I had an appointment about two weeks ago for Club seats but I'm not looking to drop 3k+ per seat at the moment.

They've started taking reservations for Premium seats which are about half that, I've got a friend who had his appointment but I haven't gotten an email yet.

Originally, they told me there would be a 5 yr commitment for seats as well. Were you told that when they gave the Club pricing at your appt?

I wasn't, but I also technically turned down my invitation for this round a month or two back. I got an email a few days before my "appointment" saying I could select my seats so I just went and poked around the site when my slot came up.

A five year commitment would really surprise me though, I'm not familiar with other teams having done that.

My neighbor (big soccer fan), his son-in-law, and I (soccer newbie) got 6 seats together last week. They are premium seats (not Club) around what I would consider the 40-yard line. All in, $3,449.00 for two season tickets.

We conducted the seat selection process via Microsoft Teams virtual meeting. The Austin FC guy was helpful, and not pushy at all. Pretty painless process (except for the actual payment).

I did this on a lark, and was willing to spend about $1000 a ticket, just for the novelty of it, so I ended up blowing through my budget by a good bit.

Oh - they include $20 of food/beverage credit per ticket per game, so for the 19 games, I guess you could count that as reducing the all-in price by $760, but you use it or lose it. The credit passes with the eTicket if you sell or give away an individual game. The 50-yard line season tickets were only $190 more each, and included $25 of food/beverage credit per game, but we had to draw the line somewhere.

I figure I'll try it out for a year, see if I like it, and take it from there. Between this and my Aggie tickets, my entertainment budget is fully committed and then some!

Oh - on refunds: They will provide refunds in the case of cancellation of games (pro-rated based on number of games). If they postpone a game, no refund.

You have rights to purchase tickets to other events (I think one "friendly" match or somesuch) and concerts, etc., but you have to pay the going rate. I think you're at the front of the line for tickets (not your seats, but you get to pick first/earlier than the public).

Last thing - they "auto-renew" your tickets each year, but there is a 30-day window when you can opt-out from renewing. You also can optionally go through a reseating process (much like Kyle Field, for those of you who are familiar with it) each year, but your seats are guaranteed, as long as you do nothing.

One thing I realize I forgot to ask about is annual ticket price increase expectations. I doubt they would have given me a firm answer anyway, but I'm guessing it will be driven by supply and demand, as they don't want to lose their season ticket base, but want to maximize revenue, if possible. I'm guessing that if demand is soft (due to COVID concerns or other reasons), they will limit increases to 0-3% or so, and if demand is strong, more like a 3-10% annual price increase, but that's just an educated guess (based on past experience with Kyle Field and other pro venues).

Great stuff, thanks. We were hoping for $1000 per seat as well but it looks like the Premium seats are starting around $1500. Going to depend on our job situation with regards to Covid when our spot comes up.

The food and beverage credit is a nice bonus though, that's at least a premium beer and hot dog/tacos per game which is nice.

Two questions for you:

1) Were you able to buy your seats separately? i.e. do you and your neighbor have your own accounts to manage, pay, sell tickets from, etc.

2) Were there installment options for payments?

3) There were mentions of exclusive food options for Premium tickets early on, is that still the case or just for Club seats?

Appreciate the info.

fig96 said:

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Great stuff, thanks. We were hoping for $1000 per seat as well but it looks like the Premium seats are starting around $1500. Going to depend on our job situation with regards to Covid when our spot comes up.

The food and beverage credit is a nice bonus though, that's at least a premium beer and hot dog/tacos per game which is nice.

Two questions for you:

1) Were you able to buy your seats separately? i.e. do you and your neighbor have your own accounts to manage, pay, sell tickets from, etc.

2) Were there installment options for payments?

3) There were mentions of exclusive food options for Premium tickets early on, is that still the case or just for Club seats?

Appreciate the info.

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fig:

1) We did the call all together, but then they set up "accounts" and payment separately for each of us. As I understand it, we can all sell our tickets independently if we choose - there's no "master" account, each is individual. By the way, they call it a membership, but there's really no seat license. I think that's the terminology they use so they have the right to auto-bill you in the future, and you're liable unless you opt out (read the Terms & Conditions when you get them if you have concerns).

2) Yes. 5% up front, and the remainder is paid in six equal monthly installments (no finance charges or interest, otherwise, I would have paid up front).

3) Even though you said you had two questions, I'll answer your third as well . I believe they told my neighbor up front that premium and club seats include food options, so it wasn't a surprise. I kidded with the FC Austin guy about guaranteeing me beer prices under $3.50 per serving, but I suspect the prices will be similar to other pro venues (although I do expect the selection to be better - there are about 10 excellent local breweries within a mile or two from the stadium, and they claim to want to do as much local business for concessions as possible).

Let us know if you bite the bullet and buy a membership. I'll buy your first included beer for you!

Haha, I realized I had a third question and then forgot to edit

Great info, thanks. I am looking forward to see what the food and beer options are (as well as some pregame specials at all the very local breweries), and I'l take you up on the beer Based on prices I paid at games in Houston 20 bucks should cover a premium beer and a burger/taco plate so that's really not a bad deal, though they're definitely selling these seats at premium compared to BBVA.

As of right now I'm planning on a pair of Premium seats when we get our appointment, I'll let you know when we do.

I want to get 4-6 seats...so this round was a bit outside what we wanted to spend....though I'd have liked those seats. (especially because the sun is behind the stadium on that side).

Hoping the next round is fairly affordable. Otherwise, I'll be hitting up Stubhub quite a bit and just getting tickets for 4-5 games a year.

Just got two seats in 317 (northwest almost on the endline).

The rep was great, super helpful and no pressure. He said they're expecting Premium Terrace to probably be sold out by end of the week.

I figured they'd already be sold out...

Wondering when the next round will be available.

I'd assume pretty quick here, I don't think there's been a big pause between putting the different sections on sale.

fig96 said:

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Just got two seats in 317 (northwest almost on the endline).

The rep was great, super helpful and no pressure. He said they're expecting Premium Terrace to probably be sold out by end of the week.

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Congrats! I looked back, and we are in 312.

So, not being a soccer guy, I guess your seats will be great for corner kicks, right? My neighbor made us move away from midfield a few seats, because a glass divider and handrail would have blocked corner kicks near your seats from our direct view. The virtual seat view tool they had really helped in this regard.

Looking forward to it - see you there!

Thanks, I'm excited. I actually picked our seats due to the divider as well, was looking at seats one section closer in but they were a few rows higher up and the railing was sort of in the way. Here's our view:



I would've preferred to be a bit closer to midfield, but this is similar to the seats I had for the Dynamo at BBVA. It's a bit tough to see details on the other end at times (which is why the big video boards are great) but you get an awesome view of what's happening when the action is on your end whether that's corners, penalties, or when a team has a lot of momentum and is really keeping the other side pinned in their half.

In any case, in a 20k stadium there's really not any bad seats. You're so much closer than you would be for a typical big stadium type game that you really feel like part of the action. It's gonna be fun

Following for future ticket purchases.

Are you guys following the construction cam much?

Aggietaco said:

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Are you guys following the construction cam much?

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I drive by it regularly, for work, and I just crane my neck to get a good view, and swerve all over Burnet Road while I'm gawking.

Didn't know there was a live cam - I will check it out to help save the pedestrians!

Coming along nicely...

The decking on the canopy makes a world of difference in looking like a complete structure. Plus the shade is nice too.

I put a deposit down and have heard nothing from them? Am I supposed to reach out?

When did you put a deposit down? Possible you're just way back in the queue.

Probably couldn't hurt to reach out though.

So, it looks like we have our first player. Sure sounds like they plan on starting the season on-time at this point. We'll see.

https://prismic-io.s3.amazonaws.com/austinfc/673fc7fb-96ec-483e-92c0-3679ea3fbe19_AUSTIN+FC+ANNOUNCES+RODNEY+REDES+AS+CLUB+V9+0607.pdf

Since I'm not a soccer man, can anyone answer some technical questions from the release?

1) "On-loan" status - does this mean that Austin FC is paying this guy under contract, but subcontracts to the team in Paraguay at whatever rate they want to charge? Just curious how contracts are handled for MLS (national teams, I assume, are loaned players at no charge?).

2) Is "side" another word for team? Just want to get my terminology right.

3) This guy is really young (20) - is he a likely long-term building block for the team? Or do players stick around for only a year or two or longer before being traded? Just finding out if I need to get attached to the initial players , or if free-agency is very active like other sports?

Sure thing...

1) "On loan" is referring to the fact that we've signed him but he's still playing with his current club. This is pretty common for teams who sign a player when they aren't in season, since we don't have a team currently playing there's no rush for him to get here. He's now an Austin FC player who is "on loan" to his club in Paraguay for the rest of their season.

Teams in MLS will sometimes sign players on loan from other leagues with an option to buy, it's also very common for the big teams in Europe to loan out a young promising player. They'll sign a younger player who they think will be a star but doesn't currently have the experience to break into their starting lineup, then loan them out to a team in a smaller league (or occasionally a lower rated team in their own league) to get them playing experience.

2) Side/team/club are synonymous

3) Could be a few different things, largely dependent on the player's talent ceiling. If he's a player who's talented but not a European/world class caliber player he could very well make a career in MLS, there's a number of central and south american players who have done this and stayed with their teams long term. It's also possible that he has a breakout season in a year or two and some big team from England or Spain offers a huge amount of money to sign him that Austin FC can't turn down.

Either way it's an interesting first signing. He looks like a young attacking player who could see a lot of playing time and eventually be a key player, but not the kind of guy I'd assume would be a critical signing at this point in his career.

Just got the email regarding the Premium Terrace. They're coming right along on construction. It looks nice, but appears almost tiny compared with Kyle Field!

Seats:




Progress:

Definitely doesn't have the same feel as Kyle and the canopy has made it feel tighter, but it will be an awesome venue.

It will absolutely feel tiny compared to Kyle, BBVA in Houston is the same way.

But what's awesome is that there won't be a bad seat in the house, no matter where you are you feel like you're right in the middle of the action. It's gonna be fun

Did everyone get the email the other day? Season tickets are SOLD OUT! I guess they leave a portion (5,000 ) for general admission (maybe including the standing area in the "end zone")?

It sure looks like they continue to make great progress, and I think it's gonna be a fun venue. Looking forward to it!

So, here's the latest on opening day:

https://www.austinfc.com/post/2021/03/15/note-president-andy-loughnane-progress-and-next-steps

Pretty non-committal on capacity, but I don't think there's any way to avoid that. I'm getting pretty excited for June 19th, even though I still really don't understand the game .

I drive by the site regularly, and the new driveway will help, but that whole Braker/Burnet intersection is going to be a zoo every game day, for sure. The train station drop off right at the stadium should really help once that's approved.

The pre-opening tours they mention are definitely on my must-do list.

I bleed maroon said:

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I drive by the site regularly, and the new driveway will help, but that whole Braker/Burnet intersection is going to be a zoo every game day, for sure. The train station drop off right at the stadium should really help once that's approved.

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I work right next to it. This whole area is going to be a disaster trying to get home during weekday games.

Curious how they're going to handle parking, since they only included on-site parking for the higher-end tickets. They mentioned contracting with JJ Pickle, etc...but during the week, that might not be easy.

Also, if anyone cant use their tickets opening day, hit me up. I'll buy them.

WINNERS! 3-1 over Colorado! Feels good to score some goals. Pretty exciting 2nd half tonight!

Exciting match all around.
Solid goalkeeping too.
Cautiously optomistic for the season, b/c it seems like Home Field advantage (w a packed or nearly-so house) could be substantial.
Can't wait for 6.19

AgGrad99 said:

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I bleed maroon said:

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I drive by the site regularly, and the new driveway will help, but that whole Braker/Burnet intersection is going to be a zoo every game day, for sure. The train station drop off right at the stadium should really help once that's approved.

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I work right next to it. This whole area is going to be a disaster trying to get home during weekday games.

Curious how they're going to handle parking, since they only included on-site parking for the higher-end tickets. They mentioned contracting with JJ Pickle, etc...but during the week, that might not be easy.

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Not sure how close you are, but I am real close. My building is at Rutland/McKalla and my office is on that corner of the building. During the build it was non stop chaos with heavy equipment, etc..

We have 4 tickets and looking forward to 6-19.

Im right behind it. Could maybe hit it with a 3 iron and good bounce


I ended up not getting tickets, but will definitely try to make some games. If you aren't going to a game, let me know. I'd be interested in buying your tickets.

How about those 2-1 ATX boys? Or 6 points, as I've learned is the appropriate measure.

I'm doing the stadium tour on May 28th. Anyone else have theirs scheduled? Very interested to see it up close!

Any word on attendance restrictions for the June 19th home opener? At this point, I'm kind of assuming it will be come one, come all, wear your masks till you sit down, and such. But I have no definitive word.