We bring you this month’s Austin FC happenings including important news, wild speculation, and the hottest links on the Interwebs.
May 2020
Massive progress on Austin FC stadium and it looks on pace to be ready in Spring 2021. We went from fearing construction would be halted due to COVID-19 to now projecting the stadium to be completed ahead of a planned April 2021 deadline. Based on prior comments from the club, a canopy roof wasn’t expected until June—here we are in May and the roof is clearly going in on the East side. A few weeks ahead of sked could put stadium completion squarely in March (when the 2021 MLS season begins). Follow along on stadium progress with us here.
Austin FC partners with Little City Coffee Roasters as official coffee partner. Even in our current economic climate, businesses are signing sponsorship deals with Austin FC *fist bump*. Little City, a former ATX café, now roasts and delivers ATX-centric bean blends like Grackle, Violet Crown, and Congress Ave. We’ve been sippin’ it as we #Stayathome and can’t wait to grab a cold brew in the stadium on match day. Austin FC perk: fans get 10% off online purchase with the code “LISTOS”.
Austin FC joins Fanatics’ #AllInChallenge fundraiser, which donates 100% of proceeds to various hunger relief charities. Some lucky kids get a sweet prize package that includes custom jerseys, a locker room tour, and a walk onto the pitch with players for Austin FC’s inaugural match—we admit we’re jelly. Speaking of fundraising, shoutout to Austin FC & YETI for their virtual food drive that raised over $27K for the Central Texas Food Bank in April.
Season tickets sales of premium seats are wrapping up. From what we’re hearing, Terrace seats, the last of the premium tickets, are close to being sold out. That means General & Supporter seats are next. These seats make up 75% of stadium seating, so the club still has a ways to go until a sell out is official. Question is, will the the club move forward in June for General sales or delay due to COVID-19???
Adelbert’s Brewery releases ¡Dale! Mexican lager, a glorious liquid tribute to Austin FC. We stumbled upon this lager a couple weeks ago and immediately had to share it with the Twitterverse. Adelbert’s is right at McKalla Place road about a mile from the Casa Verde and we fully expect to hit this joint for pre-gaming. BTW, Cap City Soccer gave it a 3.5 on Untappd (4.0 with a lime).
Coming Up
Stadium Sponsor for Austin FC is expected to be named mid-2020. Who will it be? That’s the multi-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, financial and automotive companies dominate. Will that hold true in Austin?
Player Signing rumors are starting to buzz for Austin FC. 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. Coach Wolff has recently said he’s doing his scouting virtually nowadays.
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 coming up for the club. 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 season. A few MLS clubs will be exempt from naming players for the expansion draft, but most others 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 the 23-acre center is 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.
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 rn—what color will the home jersey be? Given that the adidas training jersey is green it seems unlikely that this color will be an option. And a black home jersey would bake players in the searing ATX sun. Perhaps the jersey will be white with green accents…what do you think?
HOT 
LINKS
Verde. Verde. Verde.
New Supporters Group Los Verdes joins the Austin FC scene