Residents near Austin park oppose stadium there
A large park in east Austin, Texas, meets a few requirements for Precourt Sports Ventures.
Roy G. Guerrero Colorado River Metro Park would give the Crew SC ownership group a stadium and practice facility within Austin’s urban core, provide a waterfront stadium location and come without the hefty price tag of a private parcel.
But some in the area have expressed their concerns about public land being made available to a private entity, including at a Saturday protest to publicize those points.
“It is a park that we have worked for over a decade to preserve,” said Susana Almanza, director of PODER, a nonprofit focused on social justice and environmental issues, and president of the Montopolis Neighborhood Association. “Our concern is the destruction of having a 20,000-seat stadium in our precious and beautiful Roy Guerrero Park. That is something that we don’t want to see.”
A Dec. 14 memo from Austin’s parks and recreation department detailing eight possible stadium locations detailed several potential benefits of MLS facilities at Guerrero Park, including the potential for more multipurpose fields and employment and other economic opportunities.
An MLS move to the nearly 400-acre Guerrero Park would, however, “displace” Montopolis Little League and IME Soccer, two local youth sports organizations and would require negotiations to “re-establish the programming at an alternative nearby location at no expense to the public or the league,” the memo read.
Israel Lopez, president of Montopolis Little League, which uses five fields at Guerrero Park, said he is opposed to a stadium at Guerrero.
“It took us so long to even get a park built,” he said. “The community and the people that I deal with out here are against it. Everyone’s against it. I’m against it because that’s the only park we’ve got.”
Malcolm Yeatts, chair of the East Riverside/ Oltorf Combined Neighborhood Plan Contact Team, which represents more than 15,000 households in the area, said the contact team has voted to oppose a Guerrero Park soccer stadium.
Late last month, Precourt Sports Ventures decided to end its pursuit of Butler Shores Metropolitan Park, believed to be its top choice for a stadium location, leaving Guerrero Park and McKalla Place, a non-parkland site in north Austin, as the two most viable city-owned locations remaining.
Multiple messages left at the office of Councilmember Sabino “Pio” Renteria, whose district includes Guerrero Park, in the last week were not returned.
“If a proposal is made to lease any portion of the park, I would not support it unless it has overwhelming community support and provides significant funding to maintain the park and make it accessible to everyone,” Renteria said in a statement to KXAN-TV.
Sponsor, with a caveat
Crew SC and Columbia Gas of Ohio announced Tuesday that they have agreed to a multiyear sponsorship deal.
The agreement comes with a caveat.
Columbia Gas is a team sponsor for 2018 and will raise its support by 33 percent in the two seasons to follow “contingent on the club remaining in Columbus,” according to a team release announcing the sponsorship deal.
“Columbus Crew SC is pleased to welcome back Columbia Gas as an official Crew SC sponsor,” Crew president of business operations Andy Loughnane said in a statement. “We are appreciative of the commitment of all official Crew SC sponsors, and Columbia Gas is a strong example of a corporate partner that has consistently expressed their support by increasing their sponsorship and engagement in each of the six years they have partnered with the club.”
Columbia Gas of Ohio director of communications Shana Eiselstein said the deal comes in part because of feedback the company has received from Crew supporters and Columbia Gas employees.