We hosted our July Area Business Connections event on July 29th at the Boy Scouts of America's Austin Headquarters. Andy Loughnane, President of Austin FC, and JJ Gottsch, CEO of the PBR Austin Gamblers, sat down with Drew Hays, the Austin Sports Commission Executive Director, to discuss professional sports in Austin.
Andy Loughnane has been instrumental in launching and growing Austin FC, the city's first Major League Soccer team. Under his leadership, the team has become a cornerstone of Austin's sports culture.
JJ Gottsch leads the Austin Gamblers, a team in the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Team Series and also serves on Austin Chamber's Board of Directors. With a background in baseball and a passion for bull riding, Gottsch has successfully brought a new sport to Austin, leveraging his extensive experience in sports management.
Learn more about the vision, challenges, and future prospects of professional sports in Austin below.
Drew: Why did you choose Austin to start a major league team?
Andy: “Austin has untapped potential and pent-up demand which is a remarkable condition to start a franchise in. It is also one of the most fertile cities in North America. Austin is not only ripe for sports, but it is also immensely popular as a city. The culture of Austin directly lends itself to a pro soccer team because of its specific popularity to Austinites."
JJ: “How a league picks a city is based on two major things: does it have the population to support multiple teams, and does it have large corporate support with a desire to partner with sports teams?”
JJ explains how cities with high populations but little corporate support lack the foundation necessary to support a pro team. Twenty years ago, Austin did not have the population or corporate energy to support a major league franchise; now it has the ability to support several pro sports teams. He also attributes this success to the demographics of people living in Austin.
“The people that are here now are not from here. That would lead you to believe those people truly want to be here, and they want to have as many quality-of-life and entertainment options as possible. They did not graduate from UT and they are looking for a team to support, and now they’ve got options."
Drew: What is the process of building a Pro team from scratch?
Andy: “There are so many aspects in building a team besides just finding players and forming the team. You must consider infrastructure and training facilities."
Despite facing difficulty during the pandemic in relationship building areas, Andy was able to focus on positives.
JJ: With more experience starting pro teams from scratch, JJ detailed his journey from creating a baseball team in central Texas then moving to Corpus Christi six years later before ending up in Austin after an opportunity for bull riding came at an opportune time.
“I took the experience I gained from launching two different organizations—both mistakes I made and successes.”
He attributes opening up with Moody Center as establishing them as a pro team garnering awareness from Austinites.
“We intentionally found best companies in their industry in Austin or Texas. We wanted Gamblers being an authentic Austin team because there are so many people moved here looking something grasp onto."
Drew: What obstacles faced when starting teams?
JJ: “Austin most non-Texas Texas city lot education do because people didn’t grow up here didn’t grow up riding horses living ranch need continued education what bull riding rodeo animal welfare bulls treated better any animal imagine.”
What can expect MLS All-Star Game coming next year?
Andy: “MLS All-Star first time history host major league all-star event opportunity showcase reputation events city determined 2025 hope bring everything great into MLS All-Star Game experience.”
What expect upcoming Gambler Days presented by Tecovas?
JJ: “Celebration August 23-25 Gambler Days Moody Center celebrating Western culture fan festival live music every night watching best bulls world best bull riders amazing experience basically rodeo meets WWE meets rock concert.”
What makes Q2 perfect venue?
Andy: “Slice both indoors outdoors tech-forward stadium brings events never before soccer host first U.S men's World Cup qualifying match pivotal role fortress U.S soccer every game ends victory opposing teams yet score goal across matches.”
Future professional sports look like?
JJ: “Very bright potential NFL NBA limited hurdles MLB possibility area might happen within limits.”
Organizations likely see success WNBA NWSL wouldn’t need build stadium community supports women's professional sports.
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