Should Austin get a Major League Soccer franchise, it will be called Austin FC, Precourt Sports Ventures announced Wednesday.
For the uninitiated, FC stands for "football club."
At a fan appreciation event, Precourt also unveiled branding of the would-be Austin MLS team. The team colors will be black and "bright verde," Precourt said. The logo has "AUSTIN" at the top, with two live oaks intertwined below, representing the bond between "the city and the club," the team said. The roots spread to "north, south, east and west" Austin for a "powerful foundation."
The team also released new artist renderings for a stadium at McKalla Place in North Austin. The Austin City Council voted to move forward with the stadium last week.
Precourt wants to move the Columbus Crew from Ohio to Austin for the next MLS season, but the move is not a done deal yet. The team's fans hope to keep the Crew in Ohio, where they have managed to hold onto fourth place in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Columbus fans have been buoyed by a pending lawsuit under the Modell Law, which states that a professional sports team receiving a public subsidy must try to find a local buyer before leaving the state. (Precourt leases a stadium there on county land.) The law was passed after the Cleveland Browns left in 1996, but it has never been tested in court.
