RBI Austin broke ground on its new permanent East Austin home, a 33-acre youth development campus. (Rendering courtesy RBI Austin)
The youth sports and mentorship nonprofit RBI Austin has started construction on its new long-term home, a 33-acre athletics and education campus in East Austin expected to open late next year.
“We’re not just breaking ground on new baseball and softball fields, we’re helping create a permanent home for the RBI family—a place where we can keep growing as players and as people, and where future generations of RBI kids can have the same opportunities we’ve had," 16-year-old participant Celso Becerra-Briseno said during an Oct. 23 groundbreaking event.
RBI Austin officials and participants were joined by other community leaders to break ground on the nonprofit's 33-acre East Austin sports and youth development campus Oct. 23.Ben Thompson/Community Impact
The setup
RBI Austin was created in 2009 after co-founders Matt Price and Andy Harris saw a need for more area youth opportunities while serving as baseball coaches at Reagan High School. It launched with just 15 participants, grew to more than 100 by 2011 and now serves more than 1,700 children from Austin and surrounding communities.
RBI Austin is an affiliate of Major League Baseball's Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities, or RBI, program. The MLB initiative supports youth development in hundreds of underserved communities around the world including Central Texas.
David James, MLB vice president of baseball and softball development, said the league aims to make athletics available to all children regardless of cost through programs like RBI. He also said the MLB commissioner's office plans to continue supporting the Austin nonprofit and noted the impact of RBI on its participants nationwide.
"We have a long tail now of young men and women who have played in the RBI program that are playing professionally, but probably more importantly we’re finding out that they’re becoming coaches and they’re working with clubs and things like that," James said.
RBI Austin is seeing those results. All 23 of its 2025 and 2026 classes are now attending college, with 21 involved in collegiate athletics.
The project
Since its launch, RBI Austin has operated from leased spaces without a permanent home for its sports and mentorship programming. Once completed in late 2027, its new Youth Development Complex at 7401 Loyola Lane will serve as a year-round hub for children, their families, volunteers and other partners. It'll include:
A roughly 115,000-square-foot outdoor ball field for baseball, softball and other activities with dugouts and seating areas
A more than 30,000-square-foot covered turf training field with batting cages and other sports facilities
A headquarters building with classrooms for mentoring, academic support and job training; a weight room; and offices
“These spaces have been intentionally designed to help kids grow academically, athletically and spiritually," RBI Austin Executive Director Matt Price said. "Our mission has never been about baseball or softball or any other activity. Our mission has always been to help kids live out their god-given purpose in life. And providing the spaces, resources and relationships for kids to grow in health, education and faith, this youth development complex will accomplish just that.”
Aside from sports, Price said the complex will also allow RBI Austin to host families and community members for events like movie nights and graduation celebrations. It's also expected to see the nonprofit rapidly add new participants; within three years of its opening, RBI Austin hopes to roughly double the number of youth it serves annually from about 1,700 today to 3,400.
A covered turf field with athletic facilities is one piece of RBI Austin's 33-acre new east side campus.Rendering courtesy RBI Austin
RBI Austin has raised $7.2 million of the estimated $15.1 million needed for the new complex over the past several years, and the nonprofit credited the Round Rock-based Nolan Ryan Foundation—including the Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher and his family—for making its work and the project possible.
RBI Austin's Youth Development Complex is being developed by a project team including The Burt Group, Garza EMC, VLK Architects, Drenner Group, Dunaway, DBR and CPM Texas. The final phase of a capital campaign to raise the remaining $7.9 million needed to complete the campus is now underway, and more information is available online.
What they're saying
Reid Ryan, CEO of the Ryan Sanders Baseball sports and entertainment group that founded the Round Rock Express, said those organizations are proud supporters of RBI Austin and have obligations as community partners to support key local projects like the new youth complex.
"Besides a place for kids and families to come play baseball and softball, it’s going to be everything from ACT/SAT prep to having mentors helping with homework to having weekend groups," Ryan said in an interview. "It ends up being a whole child community experience. … It’s going to be baseball with a community center. And I think you’re going to see it being really the heartbeat of this community on the east side for kids that are interested in baseball and that want to continue to have mentorship."
The Nolan Ryan Foundation, Round Rock Express and members of the Ryan family—including Ryan Sanders Baseball CEO Reid Ryan, pictured—are longtime supporters of RBI Austin.Ben Thompson/Community Impact
Community leader Barbara Scott, president emeritus of the Colony Park Neighborhood Association, said RBI Austin has long been viewed as a good fit for the Colony Park community where it can work more directly with the youth it serves.
“We are grateful that RBI has chosen to establish its home here, and we look forward to the positive differences its continued presence will make in the lives of our children, our families and our community as a whole," she said.
Laila Neal, a 15-year-old participant, said it's allowed her to build relationships with her teammates, coaches and mentors through her several years playing for RBI Austin.
“At RBI, you know you’re surrounded by people who care about you and want the best for you. Everyone deserves to have a place where they feel welcome, supported and make them feel like they belong. And that’s what RBI has been for us," she said.
RBI Austin Academy participants Celso Becerra-Briseno and Laila Neal spoke about the impact of the program and their athletic opportunities during a groundbreaking for the nonprofit's new campus.Ben Thompson/Community Impact
Travis County commissioner Jeff Travillion committed local government assistance to the project as needed, and said the new complex will help ensure area youth have a safe place to learn and build camaraderie.
“What we do today resonates far beyond the field. It resonates to the place where we understand that community is necessary. And we only get the community that we deserve when we build it together.
