We bring you this month’s Austin FC happenings including important news, wild speculation, and the hottest links on the Interwebs.
February 2020
YETI Named Official Jersey Sponsor of Austin FC. The decade-old Austin-based company exudes an active, outdoorsy brand that many Austinites relate to. According to a story by Sports Business Journal, this multi-year jersey sponsorship deal is worth more than $4 million annually. More importantly to fans, the clean, simple logo will look incredible on a future game jersey.
Austin FC Training Jersey Released for a hot minute. If you follow us on Twitter you know we captured every twist and turn. The Verde jersey was initially leaked on the Adidas site, but it could only be found by searching the term “Nashville”. It was shortly taken down, and now appears correctly in the MLS online store. If you’re the touchy-feely type that needs to see the Verde in person, we’re hearing local stores are now getting these in stock.
UPDATE: #AustinFC training jersey has entirely disappeared from the @adidas online store 💚😢 https://t.co/XcstSqyLOp
— Capital City Soccer (@CapCitySC) February 19, 2020
Season Ticket Memberships kicked off early in 2020 and sales are in full swing for Premium Club seats. We’ve heard prices range $3K-$5K per seat. Doing our part to fuel speculation on prices, we looked at season tickets costs for other MLS clubs that compare to the VERDE. Ticket prices will likely be at the upper end of MLS teams, maybe even slightly higher than the newest 2020 expansion teams in the league (Nashville SC and Inter Miami CF). We expect General seat season ticket sales to being in May.
OneTaco Opened a New Downtown Location and Capital City Soccer was there for it. We got a sneak preview of their 🌮 + 🍺 + ⚽️ awesomeness. Best thing about it—the Verde wall dedicated to all things Austin FC. Plus, the Capital City Soccer sticker on it is pure perfection *chef’s kiss*. Props to OneTaco for doing their part to #GrowTheLegend.
Coming Up
Stadium Sponsor for Austin FC is expected to be named mid-2020. Who will it be? That’s the ten million+ dollar question. We made our guesses of local and regional companies that could buy the naming rights. Looking at recent stadium deals of expansion teams, plus the other MLS clubs in Tejas, we found financial and automotive companies dominate.
Player Signings are buzzing before the 2020 MLS season starts. Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that Austin FC target Javier “Chicharito” Hernández signed with LA Galaxy. Now the question is: can Austin FC land a headline-making DP with experience and name recognition like him? Other names in the DP realm include Rogelio Funes Mori, Memo Ochoa, Andrés Guardado, and Luis Suárez. Recently, we’ve seen on social media that Josh Wolff was in Colombia scouting players.
From MLS media day.. Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff is building out targets ahead of their 2021 MLS debut:
“I was in Colombia for the U-23 CONMEBOL tournament, I’ll be part of watching the Concacaf (Olympic) qualifying as well. Looking for young players, international players.”
— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) February 27, 2020
MLS Expansion Draft If the expansion draft goes down like last year, then Austin FC and Charlotte can each add a max of five players for their inaugural 2020 season. A representative from each club has 3-minutes to make a pick in each of the five rounds. A few MLS clubs are typically exempt from providing players for the expansion draft, but all other teams can only protect 12 players on their roster (leaving the others open to being snatched up in the draft). Last year the draft was held in mid-November for expansion clubs Inter Miami CF and Nashville SC.
Groundbreaking for Training Facility In 2019, Austin FC announced a new $45 million training facility coming to Northeast Austin. Officially called the St. David’s Performance Center, it will be a “home away from home” for players and staff. This is a significant investment to create a world-class facility and it should pay dividends in the form of enticing players to sign with the club, as well as showcasing the quality of training to be found here. Expect a mid-2020 groundbreaking and a Spring 2021 opening, based on our latest information from the club.
Game Jersey Unveiling One of two official game jerseys will be released in late 2020—just in time for the holidays. We already know YETI will have its name on the front. Our biggest question: what color will the home jersey be? Given that the training jersey is green it seems unlikely that this color will be an option. And a black home jersey would bake our players in the searing Austin heat (even if games start after 7pm). So, maybe the jersey will be white with green accents…what do you think?
Hot Links
New MLS 25th Season Anthem by composer Hans Zimmer