Austin City Manager Signs Contract For Professional Soccer, UT To Replace Frank Erwin Center Finalized

Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk signed a 20-year lease and development contract with a private sports group to build a new $225 million major league soccer stadium at McKalla Place…

Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk signed a 20-year lease and development contract with a private sports group to build a new $225 million major league soccer stadium at McKalla Place, 24-acres of city-owned land.

In that agreement, the sports group agreed to finance, build, operate and maintain the 20,000-seat soccer stadium that will be owned by the city and leased back to the sports group for 20 years as well as pay a total of $8.25 million in lease payments over the term of the lease. 

The sports company also agreed to pay $3.64 million to Capital Metro to fund transit facilities needed to reduce traffic congestion in the area that includes a high-end shopping center. Current plans are for the new Austin-based soccer team, Austin FC, to begin playing at the stadium in 2021.

The University of Texas (UT) and a sports and entertainment business have reached a deal to construct a world-class arena on campus as a replacement for the Frank Erwin Center. Expected to be completed in 2021, the $338 million venue, which is part of a 35-year agreement, will serve as the new home for men’s and women’s basketball games, in addition to hosting graduations and concerts.

The company will build and operate the $338 million arena at little cost to UT. The university will provide 6 acres of land to the company that is located southeast of the Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium and directly south of the Mike A. Myers Stadium and Soccer Field. The arena will be able to seat up to 17,000 spectators and will open for the 2021-22 UT basketball season.

The Frank Erwin Center, which opened in 1977, will be razed and the land will be used to expand UT’s Dell Medical School.

This story originally published by Strategic Partnerships, Inc.