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Football
We all need a little escapism even in the best of times—certainly these days—and sports have always scored big on that field.
The roaring crowds, mile-long concession lines and heady weekend tailgates in the parking lot are mostly gone for the year, but that doesn't mean you can't cheer your guts out for your favorite teams.
Some, like local baseball, are canceled or winding up their seasons. And others, like college women's basketball, are as-yet unscheduled.
We find ourselves in an interesting fall championship game line up with pro baseball entering an extended season, minor league soccer having its postseason championships, and hockey and basketball in delayed finals seasons (that we'd normally be enjoying in the spring and early summer), it's an exciting time to be a fan!
Here are some ways to safely get your Texas sports fix right now—and the escape we're all craving.
Football
Football starts in earnest this month for the NFL and some universities. Because the pandemic didn't do much to disrupt the season, timing-wise (except for the canceled preseason), not much will change for those who watched from their couches.
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys' NFL season starts on Sept. 13, but the first home game is slated for Sept. 20 against the Atlanta Falcons at noon. Catch it on FOX, or if you're in North Texas, limited tickets and suite rentals are available at AT&T Stadium in Arlington
Houston Texans
The Houston Texans' virtual kickoff happened on Sept. 3, with Texans players, coaches, celebrities and more. If you missed it, you can catch the archive here. The season started on Thursday, Sept. 10, but the the first home game happens on Sunday, Sept. 20 against the Baltimore Ravens at 3:25 p.m. at NRG stadium. Limited tickets and suites are available.
UT Longhorns
The Big 12 season is on! UT's first game, a match up at home against UT-El Paso, happens 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12. But the first official Big 12 conference game is set for Sept. 26 against the Texas Tech Raiders. You can catch Longhorn Network games—including the season opener—on ESPN or stream them online. Some fans can also go to games at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium on the UT-Austin campus, which is only allowing a 25% capacity crowd at this time.
Baseball
Major League Baseball ends its regular 60-game season on Sept. 27 and then prepares for an extended 16-team playoff season—which some are thinking could include the Houston Astros. Check out this link to stream MLB games online.
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros' season has begun, and while they are allowing no fans in the Minute Maid Park for the games— they are making it easy to watch them on TV and online. Next game is at 7:07 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12 against the LA Dodgers.
Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers, like their MLB counterparts in Houston, continue their season on Saturday against the Oakland A's at 4:05 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12. Like the other MLB franchises, they won't be playing to any crowds—with no in-person attendance at Globe Life Park in Arlington—but they're easy to find online.
You can listen to them on the radio here.
Basketball
The NBA's conference semifinals are underway, with the final matchup series set to start on Sept. 30. We're used to baseball and football championships in the fall and winter, but this is a bonus. There is no in-person seating but you can register for a chance to be a "virtual" fan here.
And while the Dallas Mavericks' season came to an end on Aug. 30 with a loss to the L.A. Clippers, there's still another Texas team to watch.
Houston Rockets
You can catch the Rockets against the L.A. Lakers in their second match-up of the series on ESPN at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12. Or register for a chance to be a virtual fan and take home viewing to a whole 'nother level.
Hockey
We'd normally be watching the NHL conference finals in the late spring and early summer, but the pandemic took care of that—and now we get to pile the Stanley Cup championships onto our high-stakes fall season.
The Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are on the short list for the cup this year, facing the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference finals, with Game 4 set for Saturday, Sept. 12.
The season is set to wind up with the Stanley Cup finals tentatively set for early October. Tickets to stadium watch parties are sold out but you can watch on FOX Sports Southwest or the Fox Sports GO app.
Soccer
We have to wait until spring for Austin's new Major League Soccer team, the Austin FC, to start playing at McKalla Place —but you can still enjoy some exciting Austin soccer.
UT Soccer
The University of Texas Longhorns soccer Big 12 season gets underway on Friday night, Sept. 10 with new guidelines issued for in-person attendance at the school's Mike A. Meyers Stadium. Watch them on the Longhorns Network.
Austin Bold FC
The United Soccer League is ending its season in early October, and our own Austin Bold FC team is angling for a spot in the USL post-season championship playoffs next month. Their next scheduled game is at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12 against the Rio Grande Valley Toros. You can watch them on ESPN+ or app.
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Popular
From the California coast to Scandanavia, here's where each Austin FC player is from. (Claire Partain)
Austin FC's first signee, Rodney Redes, hails from Paraguay. So does the club's first Designated Player, Cecilio Dominguez. Five other players' hometowns are in South America, while five others are from Europe or Africa. While most on the roster signed to Austin FC from other MLS teams, Austin FC players have played as far north as Finland, as far east as Israel and as far south as Argentina.
English and Spanish are the most spoken languages on the team, although Zan Kolmanic speaks Slovenian and the club is well-traveled, too: Jon Gallagher has lived in six countries, while Kekuta Manneh, the club's only true Austinite, left behind all he knew in Gambia to move to the city in high school.
The multiculturalism on the pitch goes hand-in-hand with the city of Austin itself. Over 30% of the city's population is of Hispanic or Latino descent, and Austin is a majority-minority city (meaning non-Hispanic Whites make up less than 50% of the population).
It's brought even the most unlikely groups together; while supporters of Liga MX and the English Premier League used to be on opposite sides of the bar, now they come together in green.
Jorge Chavez, a member of Austin FC fan club Austin Anthem, said that Austin FC helps unite a city full of travelers and move-ins.
"A lot people here are from all these different places, and they might not have that much in common with each other, but now they do," Chavez said.
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Austin's tech industry is hardly insulated from the post-pandemic labor shortage. Its workers stand to benefit as a result. (Joe Jungmann/CC)
"We are living in times when the employees are the king or the queen," said Angelos Angelou, founder and CEO of local consulting firm AngelouEconomics.
A talent center
Lured by the state's business-friendly climate and Austin's growing tech scene, California-based companies such as Tesla, Oracle and TikTok built factories, relocated headquarters and opened offices. Austin posted the highest tech migration rate of any city in the country between May 2020 and April 2021, according to a recent LinkedIn analysis.
With so many new resident businesses, job growth kept pace. The Austin metro ranked fourth nationally for tech job postings growth in March, according to Silicon Valley Bank's latest State of the Markets report.
Oracle relocated its headquarters to the Riverside location in Austin. (Shutterstock)
To fill these roles, local tech companies have to look beyond the city limits. Employers poach from their competitors, recruit recent graduates from area colleges and universities or look to the national labor market for talent, Angelou said.
Summer Salazar, director of employer engagement at the University of Texas at Austin, has seen a huge influx in tech sector job postings on the university's job board in recent months. "We feel that demand," she said.
An employee's market
Jaime Cabrera, 28, recently graduated from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and is looking for a policy job at a social media company. He didn't go into his job search with plans to stay in Austin but has seen various intriguing openings, citing Bumble, Lyft and TikTok. "I didn't realize how many companies are here," he said.
The tech labor market also affects employees who are not looking for a new job but instead seeking better benefits or internal policy changes from their current employer.
Lawrence Humphrey, 27, lives in North Austin and works for IBM. Shortly after the murder of George Floyd, he co-founded Tech Can Do Better, which advocates for a more equitable industry. Since then, there has been little quantitative progress in terms of more diverse hiring and other metrics. But there has been a qualitative shift. "Issues around racial equity are just far more of a priority from the perspective of the employees, so therefore it's far more of a priority for the employers," he said.
OG vs. newcomers
Although the pandemic has accelerated the growth of Austin's tech industry, the industry was already established. In the latter half of the 20th century, the city attracted big tech originators like IBM because of its enticingly low labor cost and spawned homegrown giants like Dell—trends that continue today.
The arrival of Silicon Valley tech transplants in other growing tech cities, such as Miami, has led to tension with the so-called old guard. In Austin, such competition has forced companies to compete for workers, leading to more mobility.
"When I was in the job market, my god if you changed jobs often—and often meant once every three years—you were considered a traitor," said Angelou, who headed the Austin Chamber's economic development department from 1984 through 1995, helping to recruit companies such as IBM, Apple and Samsung to town. "Now people change jobs every nine months, it appears, and that is considered a plus."
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