MLS: Austin FC illustrate sport’s explosion

Austin FC’s website broke when they released season tickets for their inaugural 2021 campaign. They help illustrate the explosion of both MLS and football in the States.

It has been brewing for many years. The growth of the biggest global sport in America. Football — or soccer — is highest participated, most watched, most loved sport in the world. But it never really took off in the States, its American version, basketball and baseball dominating the sporting landscape in its stead.

Nevertheless, with the advancements in technology, the invention of the internet, television, and streaming on a global stage, as the world grows smaller, football has exploded in America.

The statistics bear it out. A 2017 poll by Gallup claims that 7% of Americans say that football is their favourite sport. Baseball, for comparison’s sake, is the favourite of 9% of Americans. A 2011 ESPN poll ranked football as the second-favourite sport for 12-24 year-olds. In 2014, Lionel Messi cracked the top ten in ESPN’s rankings of the most popular professional athletes, the first soccer player to ever do so.

And this week, there was the latest development that displayed the explosion of the sport in America, and especially the domestic league, Major League Soccer. 2021 expansion Austin FC opened up their season ticket deposit scheme on Wednesday. So many fans took to the website to stake their claim for a 2021 season ticket that the website crashed.

Official numbers have not yet been announced, but the total number of deposits has already exceeded 30,000, which is 9,500 more than the 20,500 stadium capacity that Austin FC will play in in their inaugural MLS campaign. In a statement, Austin FC president Andy Loughnane said:

"“This evening we celebrate the thousands upon thousands of Austin supporters who stepped forward with season ticket membership deposits for Austin FC’s inaugural season in 2021. Today’s record-setting deposit results reinforce the strength of the market, the community’s love for the sport, and the pent-up demand for major league sports in Austin. We are incredibly grateful for those who placed deposits on this historic day.”"

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The 30,000-plus season ticket deposits made breaks the record for the highest number of MLS season tickets bought or claimed in one day. The numbers really are bonkers, a clear sign of the success that the Austin FC expansion should enjoy. This, after all, is a completely untapped sporting market that MLS is looking to take advantage of.

But more than just displaying the hunger for the sport in Austin, it also illustrates the explosive growth football — and MLS by extension — that has undergone over the past 20 years, and especially in the past decade or so.

Attendances are higher than ever, new stadiums in major cities are sprouting seemingly every year, money is being poured into the sport, and fans are flocking to both professional matches and playing themselves.

Football is exploding in America, and Austin FC are just the latest illustration. There will be many more to come.