AUSTIN, Texas – The ball continues to roll for Austin's first Major League Soccer team. Now the Austin FC team president is in town with a sneak peek on what is in his attack plan.

  • Austin FC president in town
  • Sneak peek at attack plan for the team
  • Hopes to employ 100 people by 2021

Starting a team wasn't exactly Andy Loughnane's first rodeo, but he knew growing Austin's first MLS franchise from the ground up would be a different ball game.

"There's significant expectations to have a strong start out of the gate," Loughnane said. "So, with that in mind, we have to be excellent pretty quickly to keep up with the rest of the league."

To do that, Loughnane needs the man power and community support to pull it off. 

"We have a lot of building to do. We have to build trust within the community," Loughnane said. "We have to build staff. We started with roughly 15 staff members, a blend of Austinites and others who have industry experience."

With as big of an operation as Austin FC, Loughnane hopes to have at least 100 people employed by kickoff on 2021. However, the big question remained, when do we know who will be in the roster? 

"I can't put an exact time table on when Austin FC will sign its first player but what I can tell you is that Austin FC will launch its academy in 2019," Loughnane said.

A soccer academy is a training camp where players learn the skills they need to join a specific club or team, in this case, Austin FC.

The franchise also hopes to hire its coaches by the end of this year. Loughnane wouldn't reveal who they have in mind, except that they want to hire the right people.

"That'll be an exhaustive and important search process and we're looking forward to launching that," said Loughnane.

On top of hiring, Loughnane added that before they break ground on the new stadium at McKalla Place, the team plans to uphold a crucial part of Austin FC's deal with the city: community engagement.

"We have a community benefits program that we're thrilled to be able to roll out a little bit earlier than planned," Loughnane said. "Three of those elements will launch on 2019. We'll provide scholarships for deserving youth, we'll provide camp opportunities to deserving youth."

Lastly, he plans on holding a monthly forum to give the community a chance to ask questions and for the franchise to listen. The first one could start as early as mid-February.

"We want to pull that forward because it's the right thing to do. We want to begin seeding the sport at all levels."

As for the rumored queso fountain, here is what Loughanne had to say:

"If one of our stadium features turns out to be a queso fountain, I don't think the supporters will be surprised. I won't be surprised. In fact, I think they're an expectation at this point," he added. "That'll certainly be a unique design feature that we have to weave into the fabric of our stadium." 

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