Austin FC is set to begin play in MLS in 2021 as the league's 27th club, commissioner Don Garber announced Tuesday. The club will become the city's first team in a major professional sports league.
The announcement was made at Rustic Tap in Austin’s West Sixth district, with Garber alongside Austin FC chairman/CEO Anthony Precourt and Austin mayor Steve Adler. The club will soon build a privately funded, $225 million soccer stadium at McKalla Place. Groundbreaking will begin this year on the 20,000-seat stadium, which planned to be completed in time for the club's first match.
“Austin is a thriving metropolitan city – the personification of what we mean when we say MLS is a ‘League for a new America,’” Garber said in a league release.