Editorial: Sitting on a Gold Mine

After reading about many of the current political issues in the state of Texas, I have realized the importance of increasing revenue for state programs.  The more revenue the state can garner, the more flexibility they have to implement new programs or improve existing ones.  As I was driving past Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium last week, it dawned on me that the state is losing a clear opportunity to capitalize on a vacant 100,000 seat stadium that is right here in Austin.  Rather than limiting popular musicians such as Paul McCartney to play two nights at the Frank Erwin Center or having Taylor Swift play two nights at the Austin 360 Amphitheater, why don’t we have them play at the football stadium?  Rather than only utilizing the football stadium for UT home football games, why not try to bring in additional revenue for the city of Austin and the state of Texas?

Another possibility to explore is bringing in an MLS soccer team to Austin.  There would not be any major game conflicts with UT football games because they only play five or six home games per year.  With economic expansion driving Austin’s population growth, there would be a growing fan base for Austin’s only professional sports franchise.  While Dallas and Houston have MLS teams, San Antonio does not.  Therefore, Austin could draw the soccer fans in from San Antonio and further expand their fan base.  Currently Austin has been limited to only having the F1 race track, but I believe that now is the time to create an MLS franchise and capitalize on the positive momentum of the F1 race track.  By bringing a professional soccer team to Austin, the city could utilize corporate sponsorship funding to gain revenue for the state.  Also, the Austin MLS team could follow the lead of many other U.S. soccer teams and schedule exhibition games with teams from Mexico and South America similar to the Houston Dynamo to draw large crowds.

I believe that both the idea of utilizing Darrell K. Royal Stadium to hold concerts and to be the home stadium for an MLS soccer team are two outstanding ideas because the investment risk is so minimal for the state.  They do not need to raise funds to build a venue, its already made and waiting to be used 360 days per year.  In addition, the funds that they would need to contribute to hire staff and security would create jobs that would further bolster both the local Austin economy and the overall Texas economy.  Maybe I’m missing something, but it seems to me that we are sitting on a gold mine by not utilizing the empty Darrell K. Royal Stadium for more events.