Austin FC renews 95% of season tickets in its third season, waitlist swells to 26,000 – CAPITAL CITY SOCCER

Pour one out for Austin FC season ticket waitlist members.

It may be a while until they too can pay thousands of dollars annually to attend 17+ games at Q2 Stadium.

Sports Business Journal just released the final tally of season ticket renewals for the upcoming 2024 season and 95% of the club’s 16,000 season ticket holders renewed their accounts.

Alex Silverman of Sports Business Journal X’d (aka tweeted), “New at SBJ: Austin FC renewed 95% of its 16,000 season-ticket holders for the third time in its three seasons of existence. Since joining MLS, it has also grown its paid season-ticket waitlist to 26,000!”

New at @SBJ: @AustinFC renewed 95% of its 16,000 season-ticket holders for the third time in its three seasons of existence. Since joining @MLS, it has also grown its paid season-ticket waitlist to 26,000! pic.twitter.com/shUy8D8Sl4

— Alex M. Silverman🏒⚽️ (@AlexMSilverman) August 9, 2023

That leaves only 5% percent of 2024 season tickets (800 seats) open for the 26,000 paid waitlist members to purchase.

The Oak Collective waitlist membership costs $50 (plus, $20 annually) for priority access to purchase up to 6 season tickets when they become available. Waitlist members also get first crack at single match tickets and 10% off ATX merch.

Renewal rates for season tickets have remained high in Austin FC’s short history, dipping slightly from last year.

Season Renewal Rate
2022 96%
2023 97%
2024 95%

Credit: Sports Business Journal

Those that opted out of renewing before the June 29, 2023, deadline may have balked at the across-the-board price increases of seats at Q2 Stadium, which included double-digit percentage increases in some parts of McKalla. (Our little section of seats in the NW corner increased 14% from last year.)

Prices have risen 4.5% on average per season, Austin FC President Andy Loughnane told SBJ.

Save money purchasing game tickets on SeatGeek, Austin FC’s official ticketing partner. Use code CAPCITYSOCCER for $20 off your first purchase.

That’s the big question when you sell out a 20,738-seat stadium since Day One and have a waitlist of 26,000.

The stadium was designed to accommodate more seats in the North End upper deck. Back in 2019, club president Andy Loughnane stated, “The stadium is being built with expansion opportunities all the way up to 22,000 seats.” 

This new section would be cantilevered over the concourse and connected to the club’s private suites on the upper North side (outlined in red below).

Q2 Stadium future expansion

The club hired a firm to study the stadium expansion, but no official word about when that expansion will occur has been announced.

Big picture: an expanded Q2 Stadium with 22,000 seats still falls below the average size of the newest MLS stadiums by more than 2,000 seats.

Ownership played it safe building Q2 Stadium — the club could sellout out 30,000 seats easy.

Austin FC has the second smallest venue of the six newest MLS soccer-specific stadiums, either built or under construction, with 20,738 seats. The average capacity of the newest MLS stadiums below is 24,434.

Stadium Franchise Capacity Opening Date
Lower.com Field  Columbus Crew 20,371 2021
Q2 Stadium  Austin FC  20,738 2021
TQL Stadium  FC Cincinnati 26,000 2021
Geodis Park  Nashville SC 30,000 2022
Centene Stadium  St. Louis City SC  22,500 2023
Miami Freedom Park  Inter Miami CF 27,000 2024

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