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Austin MLS Training Facility Pitched as Major Amenity

MLS

As discussions of Columbus Crew SC relocating to Austin continue, a potential Austin MLS training facility is being pitched as a major amenity

Crew SC owner Anthony Precourt is looking into the possibility of relocating the team to Austin. The process could take another step later this week, as the Austin City Council is expected to discuss on Thursday a resolution that would direct city staff to begin an evaluation of city-owned land that could be used for an Austin MLS project.

A new stadium is a major piece of that plan, but it is not the only component of the overall MLS push. In another component that would come in addition to the stadium, Austin MLS would construct a training academy. Some involved in the effort believe that the complex would not only be a boost to the major league club, but to Austin’s soccer scene as a whole. More from The Austin American-Statesman:

Austin attorney Richard Suttle, a registered lobbyist for MLS in Austin retained by PSV, touted a multi-field complex that area players could enjoy.

“It’s going to be a community benefit in that there will be fields available for use and support facilities for the team that could potentially double as a community asset,” he said. “First-class facilities like these often have a mix of uses spring up around them.”

Suttle, who worked as the project attorney for Circuit of the Americas to get the Formula One track off the ground in 2012, alluded to the possibility of expanding a sports medicine facility to include community use.

“The practice facility could take under-utilized land and turn it into facilities where kids and adults alike can get outside and exercise,” he said.

Both the stadium and the practice facility would be privately financed, and are envisioned as being constructed at separate sites. Precourt has said that no final decision has been made in regard to whether Crew SC will relocate, and the club is slated to spend the 2018 season at its current home, MAPFRE Stadium.

Photo by Matthew Bernhardt, via flickr.com.

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