Who Wants to See Some Renderings of a Soccer Stadium?

Ooh la la.

Precourt Sports Ventures teased its newest dish this morning: three renderings of a McKalla Place soccer stadium for PSV’s potentially relocating Columbus Crew, as designed Gensler, TBG Partners, and CAA ICON. The renderings conceptualize an open-air stadium with big entrances at all four corners, and, in one markup, a seating bowl packed with roughly 20,000 adoring fans. The color scheme they’re wearing, green and blue, has been the chosen pattern since talk first began of Anthony Precourt’s plans to move the Crew to Austin, though it remains unclear whether that’s the set they‘ll choose.

Here’s what it expects to look like from the southwest:

We’re particularly taken with the clubhouse structures on each end, which from this vantage point look like coffee tables from West Elm. Let’s look at the stadium from the northwest:

And now inside for the full pitch:

Gensler Sports Practice principal and design director Jonathan Emmett issued the following statement with the renderings’ release:

“The soccer park at McKalla Place offers an incredible opportunity to create a world class match-day experience in the urban core of Austin. While influenced by great European venues, with intimate seating bowls that put fans right on top of the action, we are also drawing heavily on the incredibly diverse and vibrant local culture, to create a uniquely ‘Austin’ experience for MLS fans. The venue and match-day experience will incorporate strong local influences on food & beverage; live music and technology. Careful orientation and the design of the roof canopy will ensure ample shading while strategically placed open corners will allow for cooling breezes.

The soccer park will provide the local community with a network of amenities and landscaped spaces, in and around the venue, that will be active on gamedays and non gamedays alike. Austinites have a strong connection to the outdoors and recreation, the soccer park will provide access to great landscaped spaces and trails to an area of the city that is underserved in this respect."

Soccer’s about to get real hot in Austin, as tomorrow should bring traffic analysis, community benefits, and an environmental assessment of a potential stadium at McKalla Place. Precourt has indicated that it’ll need to know by the end of June whether or not they can build a stadium on the site, and if the city will welcome their team into the area, in order to get everything in order for a move to be made next spring.