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As the nation’s 13th largest city, and already home to major events like the Austin City Limits Music festival, Austin should make a play for a Major League Baseball expansion franchise, the authors write.<\/p>\n
Chad Wadsworth<\/p>\n
If you grew up in Austin in the 1990s, our city was a great place to live \u2014 but it was missing something: a major league sports franchise.<\/p>\n
Today, Austin is the 13th largest city in America<\/a>, with more than a million residents inside the city limits and 2.5 million in Central Texas. That makes us the largest U.S. city without a top-four professional sports team \u2014 and one of the fastest-growing large TV markets.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has said he hopes to expand the league from 30 to 32 teams before 2029. Cities like Nashville and Salt Lake City have already launched organized bids. That\u2019s why we formed the Austin Baseball Commission in July 2024: to give our city the strongest possible case<\/a> for an expansion franchise.<\/p>\n Our mission is simple \u2014 harness Austin\u2019s cultural, professional and civic energy to build an elite baseball franchise. Our vision is a stadium district that serves as a \u201cthird downtown,\u201d modeled on successful mixed-use projects in Atlanta and Arlington. The stadium would be surrounded by housing, restaurants, retail, green space and a youth baseball complex.<\/p>\n Just as importantly, it would serve as a gathering place that unites\u00a0Austinites from all walks of life and creates year-round activity for families, workers and visitors. Eastern Travis County offers promising possibilities with affordable land, airport access and future growth.<\/p>\n Austin is already a baseball town. The University of Texas program is the second\u00a0winningest in the country, and pairing it with an MLB team would create a true baseball hub. A professional franchise would also inspire the next generation of young athletes, giving Little Leaguers and high school players in Central Texas a new level of aspiration.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The cost will be significant. Expansion fees are projected at more than $2 billion, with stadium construction pushing the total investment to about $4 billion. But the return would be transformative. Expansion helps\u00a0MLB secure a stronger labor deal and media package while creating 80 new player jobs. And for Austin, the payoff would include thousands of construction and hospitality jobs, increased tourism and the long-term boost of a major-league identity on the national stage.<\/p>\n Houston Astros second baseman Brice Matthews, left, tries to tag out Texas Rangers Wyatt\u00a0Langford at a July 12 game in Houston.\u00a0Adding a third Texas MLB franchise would only strengthen the game, argue the co-founders of the Austin Baseball Commission.<\/p>\n Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n Why Austin? After more than 500 meetings, we\u2019re convinced this city can win because we have:<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n We\u2019ve also engaged with the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros, who understand that a third Texas franchise would only strengthen the game. Just as the NBA has shown, intrastate rivalries fuel fan passion and create some of the sport\u2019s most memorable moments.<\/p>\n To prepare, we\u2019ve assembled a first-rate team: a former\u00a0MLB deputy commissioner as chairman, a stadium executive who has opened eight major league venues, and the nation\u2019s top sports architecture firm. We\u2019ve launched a $2 million seed round \u2014 we’re 25% of the way there after only three events \u2014 to fund economic, market and real estate studies, the groundwork for a world-class bid.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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