We bring you this month’s Austin FC happenings including important news, wild speculation, and the hottest links on the Interwebs.
October 2020
Here’s the dirt on Austin FC’s new turf pitch. Installation began at night on Oct. 21 as soon as the first refrigerated 18-wheeler arrived from Arizona. By morning after the first night, more than a third of the field was installed. We wrote a story about the unfolding of the grass pitch, plus more turf talk with an interview of the club’s Sr. Director of Grounds, Weston Appelfeller.
First seats installed in Austin FC stadium. Never knew we could get so much joy from a green, plastic chair. But here we are in 2020 and it seems like a miracle. On day one of seat installation, the entire 229 section of the stadium was completed. Mesh seats will go in designated sunny sections too.
Netspend is a founding Austin FC partner, along with YETI and St. David’s HealthCare. The company logo will be on the right sleeve of the game jersey in 2021. Plus, its cashless payments systems will be at concessions on match day. Maybe separate lines at concessions for Netspend customers? It’s another homegrown brand added to Austin FC’s growing list of sponsors.
VERDE LISTOS ads get locals on board Austin FC hype train. Austin FC die hards may already live and breathe Verde, but many Austinites still aren’t exactly sure what the club is all about, other than it being a new pro soccer team. Enter VERDE LISTOS.
October 27 episode of Capital City Soccer Show includes McKalla is Verde All Over, La Murga de Austin Brings the Ruckus, New Austin FC Partners, MLS Supporter Shield. And More. Do yourself a favor—give it a listen here or on your podcast player.
Coming Up
A Sponsor for Austin FC Stadium is expected to be named in 2020. Who will the sponsor be? That’s the multi-million dollar question. We made our guesses of local and regional companies that could buy the naming rights. (Before you ask, Dell and HEB didn’t make our list because they sponsor local sports arenas already.) Looking at current MLS stadium deals, financial and automotive companies dominate, so there’s that…
DP Signing rumors abound for Austin FC as we’re in MLS player transfer window until October. With the first DP inked, there’s two more available slots open. Now the question is: can Austin FC land a headline-making DP with international experience and name recognition? Coach Wolff had been scouting heavily in South America, but with COVID-19 he’s scouting virtually.
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 is coming up for the club. If the expansion draft goes down like last year, then Austin FC can 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’s draft was held in mid-November.
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
Halloween greetings from Austin FC!
Capital Metro releases rendering of proposed McKalla station as Prop A goes to vote.
Proposed rideshare stop expected to be across the train tracks from the stadium. Still unknown where fans will crossover to the stadium.
