7/31/2023 0 Comments Usl pro player salary“The American soccer industry is in a better place. “Yeah, but everything has changed since that first Austin team was launched,” Holt said. Well, they still play at quaint, old House Park, a 6,000-seat Austin school district facility with football lines on it they still can’t sell alcohol, and the only team in the new league within shouting distance is Oklahoma City. Owner Phil Rawlins, at the time, cited “Austin’s lack of a soccer-specific stadium with any corporate facilities, the inability to sell alcohol at the games (at House Park and Nelson Field) and the geographic isolation of the franchise.” They drew 3,733 fans per home game in 2010, the team’s last season in Austin. The former Aztex franchise moved to Orlando, Fla., after two years. “We know exactly what funds we need.”Īustin had a team in USL Division II, a forerunner to USL Pro, and couldn’t keep it. “We already have the budget down,” Van De Zande said. There will be player salaries, increased travel costs, more marketing dollars and other infrastructure expenses. When the team moves to USL Pro, a franchise that costs just several hundred thousand dollars to run will ratchet to upwards of $1.5 million. Right now the Aztex players are considered amateurs and do not get paid. A return on any investment is not anticipated in the near future. “To build a club, a fan base from the grass roots up, it requires investment. Van De Zande told the American-Statesman that the Aztex, in their third year of PDL play, are not profitable. “I don’t see any reason why Austin couldn’t regularly draw 4,000 to 5,000 fans,” Holt said. USL President Tim Holt said average attendance in his league is between 3,000 and 4,000. “Next year we would be extremely happy if we can draw between 2,500 and 5,000 fans,” Aztex CEO Rene Van De Zande said. The break-even mark could be double that. That makes them a top PDL draw, but it won’t cut it when they step up to the USL Pro League. The reality on the ground is that the Aztex, coming off a championship season in the lower-level Premier Development League, average roughly 1,750 fans per home match. If Austin is the upscale, growing soccer market that many portray, the time to prove it begins next year when the Aztex climb into a higher-level professional league.Īustin soccer officials trumpet this market’s top-10 World Cup TV ratings, watch parties are scheduled all over town for Tuesday’s USA-Belgium match, and Central Texas has been a top-five market for several international tournaments.
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