola is a big world-wide brand. SxSW and ACL don't have a significant fraction of Coke's brand awareness. They have decent brand awareness within a particularly narrow subsection.
Forgive me -- I try not to be snarky -- but how much do you drive in Austin? Rush hour (which is nearly 24 hours a day) on I-35 through downtown Austin is 20 minutes alone if not more. I don't think traffic to McKalla place will be bad. Especially now that Mopac work has been completed. However, I-35 to I83 as a path from South Austin to the domain area is the worst of any possible option.
I hate to see Austin folks arguing with Columbus folks or denigrating that city. They don't deserve it. I'm a little more understanding of Columbus folks bashing Austin because of emotional experience they are going through. I'm sympathetic and I hope they win because I don't want soccer and MLS to be run like the NFL. One thing I love about soccer is the great tradition that the game is not owned by the professional league owners and the ties between clubs and communities. MLS would change both of these things. Austin is a great city. I would love to have an MLS team here, even though I am a deeply devoted Dynamo fan. Would be a real quandary for me. The temptation to not drive 5 hours RT to every home game would be strong. I don't see Austin successfully supporting an MLS team -- but I could be wrong. We definitely have the millennial young hipster crowd that has driven success in so many other MLS markets. What I really doubt is that the McKalla place idea will survive once it has details all around it. I doubt Austin will provide any significant funding at all to PSV. PSV will have to pay for everything and more. But I could be wrong. Austin needs to get rid of the dumb that is the McKalla tract -- perhaps a deal can be worked. I just doubt it. But I really hope the Crew stay in Columbus. It would be good for soccer and MLS for Precourt and Garber to lose on this.
Having lived in the DC and NYC areas before Austin, I have to laugh at your perception of rush hour being "nearly 24 hours a day". I live off of 35 and I am on there regularly and it's night and day from places that have long rush hours.
I agree the words were a bit inartful. I'm really just referring to I-35 through downtown. Its not about rush hour. And ok -- you can be the smartest most experienced and best commenting person around. We all bow to your superior qualities since you need to prove that at all times rather than contribute to a discussion.
I was contributing my perspective - lots of people complain about Austin traffic, and I think it's maybe the 4th congested in the state (if you count Dallas/Ft Worth as one area).
Tomorrow (June 1) is the day that a report from the City of Austin is due. They are studying the "What's in it for us" aspect of Precourt's proposal. I imagine that this study will determine if the city helps the stadium with infrastructure costs, tax increment funding, etc. Without this help, that might put the kibosh on this. Even Cincinnati ponied up $50 million to help with FCC's new privately funded stadium. Here is what the dean of Austin sports reporters, Kirk Bohls, wrote on Tuesday: This may not be D-Day or even D-Week for the future of soccer in Austin, but the importance of this week as to the prospects of the Columbus Crew relocating here cannot be overstated. It’s quite possible that not only will the city’s evaluation of McKalla Place as the recommended site for a new soccer stadium be revealed Friday but also Crew owner Anthony Precourt’s own proposal with specific benefits to the city then as well. Precourt Sports Ventures needs to beef up the benefits package with greater access for (Austin School District) events, scholarship programs and affordable ticket packages...anyone who has lived in the City of the Weird knows full well there’s no such thing as a done deal in Austin...I’d give Austin a 70 percent chance of landing the Crew. Bohls is well connected. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
There is a good article in the Austin Statesman newspaper summarizing where the stadium project stands: https://www.statesman.com/sports/so...g-toward-newsy-friday/b9b5782W7QvXw8YkSzCAYO/ Today the City and Precourt are to release information. Then the City Council has 2 meetings this month on the 14th and 28th. It sounds like Precourt is looking for an answer this month on his stadium proposal. They City might not have an answer this month, but we should be able to see pretty clearly which way the wind is blowing. PS. on a personal note- I find the look of the McKalla Place stadium... umm...underwhelming. It reminds me of furniture my parents bought in the mid-1960s. Was Mike Brady of the Brady Bunch the lead architect? I suspect PSV has spent more time on the politics of the stadium than on the design.
https://www.austinmonitor.com/stori...rns-alternative-development-proposals-on-tap/ This is also a good article.