Q2 Stadium
McKalla Place
Austin FC vs. Columbus Crew in June 2021
Full nameQ2 Stadium at McKalla Place
Former namesAustin FC Stadium (planning/Construction)
Address10414 McKalla Place
Austin, TX 78758
Coordinates30°23′16″N 97°43′10″W / 30.3877°N 97.7195°W / 30.3877; -97.7195
Public transitCapital MetroRapid Braker/Stadium station
Kramer station (current)
McKalla station (opening 2023)
OwnerAnthony Precourt
OperatorTwo Oak Ventures LLC
TypeSoccer-specific stadium
Seating typeSeated, safe standing[1]
Capacity20,738[2]
Field size115 yd × 75 yd (105 m × 69 m)[3]
SurfaceGrass
Construction
Broke groundSeptember 9, 2019
OpenedJune 16, 2021
Construction cost~$260 million
ArchitectGensler
BuilderAustin Commercial
Structural engineerWalter P Moore
Services engineerHenderson Engineers
Main contractorsIdibri
Tenants
Austin FC (MLS) 2021–present

The Q2 Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium located in the North Burnet section of North Austin, Texas, United States. It is the home of Austin FC, a Major League Soccer (MLS) team that began play in 2021. The stadium hosted its first event on June 16, 2021, an international friendly between the United States women's national team and Nigeria.

Site history

The earliest noted development of the tract of land was in 1956, when the land was christened as a 23.5 acre chemical manufacturing plant. The manufacturing plant produced various chemicals for Reichhold Chemicals, generally peroxides, for the majority of its 29 years as a chemical plant. The facility was closed following a series of on-site safety incidents in December, 1985, which made it economically infeasible to operate.[4]

The land was annexed into the Austin city limits on July 19, 1973.[5]

Reichhold's parent company, DIC Corporation, sold the land to the City of Austin in 1995 for $1.4 million, with the city planning on using it as the Austin Water North Service Center. However, during construction of the facility in 2003, an explosion occurred, with workers finding illegally stored chemical waste on the site. Remediation was undertaken, stripping the site down to bedrock. The city sued DIC, and received $3.6 million.[6]

When Precourt Sports Ventures, operator of Columbus Crew SC, announced they were intending to move the team to Austin, city staff identified eight potential sites for a permanent stadium.[7] 10414 McKalla Place was identified as one of those eight sites, and following some public debate, became the prime candidate following the Austin City Council meeting on March 22, 2018.[8] After several sessions, the Austin City Council granted the City Manager the authority to negotiate and execute a lease with the 7–4 vote during a special session on August 15, 2018.[9] The city announced that the lease had been completed and signed on December 19, 2018.[10]

The 20-year lease of the site includes yearly rent of $550,000 beginning in year six, with an additional $3.6 million being given to Capital Metro for transit. The stadium would be fully financed and built with private money, though stadium ownership would be held by the city itself. The club has the ability to extend the lease up to three times, with each extension being ten years.[11]

Construction

Construction progress, July 2020

The approximately 20,500-seat stadium was expected to cost $260 million, with team operator Precourt Sports Ventures privately financing the construction.[12] Other elements for the 24-acre site and surroundings include green space, potential housing, and mixed-use retail.

In March 2019, Precourt Sports named Austin Commercial as the construction manager and Gensler as the lead architect for the stadium, and announced that groundbreaking will take place in September 2019.[2]

Re-zoning the site to stadium requirements passed Austin City Council unanimously on June 6, 2019.[13]

On August 19, 2019, a site plan for the Austin FC stadium in North Austin was approved by the city of Austin, Texas.[14]

In January 2021, Austin FC entered a naming rights partnership with Q2 Holdings, a local online banking provider, resulting in the stadium formally being named Q2 Stadium on January 25, 2021.[15][16]

Public transportation

Q2 Stadium sits alongside Capital Metro's Red Line commuter rail service. The closest existing station on the Red Line is Kramer station, about a 0.5-mile (0.80 km) walk from the stadium. Capital Metro's Project Connect transit plan, approved by voters in November 2020, adds a new station, McKalla Place, about 0.5-mile (0.80 km) south of the existing Kramer Station, directly adjacent to the stadium.[17] This would provide a much shorter and more direct walking route from rail services to the stadium without having to cross any roads. Kramer station is expected to be relocated about 0.6-mile (0.97 km) north to the Broadmoor campus and be renamed Broadmoor station.[17]

Bus connections to the stadium include MetroRapid route 803 and MetroBus routes 3, 383, 392, and 466.[18]

Events

The stadium opened on June 16, 2021, hosting an international women's friendly between the United States and Nigeria. Christen Press scored the first ever goal in the stadium.

Austin FC played their first ever match at the stadium on June 19, 2021, against the San Jose Earthquakes.[19] The match ended with a 0–0 draw in front of a sellout crowd of 20,738.[20] On July 1, 2021, Jon Gallagher scored the first ever competitive goal in Q2 Stadium history, during the 27th minute of Austin FC's 3rd ever regular MLS season home match versus Portland Timbers, eventually finishing as a 4–1 win to Austin FC.[21]

On July 29, 2021, USA beat Qatar in the Gold Cup Semifinals on a Gyasi Zardes goal in the 86th minute, and Q2 hosted its first World Cup qualifying match that October, a 2–0 win against Jamaica. Q2 hosted its first Nations League match on June 10, 2022, a 5–0 win against Grenada. FC Dallas striker Jesús Ferreira scored 4 goals for the Americans in the match, the first ever hat-trick in Q2 Stadium.

On July 4, 2022, Q2 Stadium held its first non-sporting event, when it hosted Willie Nelson's 4th of July Picnic and Firework show, an annual event that was started in 1972.[22]

On July 30, 2022, Q2 hosted its first non-soccer event, Premier Rugby Sevens, featuring a single day Rugby sevens tournament with the Experts, Loonies, Headliners, and Loggerheads.[23] PR7s returned to Q2 on June 17, 2023, for the Eastern Conference Kickoff.[24]

In December 2023, Q2 was selected to host 2 matches for the 2024 Copa América, an annual CONMEBOL soccer tournament. Copa América is the oldest national team soccer tournament in the world. Q2 was one of fourteen stadium selected in the United States and one of three soccer specific stadiums chosen to host matches.[25] Later that month, the 2024 Copa América draw revealed that the first game would feature Venezuela and Jamaica, and the second game would feature Paraguay and the winner of qualifying play-off match between Costa Rica and Honduras.[26]

International Soccer

Date Team #1 Result Team #2 Tournament Spectators
June 16, 2021 United States2–0 NigeriaWomen's International Friendly20,500
July 29, 2021 Qatar0–1 United States2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup Semifinal20,500
October 7, 2021 United States2–0 Jamaica2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying20,500
December 8, 2021 Mexico2–2 ChileFriendly17,202
June 10, 2022 United States5–0 Grenada2022–23 CONCACAF Nations League A20,500
April 8, 2023 United States2–0 Republic of IrelandWomen's International Friendly20,593
November 16, 2023 United States3–0 Trinidad and Tobago2023–24 CONCACAF Nations League A19,850
June 30, 2024 Jamaica– Venezuela2024 Copa América
July 2, 2024 Costa Rica/ Honduras– Paraguay

References

  1. ↑ Spedden, Zach (April 26, 2019). "Austin FC Stadium Design Taking Shape". Soccerstadiumdigest.com. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Precourt Sports Ventures names construction manager and design team for Austin FC stadium" (PDF) (Press release). Austin FC. March 25, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  3. ↑ "Rising stadium signals that Austin FC, MLS are on their way".
  4. ↑ "History of McKalla Place". Estadiomckalla.com. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  5. ↑ "Geocortex Viewer for HTML5". Austintexas.gov. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  6. ↑ Lyttle, Kevin. "McKalla Place: The good, bad and ugly for possible MLS stadium site". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  7. ↑ Neely, Christopher (December 12, 2017). "MAP: Austin recommends these 8 public properties for a new Major League Soccer field". Community Impact Newspaper. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Council approves study of McKalla Place as soccer stadium site". Austin Monitor. March 26, 2018. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  9. ↑ Lyttle, Kevin. "Austin City Council votes 'yes' to MLS at McKalla Place". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  10. ↑ Jimmy Maas (December 19, 2018). "Major League Soccer And Precourt Sports Sign Lease For Stadium Site In North Austin". Kut.org. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  11. ↑ "LEASE AND DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT by and between CITY OF AUSTIN, as Landlord and AUSTIN STADCO LLC, as Tenant" (PDF). Austintexas.gov. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Details of potential McKalla Place soccer deal emerge". Mystatesman.com. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  13. ↑ Jankowski, Phil (June 6, 2019). "On to No. 97, rezoning McKalla Place to build the MLS stadium for @austinfc. Some speakers on this one. Could get interesting! #ATXcouncil #mls2atx #AustinFCpic.twitter.com/HZsbvo7xb3". Twitter. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Site plan approved for Austin FC stadium". bizjournals.com. August 19, 2019.
  15. ↑ Rosner, Mark (January 25, 2021). "Austin's MLS stadium now officially has a name". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas: Statesman.com. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Austin FC announce stadium naming rights partnership with Q2 Holdings Inc". MLS. January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  17. 1 2 "Capital MetroRail Red Line Map" (PDF). Capital Metro. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  18. ↑ "Capital Metro Memorandum" (PDF). Austin, Texas. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  19. ↑ Klick, Andrea; Jankowski, Philip (June 16, 2021). "How to get in and out of Austin FC's new soccer stadium: First big test looms". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  20. ↑ Sigal, Jonathan (June 19, 2021). "Recap: Austin FC 0, San Jose Earthquakes 0".
  21. ↑ Sigal, Jonathan. "Austin FC Savor "Momentous Occasion" Of First Win, First Goals At Q2 Stadium". MLS.com. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  22. ↑ "Willie Nelson Announces 4th of July Picnic and Fireworks At Q2 Stadium". www.AustinFC.com. Q2 Stadium. April 8, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  23. ↑ "The Championship for Premier Rugby Sevens Comes To Austin's Q2 Stadium". KXAN Austin. July 26, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
  24. ↑ "Premier Rugby Sevens' return to Austin shows budding interest, potential audience". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
  25. ↑ "Q2 Stadium Named As A Host Venue For The 2024 CONMEBOL Copa America". www.AustinFC.com. Q2 Stadium. December 4, 2023. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  26. ↑ "2024 CONMEBOL Copa America Draw Confirms Matchups To Take Place at Q2 Stadium". www.AustinFC.com. Q2 Stadium. December 7, 2023. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
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