Listos Verde

A major league soccer team is the type of establishment the people of Austin, Texas have been clamoring for--they just might not know it yet.

Austin finds itself appearing on a wide range of superlative ranking lists from the likes of BuzzFeed, GQ, Eater, etc.--delicious food scene, most workplaces with ping-pong tables, best live music, tech hotbeds. Most astonishing, however, is Austin’s place at number one on the list of largest cities per population in the continental US without a major league sporting team of any kind. All of that changed officially when Anthony Precourt and his team at Two Oak Sports Ventures, formally Precourt Sports Ventures, announced the launch of Austin Football Club on January 15th, 2019. After a long journey of bureaucratic red tape, passing off ownership of Columbus Crew SC, tax regulations, public approval, essentially every roadblock under the sun, Precourt and his gang officially started work on their project to convert UT season ticket holders, Willie Nelson braid enthusiasts, and 29-year-old tech start-up CEOs to care about soccer as a legitimate sport.

A task they will execute. Here is why:

Austin Residents Reflect the Eclectic Nature of Soccer Fans

Soccer fan conversion in the States is no new song and dance. America is consistently playing catch up when it comes to caring about the sport on a global stage. But it is not our fault. We are pigeonholed to the sporting social constructs of masculinity, savagery, and “All I Do Is Win” graphic tees Nike sells to 8-year-olds: pillars to the success of baseball, football, hockey, and basketball players. Outdoor Voices, a popular athleisure brand--who claim Austin as their headquarters actually--recently put out a range of intramural sportswear that features a soccer ball wearing a cowboy hat. Soccer is not traditionally the central focus for a line coming from OV, nonetheless the design was minimalistic, strong, and people went crazy for it. Take a soccer ball and slap a cowboy hat on it and Texans are all in. Even though Austin FC is treading into uncharted waters by launching a sports team in Austin, the metaphorical journey for Austin FC to dawn a vintage Stetson atop the soccer ball will go smoothly as long as they consider the rising trends in Austin’s demographic shift.

an Austin FC mantra

How Soccer Explains the World, penned by author Franklin Foer, uses the beautiful game as the lens to examine globalization and its influences on religious battle lines, racist skins heads, economic turmoil, and so much more. Foer’s tour de force novel points to the way interdependence across the globe can be observed and recognized as empirical evidence simply by looking into the way a given country, or peoples group, gives a crap about who kicks the soccer ball at a professional level. And this will be no different for the capital of Texas. Foer would concur with the assertion that a professional soccer team in Austin does more than just tear down current American sporting norms of manhood and independence, but rather curates, through sport, the intersection of race and class for which Austin so desperately craves representation.

Let part-owner, Minister of Culture (MOC), and Hollywood demigod Matthew McConaughey be the central thesis as to why fans will flock to fill the stands come opening weekend. Matthew (we’re on that level) is flamboyant, vivacious, full of life--and one-liners about it--cares about people, perfectly groomed and dressed, and so I’ve heard, has the musk of aged whiskey infused with the fresh interior of an all-leather Lincoln Navigator. He is all things Texas and all things Hollywood. The dichotomy of McConaughey's pretentious movie star glam and his beat-the-shit-out-of-anyone muscles and slicked back hair is everything the beautiful game represents. When most people think of soccer they see Cristiano Ronaldo’s abs and Euro cheek kisses. It is true that soccer stars may arrive with fresh tattoos and their 1 of 1 Dior suit designed by Kim Jones himself. But what they do not see is players running the equivalent of a 10K while getting tossed and mangled to the floor (or doing the tossing) for 90 minutes, sometimes multiple times a week.

Style GOATs. Courtesy of OTRO

Although he is Texas born and bred and has a deep passion for American football and basketball, McConaughey credits his love for fútbol to a combination of traveling abroad for work and his marriage to Brazilian model and designer Camila Alvez. Austin FC’s MOC calls the soccer ball “the greatest invitation in the world,” and he is reaching out to locals to help them discover the same new passion that now fuels him. Thankfully, an invite to the new stadium is not just for the rich and famous like him.

AustinTexas.Gov indicates that Austin is now officially a majority-minority city. Essentially, no ethnic population group makes up the clear majority of people that reside in Austin. The Old Guard of root’n toot’n, right-winged cowboys have made way--although many of which are still here--for the urban sprawl of diverse nationalities, sexualities, and political alignments that newly flocked Austinites encompass (aka Silicon Valley transplants not wanting to pay state income tax). Most of these flockers may have to find their cowboy hat at the closest consignment store on their way to the stadium, but you better believe they are all invited to the opening match.

Embracing the Future

With such astounding growth in population and commerce in a big city like Austin, it is easy for grand structures and trendy companies to grab the major headlines. Rightfully so. CBS Austin reported in April of last year, courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau, that Austin is the fastest growing metropolitan area for the eighth consecutive year. Roughly 100 new residents move to Austin every single day due to the “apartments, condos and houses” that seem to be popping up left and right and the “low unemployment figures” Texas’ capital endorses. When any big entity a la a Major League Soccer team comes to town, there is a measurable economic stimulus through jobs and substantial expenditures. The sad fact, unfortunately, is that this boom in capitalism creates an inevitable increase in gentrification of poorer neighborhoods and a growing lack of economic opportunities for low-income households. Access to soccer coaching and facilities is just one of these unattainable resources. Moreover, legitimate youth development for soccer players can sit behind a substantial paywall. See Sean Gregory’s cover story from Time Magazine in 2017 as he unpacks the $15.3 billion market of youth sports in America. Select soccer organizations should not be the martyr, perhaps they perpetuate the problem, but predominantly, most clubs are classified as a government sanctioned nonprofit. They charge what they charge because they have to keep up with the status quo: field maintenance, tournaments, jerseys and equipment, coach salaries. But they are not free from vice. Perversions of these soccer clubs do exist and it costs a pretty penny to be their starting striker.

Following the academy model revolutionized overseas, Austin FC currently fields an under fourteen team of players, and they are working towards an under fifteen squad for next season. Academy programs offer fully funded elite level training, coaching, and competition for players of any financial background or race. Completely free and the best of the best development. The catch? Only the little prodigies and maestros make the cut. The intentionality is that these players progress into full fledge professionals for Austin FC years down the road. It is important to note that the club’s academy makes significant strides in offering soccer without fees, but it is not the only endeavour Austin FC is doing to promote inclusivity of soccer in the city of Austin.

Austin FC announced the formation of 4ATX Foundation, the philanthropic division of the club, on April 17th, 2019 while concurrently unveiling a $1 million seed money gift from the Precourt family to get the ball rolling. Not that ball. That’ll be 2021. Eitherway, the press release from Austin FC notes that “4ATX Foundation intends to be active in the areas of health and wellness for youth, as well as the cultural and lifestyle vibrancy of Austin.” The heartbeat of the club, as noted on their website, is central to being tech forward, eco friendly, and fan centric. Fans will hope to see these priorities come to life by the conduct of the front office, play on the field, but most importantly through “particular focus [from 4ATX] given to soccer-specific initiatives and those issues affecting participation and access.” Keeping in mind that they are very much the new kid on the block, 4ATX has already been able to dip their toes into enacting charitable and practical differences within the community. 4ATX partnered with local nonprofit Soccer Assist to construct a free futsal court (concrete outdoor soccer pitch) in an under-served area in Southeast Austin. Collaborating with Austin Parks Foundation for a joint initiative to make soccer accessible to all, brand new soccer nets will be installed across a variety of public parks to create a larger infrastructure of grassroots soccer. 4ATX has also recently announced a $10,000 endowment to BuildSoccer, a South Austin nonprofit group who intend to construct a soccer park at The Marbridge Foundation, a home for adults with intellectual disabilities. The foundation is being lain for 4ATX to step in and use soccer as the vehicle to promote youth involvement for every type of kid, as well as engage with the families that have been pushed to the margins of society in the wake of economic development.

Numbers Don’t Lie

Americans’ love of soccer is yet to be determined, but we all know a few universal facts about human nature. We are surprisingly willing to drink beer at 6:30 am. Additionally, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) requires bars to serve food with alcohol before noon. Cue the breakfast taco, the holy grail of Tex-Mex cuisine. Add the two together, and shit, let’s have ourselves a North London Derby. Week in and week out, transplant English Premier League fans crowd their local watering hole which has been designated as permanent headquarters for these de facto supporter groups. Perhaps to the dismay of barbacks used to the late-night shift, these matches broadcast almost entirely on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 6:30-12:00 am. The same goes for games from La Liga, Series A, and the Bundesliga, the other prominent soccer leagues around the world. American eyeballs are catching these high caliber matchups, and the general public is starting to invest time and effort to make it happen. Quantitatively the translation is net positive as American viewers begin fixing their gaze from these juggernaut teams abroad to the USA branded soccer known as Major League Soccer. Also, how much better would that IPA and barbacoa taco be at normal human hours in the smeltering Texas sun?

The common sentiment amongst casual observers is that the MLS comes in at fifth in general popularity in the US compared to the other four major sports leagues. This may reign true anecdotally, considering the influence of other sports leagues on harder to measure effects like pop culture, celebrity, fashion, and music. But when we examine stadium attendance, we see a different story. Officially third behind the NFL and MLB, MLS average attendance per game equates to 21,873 people, per Statista, displaying considerable growth year over year, and bolstering numbers like Atlanta FC’s attendance record-setting 72,243 regular season game in 2018 and last year’s MLS Cup at Seattle Sounders’ stadium with 69,274 people on hand to watch the spectacle. CEIS Football Observatory goes on to note that MLS is second in the world out of 51 soccer leagues for average attendance percentage growth between 2003-2008 and 2013-2018--34% increase over that 15 year period. As for Austin FC and their projected audience, last summer, sales of their season ticket deposits eclipsed 30,000 in less than 24 hours, setting a new record in the MLS and surpassing even the total available seats at the future stadium. Season ticket deposits have become the new norm in launching a sports franchise, a relatively cheap down payment for the consumer that places them in a queue--basically a digital waiting line to select their season tickets, with the option to bow out at any time. If the deposit total is our only barometer to gauge fan excitement thus far, the people of Austin are at least curious.

Prepubescent nine year olds ballin’ on fools in Fifa20 at esports conventions and millennials rocking a Beckham throwback jersey out at the bar are just some of the surface level archetypes of observations that soccer is growing in popularity this side of the pond. But there are more accurate figures that distinguish soccer’s relevance in the US that are less qualitative in nature. Number wizards at Statista recognize this growth in prominence for the sport of soccer through a few of these avenues, save from the attendance stats. Soccer equipment sales have steadily climbed since 2008, with wholesales jersey manufactures generating $148.7 million in sales in 2018 alone. Participation number of high school soccer players has also “increased from about 782 thousand in the 2012/13 season to over 853 thousand in the 2018/19 season.” Footy is on the rise in America, and residents of Austin are ready to experience soccer on the national stage.

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Austin FC badge: Thematic Breakdown

There is something infectious and exciting about the idea of a sports team like Austin FC rallying a city together. All current political polarity aside, cheering on the boys in bright verde and black come 2021 is open to the masses no matter the race or class. The future stadium, a privately financed $240 million endeavour, is under construction, and the soccer hooligans at Two Oak Ventures and the rest of the ownership group have already tapped Josh Wolff to lead the team from the touchline as US soccer legend, Claudio Reyna, pulls the strings from the front office. Investing in the right people to field a competitive product on the field and caring about this city thoughtfully through philanthropy and engagement will keep fans in seats and excited. So here we go. If you have made it this far, let's grab a beer on opening day. I’ll be the nerd in a cowboy hat and a soccer jersey.