Austin council votes to build soccer stadium, also to not build soccer stadium

After a marathon public hearing that saw nearly 100 people testify, the Austin city council voted at 3:50 a.m. last night on dueling proposals for whether to negotiate exclusively with Columbus Crew owner Anthony Precourt on using McKalla Place land for a soccer stadium, or open it up to competing bids. And the result was … “both“?!?

Game of Two Halves: The City of Austin will begin talks with PSV for a Major League Soccer stadium at McKalla Place in North Austin, while also considering any alternative proposals for mixed-use projects on the site. #ATXCouncil may then make a choice at its August 9 meeting. pic.twitter.com/KdLj9iqvNm

— City of Austin (@austintexasgov) June 29, 2018

I think the best way to describe this is “unexpected,” if you didn’t already get that from the interrobang up above. It’s only been four hours since the vote, and apparently everyone in the news media and on Twitter was too sleep-deprived to write down who voted how, but that’s going to be key in analyzing what’s likely to happen in August.

For now, it seems like the council has dealt with Precourt’s June 30 deadline by honoring the letter of it while ignoring the actual commitment part, which would be a totally reasonable response. Can’t wait to see if Precourt issues one of his rare tweets to respond to the vote, and if so if he’s able to use up all 280 characters.