Austin | Q2 Stadium (Austin FC) | Complete

[East7thStreet]

Originally Posted by ATX2030

Let me preface this by saying I'm an Austin FC fan. Guess you missed the Crew game yesterday. It was a sell out and their new stadium looked awesome. It pains me to say but of the three new stadiums to come online so far this year I would rank Columbus 1, Cincy 2 and Austin 3.

Columbus had tickets available just a few days before the opening of their stadium and still have a lot of season tickets that haven't been sold. Austin on the other hand sold out within minutes of releasing season tickets and have a waiting list of 20,000+.. Its obvious Precourt made the right move.

[ATX2030]

Originally Posted by StoOgE

Their stadium leaks and they couldn't hang their Tifo because it was damaging their roof. Seems the material use may be sub par.

Their new stadium is nice enough, but our stadium is built for our weather to allow a breeze in and shade during the heat.

For me I guess all the openness creates an optical illusion and makes the stadium seem smaller when compared to other stadiums that have the same capacity that are more closed in. I prefer a more claustrophobic setting which also amplifies the crowd noise. Having lived 50 plus years in Austin playing sports and attending sporting events I sort of get the openness to create a breeze for fan comfort and player safety. Just my two cents....

[ATX2030]

Originally Posted by East7thStreet

Columbus had tickets available just a few days before the opening of their stadium and still have a lot of season tickets that haven't been sold. Austin on the other hand sold out within minutes of releasing season tickets and have a waiting list of 20,000+.. Its obvious Precourt made the right move.

Agreed. I think attendance will wane once the newness wears off in Cbus.

It's unfortunate that those 20,000+ have to wait. Still think they built the stadium too small. I know they already have plans to expand capacity by 1500 seats to 22k but they really need to find a way to add seats in the southeast and southwest corners to bring capacity to at least 25k.

[StoOgE]

Originally Posted by ATX2030

For me I guess all the openness creates an optical illusion and makes the stadium seem smaller when compared to other stadiums that have the same capacity that are more closed in. I prefer a more claustrophobic setting which also amplifies the crowd noise. Having lived 50 plus years in Austin playing sports and attending sporting events I sort of get the openness to create a breeze for fan comfort and player safety. Just my two cents....

I mean, I done think crowd noise is an issue :p

I appreciate how relatively not horrible the stadium heat is compared to other events I've been to while still being an outdoor stadium.

Cincy certainly has the nicest stadium in the league - very Allianz field esque and foot support from fans. I worry their on field product may eventually cause an issue for them - which is what happened with both Orlando and Houston from massive initial support.

Columbus I'm warry on. Their new stadium location is great and it seems a nice field but their attendance is hit or miss. Defending champs opening a new stadium shouldn't have tickets available days before the match.

I think some of those earlier MLS teams are viewed by their city as AA baseball squads as they came into MLS when the quality of play was substantialy worse than it currently is.

[DaveinWimberley]

Originally Posted by ATX2030

Let me preface this by saying I'm an Austin FC fan. Guess you missed the Crew game yesterday. It was a sell out and their new stadium looked awesome. It pains me to say but of the three new stadiums to come online so far this year I would rank Columbus 1, Cincy 2 and Austin 3.

lol. Last year Columbus had the THIRD WORSE "ATTENDANCE" in MLS. That really sucks, especially for Champions! And by "attendance", I mean tickets sold (including season ticket holders) not actual people in the stadium, which in reality was probably something like 6,000 a game. Of course, Mapfre was a crap stadium. More than 100 Texas HS football stadiums were better and bigger than Mapfre! With their success on the field, it took the Crew over 20 years to build a decent stadium? The year before, I would say the average actual number of people in the stands was about 3,000 per game, some games had well fewer than 1,000 people in attendance. The Crew were the poster boys of the "Empty Seats Galore" twitter account. (Google @EmptySeatsPics Columbus Crew) Haha. Now you know why Precourt wanted to move the team to Austin. Although Columbus had rabid fans, they had few of them. It is time for the fans to show up for ALL the games, or Columbus will be right back to where they were four years ago. The new Owner has $$$ and the Browns are doing OK, but nobody is going to keep a team that loses money every year, forever! You know, you need to have those fans come to the stadium for the $15.00 beers to make money!
I've been keeping up with the fiasco between Columbus and Austin since the very beginning, and it was quite nasty. They even had Crew fans travel down to AUSTIN to vandalize our city and harass the seed supporters of Austin FC in our own city. But I assume you're not familiar with all of this or probably was little or not at all keeping up with it. The first supporters of Austin FC were really an interesting group of people and rabid soccer fans who are the nucleus of the present Austin FC supporters groups such as Los Verdes and La Murga. Long before we got our soccer team, they were organizing soccer bars where they could gather to watch their favorite British soccer games, and the numbers of people they recruited grew explosively and exponentially. All it was about was love for "The Beautiful Game", nothing more. I guess the Crew fans in Columbus couldn't bare the fact that soccer fans in Austin were having fun. But, of course, that really pissed @lesliepoolATX off! And of course, she had to take the side of the thugs from Columbus (and many of them WERE thugs!) There were people like the "Hudson Street Hooligans" and last but not least @Morgan_Hughes, responsible for fanning a campaign of mass hatred against Anthony Precourt and his family. I remember Precourt and his daughter at a playoff game where he and his daughter were subjected to near violence from the Crew mob.
Come on!
This is a GAME. This is supposed to be about comraderie, fun and sportsmanship.
Yet, three years later, in Columbus, this is what a fan related just before the first Austin FC/Columbus SC match. They will just never get over it, and now they're mad because their promoters changed their club (and their old logo with yellow and black stripes and squares) from "The Columbus Crew" to "Columbus SC" - it seems like someone in Columbus was just ready for the hatred to stop. But it never will!

Robbie Snyder
@IshmaelValdez
·
Jun 27
Tbh i think I would like / respect
@AustinFC
and their fans jf not for their loser owner and trying to steal the crew. #SaveTheCrew

[freerover]

Originally Posted by ATX2030

Let me preface this by saying I'm an Austin FC fan. Guess you missed the Crew game yesterday. It was a sell out and their new stadium looked awesome. It pains me to say but of the three new stadiums to come online so far this year I would rank Columbus 1, Cincy 2 and Austin 3.

The stadium with mostly tax payer funding looks awesome compared to the one that is all privately financed? Shocker.


Photos from Saturday show an extremely tight concourse area. The leaky roof will probably be fixed but the issue with their tifo breaking the stadium somehow should also be a concern.


Anyone saying Q2 should be fully closed in for the noise has clearly not gone to a game there. It’s loud enough and the open corners are a really cool look.

[ATX2030]

Out of curiosity I emailed the club and inquired about the break in the ribbon board in the southeast corner and this was their response.

"While this is not the standard to have a break, it was a result of the final stadium design and earthwork for the tunnel location. We consulted with many entities to land where we did. Further there are some efficiencies that enable us to have quick access with our equipment for field maintenance."

[ATX2030]

Originally Posted by freerover

The stadium will mostly tax payer funding looks awesome compared to the one that is all privately financed? Shocker.


Photos from Saturday show an extremely tight concourse area. The leaky roof will probably be fixed but the issue with their tifo breaking the stadium somehow should also be a concern.


Anyone saying Q2 should be fully closed in for the noise has clearly not gone to a game there. It’s loud enough and the open corners are a really cool look.

It always could be louder and the corners need to be closed in with seating so more people have an opportunity to attend matches.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by ATX2030

It always could be louder and the corners need to be closed in with seating so more people have an opportunity to attend matches.

You want to put seats behind the massive concrete support structures for the canopy?

Any expansion beyond 22.5k would require city council approval and I'm not sure anyone wants to go through that.

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by ATX2030

Out of curiosity I emailed the club and inquired about the break in the ribbon board in the southeast corner and this was their response.

"While this is not the standard to have a break, it was a result of the final stadium design and earthwork for the tunnel location. We consulted with many entities to land where we did. Further there are some efficiencies that enable us to have quick access with our equipment for field maintenance."

That's what I thought - and it stinks. Additionally, if you all haven't noticed, it throws off the entire east side LED advertising fence. More specifically, the center of the screen is a few "tabs" to the north (left) of center (off center from the center stripe by a few feet toward the north/left).

Okay, my OCD is kicking in - but, it looks minor league-ish. We're four games in and nothing has been done to correct it (if anything can be done). I would assume one could reprogram it to shift it to the right - centering it on the center stripe.

[ATX2030]

Originally Posted by freerover

You want to put seats behind the massive concrete support structures for the canopy?

Any expansion beyond 22.5k would require city council approval and I'm not sure anyone wants to go through that.

Yes, they can engineer it and make it work. They would likely have to reconfigure the current seating in the corners because of the supports to blend with the new seats. Was not aware they already had approved the plans for the 1500 seat addition. Thanks for that bit of info. And yes it would be worth the hassle if it increased the bottom line for the club. After all it's a business and the club will do what's in their best interest. With 20k on the waiting list for tickets the demand is certainly there. However, if it takes CC approval to go beyond 22.5k then it's a moot point though. It's nice to have such a discussion while other MLS teams are dealing with less than stellar attendance.

[ATX2030]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

That's what I thought - and it stinks. Additionally, if you all haven't noticed, it throws off the entire east side LED advertising fence. More specifically, the center of the screen is a few "tabs" to the north (left) of center (off center from the center stripe by a few feet toward the north/left).

Okay, my OCD is kicking in - but, it looks minor league-ish. We're four games in and nothing has been done to correct it (if anything can be done). I would assume one could reprogram it to shift it to the right - centering it on the center stripe.

It messes with my OCD as well. Every time the ball is on that side of the pitch my eyes are drawn to the gap!

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by ATX2030

It messes with my OCD as well. Every time the ball is on that side of the pitch my eyes are drawn to the gap!

Yeah. It's not just the gap, it's the ads on the board being off-center. For example, when Q2 hosts the CONCACAF semis in as few weeks time, on the board, just above the center stripe, "CONCACAF Gold Cup 2021 - Austin" will be written (or something like it) and it should equally straddle the center stripe. However, as it stands toady, that message/title will be off center toward the north/left by a few feet.

Check out the following - maybe this will help:

At the 0:06 mark...look at the "St. Davids Healthcare" wording...it's not scrolling and is off a few feet to the north/left of the center stripe.
At the 3:27 mark...the "Netspend" logo stops scrolling and should be centered on the mid-stripe. It too is a few feet off to the north/left of center.

https://www.austinfc.com/video/highl...s-july-01-2021

[H2O]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

Yeah. It's not just the gap, it's the ads on the board being off-center. For example, when Q2 hosts the CONCACAF semis in as few weeks time, on the board, just above the center stripe, "CONCACAF Gold Cup 2021 - Austin" will be written (or something like it) and it should equally straddle the center stripe. However, as it stands toady, that message/title will be off center toward the north/left by a few feet.

Check out the following - maybe this will help:

At the 0:06 mark...look at the "St. Davids Healthcare" wording...it's not scrolling and is off a few feet to the north/left of the center stripe.
At the 3:27 mark...the "Netspend" logo stops scrolling and should be centered on the mid-stripe. It too is a few feet off to the north/left of center.

https://www.austinfc.com/video/highl...s-july-01-2021

I think you should concentrate on the beautiful game and not worry so much about the advertising!

[H2O]

Originally Posted by freerover

You want to put seats behind the massive concrete support structures for the canopy?

Any expansion beyond 22.5k would require city council approval and I'm not sure anyone wants to go through that.

There is nothing in the lease that requires City Council approval of any expansion, other than ancillary development (non-stadium complimentary development on the rest of the property). The expansion plans are already included in the Base Stadium Plan approved by the Landlord Representative. Even if they wanted to (or could feasibly) expand beyond that, the Landlord Representative would be the only approval needed.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by H2O

There is nothing in the lease that requires City Council approval of any expansion, other than ancillary development (non-stadium complimentary development on the rest of the property). The expansion plans are already included in the Base Stadium Plan approved by the Landlord Representative. Even if they wanted to (or could feasibly) expand beyond that, the Landlord Representative would be the only approval needed.

It has nothing to do with the lease. The zoning is tied to a 22.5 max. Any expansion beyond that would require a change to the zoning of the lot which would require city council approval. It’s a bit moot bc I don’t think it’s even possible to expand past the one that gets them to 22.5.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by freerover

It has nothing to do with the lease. The zoning is tied to a 22.5 max. Any expansion beyond that would require a change to the zoning of the lot which would require city council approval. It’s a bit moot bc I don’t think it’s even possible to expand past the one that gets them to 22.5.

I had thought that too, as the application to rezone specifically mentioned a 22,000 seat stadium (which at the time was an interesting detail, as they had announced it to be ~20k).

But reading through the executed ordinance for the LI-PDA zoning

https://www.austintexas.gov/departme...190606-reg.htm
Item 97

It doesn't appear that the zoning is actually limiting that
https://www.austintexas.gov/edims/do....cfm?id=321825


But yes, I agree it's effectively moot, I don't expect a huge expansion beyond ~22k.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by Novacek

I had thought that too, as the application to rezone specifically mentioned a 22,000 seat stadium (which at the time was an interesting detail, as they had announced it to be ~20k).

But reading through the executed ordinance for the LI-PDA zoning

https://www.austintexas.gov/departme...190606-reg.htm
Item 97

It doesn't appear that the zoning is actually limiting that
https://www.austintexas.gov/edims/do....cfm?id=321825


But yes, I agree it's effectively moot, I don't expect a huge expansion beyond ~22k.

That's for the correction to 22. I don't know why I remembered 22.5.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by H2O

I think you should concentrate on the beautiful game and not worry so much about the advertising!

I was thinking the same thing. In fact, I didn't even notice the gap. I also can't help thinking the ever changing advertising band is a distraction to the players.

[loonytoony]

On the subject of stadium size - I'd much prefer a smaller and fully packed house than a larger one with empty seats. We're new and shiny right now and reaping those benefits in terms of crowd size. We're not always going to be playing well though. Once the excitement wears off due to size we'll still have a packed house..

As to Columbus. I've followed this saga from the very beginning every. step. of. the. way. Their hearts are in the right place (they stood to lose their team) so I can't fault any lashing out against us. That said, their superpower seems to be for holding grudges - so don't expect it to go away. The rivalry won't ever mean as much to Austin as it will to them and that's ok. Let them stew and moan while we celebrate.