As unlikely as it may have seemed when it opened in 2012, the Circuit of the Americas has brought some major international sporting events over from Europe to Texas. Formula One, MotoGP, and the FIA World Endurance Championship all race there. And now there'll be one more – but it's not a form of motorsport.
The United Soccer League has announced that Austin is getting a new team, franchised to COTA chairman Bobby Epstein. They'll be playing at new 5,000-seat stadium being built on the circuit's grounds and set to open in 2019.
USL sits one tier below Major League Soccer. Its return to Austin will mark the first time the Texas capital will have a team since the Austin Aztex played in 2015 at House Park, a 6,000-seat multi-use high school stadium owned and operated by the local school board.
The new field is planned to sit between the amphitheater and the grand plaza within the track complex, building on the 1,000-seat FC Barcelona training facility opening there next month.
“We’re coming back in a big way,” Epstein told the American-Statesman. “For the first time, we’ll have our own intimate, purpose-built stadium, an international-size field, no football lines, no track. We’ll get fans close to the action, have a true home field and allow players to play the game the way it is intended.”
A sign of soccer's rising popularity in America, USL is in the midst of a major expansion to 34 teams by 2019. It already includes two teams in Texas (San Antonio and Edinburg) and another two in Oklahoma (Oklahoma City and Tulsa). Dallas and Houston both have Major League Soccer teams.
“We have worked diligently with Austin’s ownership group to secure a permanent home for a USL club, and are pleased to have arrived at a great solution that will ensure the long-term success of the franchise,” USL President Jake Edwards said in a statement.
“The Circuit of The Americas is an outstanding venue that has been home to world-class events for a number of years. We’re excited to work with a Bobby and his strong local ownership group as the USL returns to Austin for the 2019 season.”
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