Many hurdles in city’s MLS bid
Austin a little behind San Antonio in quest for expansion team.
Austin and San Antonio could be in direct competition for an eventual third Major League Soccer franchise in Texas, but the national anthem has barely begun for this match.
“It’s premature for both markets,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said this week. “Expanding in Texas is something that’s likely going to happen. Where and when is still to be seen.”
Dallas and Houston already compete in the 19-team league, which aims to expand to 24 franchises by 2020. Orlando and New York City are
set to join next year.
Garber, who toured San Antonio in January, will be in Austin on Monday to speak at a private function connected to South by Southwest activities. U.S. national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann also is in town this weekend, and he will speak as part of a SXSW panel Sunday.
“I look forward to spending some time in Austin. It’s a pretty cool place,” said Garber, whose league opens its season Saturday. “We’ll be talking soccer. Think about that: SXSW having a soccer panel.
“Michael Wilt has got some plans for a downtown stadium (in Austin), and that’s interesting to us. Clearly, you can’t do this right without having the right stadium plan. Mayor Pro Tem (Sheryl) Cole has shown interest to try to see whether the MLS makes sense for Austin. We’ll continue to track it.”
On Thursday, the Austin City Council approved a feasibility study regarding a possible MLS expansion team.
Wilt, who has a background in commercial development, and business partner Brandon Bolin recently formed Austin FC, LLC. They are working with city officials and potential investors to put together an attractive package for the MLS. It likely would take upward of $200 million in private funding to make it happen.
The Austin Aztex, the 2013 Premier Development League champions, are on board with the idea of adding an MLS club, but Aztex founder and CEO David Markley realizes it’s a long road with many hurdles.
“We are very methodical. We need to take the time to do it right,” Mark- ley said. “Michael’s group is looking more at the real estate end. I’ve got no less than two dozen contacts who want to help us build a stadium here, but you’ve got to have your ducks in a row to go into that conversation.
“There are other groups in the community working on this. We want to be part of a unifying force. We cannot afford factions.”
San Antonio is already up at least 2-nil on Austin in this match. It has Toyota Field, a 13,000-seat soccer venue that can be expanded to the 20,000to-25,000 range the MLS desires. It has the Scorpions in the North American Soccer League, which sits a few rungs above the PDL of the Aztex. And San Antonio has Julian Castro, a young, charismatic mayor who badly wants an MLS team.
But so far San Antonio lacks an apparent deep-pocketed ownership group. Soccer supporters in the Alamo City have mentioned a need for public money, but that will be a tough sell. Wilt and others connected with the Austin group are talking about a privately funded venture.
“Plus, the MLS wants downtown stadiums, and San Antonio is completely invested in a stadium that is far from downtown,” Wilt said.
While Garber raves about Castro and the Scorpions owners, and points out that actress Eva Longoria is using Twitter to promote San Antonio’s MLS campaign, he also put the brakes on the plans of Austin’s urban neighbor.
“It’s a really vibrant place and they have a lot of things in place to be excited about, but I want to be very clear: San Antonio has not really been super high on our league’s list,” Garber said. “It wasn’t part of our original plan when we were looking at 24 teams.”
Instead, the MLS prefers Miami, with an ownership group that might include David Beckham and LeBron James, to be its 22nd franchise, and Atlanta, led by Falcons owner Arthur Blank, to be the 23rd. Finally, the MLS envisions Minneapolis to be No. 24.
“We’re getting close with Atlanta,” Garber said. “They’ve got about 400,000 people playing the game at the youth level in a top-10 metro market. Minneapolis is on the short list. We’d like more teams from the Midwest and especially one in the Upper Midwest.”
Until the funding emerges, though, those MLS expansion slots remain open to all. Garber also indicated the league won’t lock down at 24 teams if it’s “the right market, with the right demographics, stadium plan and ownership groups.”
So Austin and San Antonio may be fighting for a third Texas franchise that materializes beyond 2020, in which case Austin has time to catch up.
Markley, the Aztex CEO and vice president for Fallbrook Technologies, prefers a slow and steady approach.
“We believe in the grass-roots approach,” he said. “We have to build our soccer infrastructure in Austin, but we are taking positive steps.” Contact Kevin Lyttle at 512445-3615.