The World Series is approaching in a few days and no Texas team will take the mound.
Major League Baseball’s commissioner wants to expand in Austin before retiring in 2029. But there are many factors to consider as Austin tries to take another step toward becoming a world-class city .
A group called the Austin Baseball Commission is taking over and working on a plan to make a bid.
FOX 7’s Rudy Koski told the group why they think Austin deserves an MLB team.
Matt Mackowiak : “It’s time for Austin to take the next step toward becoming a world-class city. The only way to do that, as far as sports are concerned, is to take advantage of this tremendous opportunity to acquire an expansion franchise here in Austin.
Rudy Koski: “Why do you think baseball will work?” »
Derrik Fox : “We are the largest city considered by Major League Baseball in this expansion cycle. We are 2nd densest behind Portland. We’re the wealthiest city in terms of average household income…I think in terms of fan engagement and business atmosphere, we’re going to be the best city there as well.
Quick: “You have the Rangers at the Metroplex, the Astros in Houston. What makes you think they’re going to allow Austin into the game?
Renard: “I would say it’s not about enabling. You used the word allow. In Texas, the state’s economic power comes from the Texas Triangle. The triangle has 3 points. Austin, San Antonio, we’re catching up on that 3rd point. By the end of this decade, between us and San Antonio, we will have 6,000,000 residents. We know the league and sports people talk about Austin as a market now, and they didn’t when we started. The perception was that Nashville was definitely going to get a team and that Salt Lake City was very well positioned to get the 2nd team.
Mackowiak: “It’s time for Austin to stop looking at our state in a way where we feel like we have to ask Dallas and Houston if we can have nice things.”
Quick: “Who is your main investor? Do you already have one? And who is your ownership group? Do you have any names ready to be published?
Mackowiak: “We don’t have any names at the moment. This is really the hardest problem to solve because one of the things we’ve spent time on both in the due diligence phase and since is trying to understand exactly what this will cost and how it will work. We believe this is at least a $4,000,000,000 business. We expect at least $2,000,000,000 in expansion costs, $1,000,000,000 for a stadium, 40-45,000 people, retractable roof, ideally in the central core, and then $1,000,000,000 budget of operation for the Major League and the 3 minor league teams. . If we develop a site closer to 1 30, that will make a route where people can come from San Antonio. And look, there’s 3 or 4 sites in Williamson County, and we’re going to go to Hays County next week, probably next week, to talk to them and figure out what those sites are there too because that we want to understand everything. »
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