With the arrival of Austin FC in 2021, the myth that Austin was just a college sports town was shattered. Q2 Stadium is consistently sold out during home matches, and restaurants and bars across the city are always packed with fans watching from afar.
With the success of the Major League Soccer team, you might believe other major league franchises have been interested in bringing a team to the Lone Star state, but doing so requires more than just coming up with a name for a new team. In order for a major league team to come to Austin, the franchise would either have to relocate an existing team or add an expansion team. But Major League Baseball is currently looking to expand to 32 teams, allowing two more cities to propose a new franchise in their town. This is why I believe the best option for our growing metropolis is an MLB team.
Major professional sports teams, like the San Antonio Spurs have been interested in Austin for many years. Earlier this year, the Spurs made a stop at Austin’s Moody Center during their “I-35 Series” tour. The games they played at Moody were before sell-out crowds, and there were huge advertisements for months leading up to the two-night event. The hype and attendance raise the important question of why the city doesn’t yet have an MLB, NFL or NBA team.
The capital city doesn’t escape the notice of many major leagues. The Spurs have also made appearances at SXSW and Austin City Limits. They also have a shuttle taking Austin residents straight to San Antonio’s AT&T Center for their games. It is no surprise that the Spurs have already announced and begun selling tickets for another event at Moody in 2024.
The NBA is not the only major sports league that has had rumors surrounding a new team in Austin. There was a glimpse of hope when the Buffalo Bills football team threatened to move to Austin after negotiations with the state for a new, modern stadium in New York stalled. Gov. Greg Abbott even played along, retweeting a KXAN News story about the Bills with a “?” emoji and former mayor Steve Adler also expressed support. It is not rare for a team to threaten to move locations when looking for an updated stadium. The Oakland Raiders moved to Las Vegas in the newer Allegiant Stadium after their lease on the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum ran out and efforts to move to a new facility were unsuccessful.
While there has been some interest in the NFL coming to Austin, it is clear that a baseball team would be perfect for Austin as there is proof of baseball’s popularity in Central Texas and an Austin franchise could easily take the place of a pre-existing team. Since the NFL is is currently more focused on expanding to Europe and Mexico and the NBA is considering other markets like Seattle and Las Vegas, MLB could easily start another Texas team. The support that the Houston Astros have in Central Texas is telling enough that an Austin baseball team would be well-received. There are multiple teams, including the Tampa Bay Rays, with very low attendance and outdated stadiums in their current locations that would be perfect for relocating to Austin. The MLB could also shock fans and combine two large cities and break new ground with a team that could be shared between San Antonio and Austin.
It isn’t only a new fan base that would come along with a new major league team. There is also a huge economic impact for cities that have MLB teams. The Astros gained $407 million in revenue in 2022 with a large share of that funding going back into the community and to Texas. With Austin becoming an even more urban city, that funding could be critical for new infrastructure and community projects benefiting all.
Ultimately, it may be a few too many more years until we hear official word about a new major league sports franchise moving to Austin, but I believe they are missing out on what could be the biggest sports team in the nation, and they won’t even take a swing at it. And ome day in the future, sports historians will look back on the time when a place called Austin was the 11th largest city in America (soon to be tenth) and did not have a major league sports team from one of the “Big Three” franchises. But there is always time to rewrite the history of our city and add another major league team, with economic growth and a boom in Austin spirit following suit.
