Austin, by pretty much any metric that’s been published, is a soccer hotbed without a professional soccer team. Top-tier World Cup, Premier League, and Major League Soccer TV viewing ratings. Polls with overwhelming support for soccer in Austin. Some of the nation’s top youth soccer programs.
And yet, here we are, debating whether or not to simply progress with the initial negotiating phase of getting professional soccer in Austin.
It’s time for City Council to take action. This first action is simple: Pass Item 64 at Thursday’s meeting, and kill Item 60 – for now.
Item 64 allows City Manager Spencer Cronk to begin negotiations with Precourt Sports Ventures about a privately-funded stadium on unused City of Austin land at 10414 McKalla Place.
It does not, in its current form, mandate Cronk to come to an agreement with PSV, nor does it even give him the authority to do so.
Crucially, it does not pass judgement on PSV’s June 1 proposal for a $200 million stadium.
It simply allows the City Manager to sit down with PSV representatives and hammer out a deal that Austin can benefit from and bring it back to City Council for approval.
Item 60, meanwhile, is a measure that, at best, would be described as a last-minute torpedo at Item 64. It opens a Request for Proposal to all parties interested in McKalla Place, allowing anyone with a concept artist and twenty bucks to say why they should get a shot at buying or leasing city land.
Seems fair, right? Everyone should be able to get their say on our city’s land.
Except it’s not that simple.
Item 64 is the result of careful planning and process over the past few months.
In December 2017, city staff identified sites that would be suitable for a soccer stadium, including Butler Shores, Guerrero Park, and McKalla Place. After significant blowback to Butler Shores and Guerrero Park, PSV identified McKalla Place as their primary target.
On March 22nd, the City Council passed Item 99 unanimously, which directed the city staff to do extensive investigation of the site, including community feedback and feasibility. The report came back to Council on June 1st, with the verdict being the site was, indeed, suitable for a stadium, and community feedback was overwhelmingly in favor of soccer in Austin.
Item 60? The motivation came to the public front following a June 5th Gracywoods Neighborhood Association meeting presentation by two developers. These developers have proposed a fairly standard mixed-use development with minor concessions for affordable housing.
It has not been extensively reviewed by city staff. It has not been reviewed for its financial impact on Austin and the community. Detailed traffic studies and community feedback sessions have not been held.
PSV staff have told us that the passage of Item 60 may kill the process of moving MLS to Austin. I have no idea if that is true. But I do know this: any RFP process will significantly expand the timelines. With the 2018 MLS regular season ending at the end of October, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to doubt their sincerity – especially with City Council not meeting again until August.
Soccer in Austin can have huge community benefits and calling PSV’s potential bluff is not worth the risk at this stage.
Here’s what I would ask City Council to do: Pass Item 64. Put Item 60 on the backburner until August. Spend time amending Item 64 to ensure must-haves are part of the negotiations. But at the end of the day, let City Manager Cronk negotiate with PSV to get the best deal for Austin he can. Opening up the site for an RFP does not create a bargaining chip for him to use. You do not need to be around Austin City Council very long to know that they will not hesitate to vote down a bad deal, after a twenty-minute discussion about dinner. That should be all the leverage he needs.
When you come back in August, you can debate the final deal. If it’s close, work with the negotiating team to address the issues you have with it, then have a straight up-or-down vote at council. If it’s no good, open McKalla Place up for all comers.
Mixed-use appeal will still be there come September. Major League Soccer may not.