Austin readies for one of its biggest sports weekends

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AUSTIN, Texas — Just outside Circuit of the Americas stands a large, multicolored billboard.

On the right side, set on a black background, is the Formula One logo, the dates for Sting and Eminem’s concerts and the logos for the Texas Longhorns and Georgia Bulldogs. Written on the left is a phrase displayed across different parts of Austin this weekend: “The biggest weekend ever.”

The United States Grand Prix has taken place during the college football season ever since COTA joined the calendar in 2012 (aside from 2022, when COVID-19 impacted F1’s schedule). The two sports have competed in Austin on the same weekends before, like in 2013 when Texas lost to Oklahoma State, in 2015 when it beat Kansas State and the overtime 2017 loss to Oklahoma State.

But this weekend’s game, where the top-ranked Longhorns host the No. 5 Bulldogs, is one of the biggest college football matchups this year, with two Southeastern Conference powerhouses set to clash.

ESPN’s College GameDay is also in town, and the media company is planning plenty of crossover between F1 and college football this weekend, like with SportsCenter segments live from COTA and The Elle Duncan Show also being on-site. Legendary football coach Nick Saban did a hot lap on Friday, and Jess Sims tested several drivers’ knowledge of American college football, including Lando Norris.

It’s a weekend unlike one F1 has seen, particularly since the popularity boom.

“It’s really exciting to see those two cultures blend because they’re both just formidable. Iconic American college football and Formula One racing,” said Drew Martin, Texas’ Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs. “Those are really, really unique and distinctive sports cultures, and to watch them come together on a weekend like that, there’s nowhere else in the world that that happens.”

College football gamedays, particularly within the SEC, are a different beast.

Sure, you have your typical tailgates and ritual cheers. But Texas levels it up, the university reinventing what gameday looks like in Austin. Martin said, “When you come to a football game at the University of Texas, you’re going to get the best of Austin culture, which starts with the live music capital (of the) world.”

The Longhorns have a pregame concert at Longhorn City Limits, and it leans into the city’s street festival culture, like Bevo Boulevard. And then there’s Smokey’s Midway, a nod to the state fair.

“It’s the absolute best football game day environment in the country, although it’s non-traditional,” Martin added. “It’s not your massive acreage and acreage and acreage of tailgating lots. It’s a giant three-ring circus, really.”

And when College GameDay comes into town, it adds a bit to the chaos. Texas received the notification over a week ahead of time, but this is the fifth time in seven years that the university is hosting the production. It is a massive logistical feat regardless, Martin says, but considering the relationships they’ve built over the years, “it’s more of a known entity of what they need, what they expect, how to activate around the show, how to draw our fan base in because we won’t kick off that game until 7:30 p.m. Eastern time.”

It’ll be a marathon day — College GameDay for three hours in the morning, and then the festivities will begin.

“I know the Europeans are particularly fond of college football, in particular the halftime show. It’s surprising, but we have groups from Europe that come when there is a college football game because it adds to their weekend, and they, in particular, like the marching band halftime shows,” COTA chairman Bobby Epstein said. “And it’s something we may take for granted here, but the pomp and circumstance and all the fun around a college football atmosphere is something that’s so uniquely American that we know our out-of-country visitors like that and look for that on the weekend to just elevate the experience overall.”

Between the Texas-Georgia game and F1, Epstein expects “at least a quarter of a million people around that night in downtown Austin” by Saturday. Martin reckons over 100,000 people will be at the downtown Austin college campus that night.

F1’s qualifying runs from 5 to 6 p.m. CT, and the college football game will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT, making it a tight turnaround for those attending both sporting events. There’s no extra pressure when it comes to security or traffic management; COTA and Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium are around 17.5 miles apart (if you take toll roads). But Eminem’s concert is that evening as well.

Saturday’s slate is packed, but COTA created another ticket package option for football fans called the ‘Split the Uprights Package.’ Epstein said, “Saturday was selling out, largely because of Eminem,” but there was still availability for Friday and Sunday. It’s a Friday-Sunday general admission ticket combination at a lower cost—$289. According to COTA, this is cheaper than single tickets for each day.

“I think most of the hotels are three or four-night minimums,” Epstein said. “So if you’re a Georgia fan coming in for it, you say, ‘What else am I going to do the rest of the weekend?’ Well, you can buy Friday and Sunday. Come out to the track.”

Martin did say that conversations about the package began in the spring, but it “came to fruition fairly late in the process, as we begin to determine what availability look like, how we were able to activate this, and just knowing as folks lead up to the game, there was going to be a lot of demand.”

He added, “Texas football is sold out on a season basis, and so knowing that we weren’t going to have any individual ticket inventory for this game, the ability to come in later in the lead-up to the weekend, with an additional opportunity to enjoy both active activations, both sporting events, was really appealing.”

Pulling off a Saturday like this requires collaboration.

“The first reaction was just kind of that deep breath of a massive international F1 race and a massive, not just a small football game, but a massive national implications with this particular SEC matchup,” Martin said. “I think it was a giant deep breath of, ‘How are we going to approach this?’”

University of Texas Athletics and Circuit of the Americas began discussing how to work together. Some factors are outside their control, like restaurant availability and the surge in hotel prices. Martin said, “Some of those are inevitable when you put two massive marquee sporting events into the same weekend.” But the challenges extend beyond the downtown area. Because of the sheer number of flights coming into the metropolitan area, air traffic control is diverting some flight paths.

This is a significant weekend for Austin, with fans worldwide flocking to Texas for two of the biggest events on both sports’ calendars. F1 has a title fight brewing as it kicks off the first of the final six races of the year, and a new technical controversy is unfolding at COTA. Meanwhile, the Longhorns want to continue proving their worth during their first year in the SEC and hold onto their No. 1 status.

“You can either be intimidated by it, worried about things that could or could not go wrong, or you can embrace it and say, ‘The entire world is going to be watching Austin, Texas, on the weekend of October 19.’

“That’s exciting.”

Top photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images