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Having grown rapidly around its college town roots, Austin faces many challenges in attracting a pro team.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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AUSTIN, TEXAS
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Income profile (annual):
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■ Household median: $67,195
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■ Household, 60th percentile: $82,499
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■ Household, 80th percentile: $130,357
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■ Median, family of four: $95,816
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■ Discretionary, family of four (rank): $31,159 (7th)
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■ MSA population (rank): 2 million (33rd)
■ Since 2010: +16 percent
■ Major pro team: None
■ Nearest teams: In San Antonio (80 miles), Houston (165 miles) and Dallas (195 miles)
■ TV teams: Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Stars
■ TV households (rank): 745,640 (39th)
■ Metro GDP (rank): $119.9 billion (32nd)
■ Fortune 1000 HQs (rank): 1 (53rd)
■ Employment profile: The Austin MSA, which stretches north to the suburb of Round Rock, has more than twice the concentration of computer and math jobs as markets nationwide. It also over-indexes by 30 percent to 50 percent in architecture and engineering; legal; and arts, design, entertainment, sports and media jobs.
■ Places to play: The Round Rock Express is among the better draws in minor league baseball, playing in an 11,600-seat ballpark built in 2010. There is neither a suitable arena nor soccer stadium in place.
— Bill King
Appraisal
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The nation’s fastest-growing market presents arguably the best untapped sports territory in the country.
Along with eclipsing 2 million, Austin’s population is considerably younger, more educated and more affluent than the U.S. averages. Its metro GDP is 65 percent higher than that of the typical one-team market. With above-average income and a relatively low cost of living, its discretionary income ranks seventh among the markets we considered.
The hurdles for Austin include one you might expect from a market that grew rapidly around a college town. There’s only one Fortune 1000 company based there. Another major hurdle: The TV market, at 745,640, is even smaller than that of Las Vegas.
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Those two factors could prove daunting. But the NHL might be able to look past the latter. There still is only one NHL team in Texas, which means that while Major League Baseball has two teams sharing the populous state and the NBA splits it up among three, the Dallas Stars are the exclusive local NHL offering in 31 markets totaling 13.5 million TV households. Hockey also is the only sport that wouldn’t compete with the behemoth UT athletic program.
Of course, in order for Austin to emerge as an option for any team, it will have to put forth a viable arena or stadium plan. UT once floated the idea of public funding to help pay for a new basketball arena. It flopped resoundingly, but perhaps the prospect of a building shared with an NHL team — as N.C. State and the Carolina Hurricanes do — could revive it.
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