Austin FC have officially opened their St. David’s Performance Center, debuting the $45 million, privately-funded, state-of-the-art training facility roughly two weeks before their expansion season gets underway.
The St. David’s Performance Center, which broke ground in June 2020, was completed on schedule and is utilized by Austin FC’s first team and academy. It sits on a 23-acre site that includes two buildings with a 30,000 square-foot footprint, hosting the club’s players, technical staff and soccer operations leadership.
“St. David’s Performance Center represents a significant investment in Austin FC’s first team and academy development, demonstrating our commitment to providing our world-class players and staff with access to a world-class training facility,” Anthony Precourt, founder, majority owner and CEO said in a release.
The training ground has four full-sized pitches, including three natural grass surfaces and one artificial turf surface. The artificial pitch includes spectator stands and concession infrastructure, then there’s also a half-sized grass pitch. The players also have access to top-end gym and fitness equipment.
“St. David’s Performance Center represents how ambitious our ownership group and club are about succeeding in MLS,” sporting director Claudio Reyna said in a release. “This is a state-of-the-art and world-class facility. The first team super-pitch, for example, features the same turf we have at Q2 Stadium, so our players are training on the surface they will compete on at home.”
As they enter MLS in 2021, Austin FC also are debuting Q2 Stadium on June 19 against the San Jose Earthquakes. It’ll be one of three soccer-specific stadiums across the league that opens this year, seating 20,500+ fans and costing $260 million.
The St. David’s Performance Center was designed by Gensler and constructed by Harvey Cleary. It’s located at Parmer Pond in North Austin.
Austin FC also announced Thursday that their entire first-team roster, coaching and soccer operations staff received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Other MLS clubs have also received their first doses of the vaccine in the past several days.
