Austin one step closer to getting MLS team

It was a packed house and a packed agenda at City Hall as Austin City Council's meeting carried into the early morning hours. One of the biggest items council considered was bringing Major League Soccer to Austin.

All resolutions regarding soccer were passed just before 4 a.m. on June 29. Hundreds fo people had been out the evening before in support of Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo's Item 103 which directs the city manager to start negotiating with Precourt Sports Ventures.

It's all an effort to bring the Columbus Crew MLS team to Austin. Precourt has proposed paying for a $200 million stadium on city owned land called McKalla Place which is located near The Domain.

McKalla Place is located within Council Member Leslie Pool's District 7 and Pool proposed a resolution, Item 60, that directed the city manager to collect other ideas for developing the area like affordable housing and parkland.

Tovo's Item 130 passed unanimously and Pool's Item 60 passed by a vote of 9-1.

Council says the passage of the items is not an approval but rather a means of continued negotiation.

City Manger Spencer Cronk and Anthony Precourt now have a deadline of August 9th for the negotiation process.