How Austin FC keeps 20,000 fans connected with Southern hospitality—now powered by Agentic AI

Every match day at Q2 Stadium, something extraordinary happens. Twenty thousand voices rise as one. Verde lights flash after each goal. Smoke billows during pre-match. In the supporter section, fans stand for the entire 90 minutes—drums pounding, songs echoing through North Austin.

But behind that energy is a different kind of responsibility.

Just weeks after launching Dialpad Agentic AI, that shift is already showing up in real ways.

At a recent match, Lauryn Williams noticed a young woman sitting against a wall, visibly unwell in the heat.

She stepped in immediately — staying with her, talking with her to keep her alert, and helping get her to an air-conditioned space where she could recover.

Within minutes, the fan was back on her feet and able to enjoy the match.

Moments like that aren’t part of a script. They’re the result of having the time and presence to show up when it matters.

“Without Dialpad’s Agentic AI, I might have been tied up taking calls instead of being there in that moment,” Lauryn says.

The match day reality: high emotion, high volume, limited hands

Match day brings energy—and pressure.

“On match day, emotions get high,” says Ryan. “We want to be able to answer questions as quickly as possible to provide that match day experience that we’re looking for.”

Lauryn sees the demand up close. Her role is to oversee guest services operations and make sure fans feel welcomed and supported. But for a long time, she was also carrying the full weight of guest services calls.

“Before the Dialpad AI agent, I was the sole person managing all the guest services calls,” Lauryn explains. “Any call was directed to my line.”

That’s a hard job to scale in a stadium environment—where you can be in meetings one minute, on the floor the next, and responding to operational curveballs all day.

“I always want to dedicate time to every fan,” she says. “But trying to balance both can be very difficult.”

The result: fans needing answers would sometimes hit a wall—availability.

“Guest services is always a fallback line,” Lauryn says. “But with me being the only person managing that line, it can be difficult to be available for them.”

When big moments hit, voicemail isn’t hospitality

Like many organizations, Austin FC had support coverage—but not support capacity.

When fans reached out, Ryan says, the experience was often a familiar one: “They typically had to leave a message voicemail… there were longer wait times.”

Those delays show up most in the moments fans care about most: big games, major events, first-timer-heavy crowds.

Lauryn can quantify it. “For All-Star, we got over 150 calls the day of,” she says. “For major events we can get over 100 calls.”

And those calls are often the same urgent, time-sensitive questions: where to park, when gates open, how to get tickets, what policies apply—questions that don’t feel “small” when you’re trying to make it into the stadium on time.

Ryan sums up the core issue: “It was hard to scale with just humans.”

Why Dialpad: visibility, analytics—and a platform built to scale

Austin FC’s Dialpad story started with visibility.

“Prior to Dialpad, we used a traditional phone system that didn’t have analytics behind it,” Ryan explains. “We were really blind… what our wait times were, whether we were staffed correctly.”

Dialpad gave the team the operational insight they were missing.

“Our main things that we’re tracking are wait times and call volume,” Ryan says. “Again, to make sure that we’re staffed properly and to make sure that we’re answering questions and getting to folks as quickly as possible.”

That analytics foundation eventually paved the way for the next step: scaling fan support with Agentic AI.

The shift to Agentic AI: 24/7 answers, with guardrails and a clear handoff to humans

Austin FC didn’t deploy AI just to deploy AI. They deployed it to protect the fan experience—especially at peak volume.

Lauryn explains what the AI agent handles today: “Routine event questions. Match days, upcoming events, private event information, ticketing questions—anything that a fan would seek information-wise about our club.”

And importantly, she’s comfortable letting the AI agent fully own those repetitive, high-volume topics.

“I’m fully comfortable with the AI agent taking over general routine event questions,” she says. “Where to purchase tickets, parking details… premium experiences… activation questions—general fan needs.”

For Lauryn, the impact is immediate and practical: the AI agent reduces call pressure and makes support feel “always available.”

“Having the AI agent available allows for that 24/7 support,” she explains. “No matter if a fan has a question at 8:00 PM or 6:00 in the morning, there’s always that AI agent available.”

But what really makes this work for Austin FC is the handoff design.

If a fan wants a human, they can ask. And if the AI agent doesn’t know, it doesn’t guess.

Ryan emphasizes why that matters: “We have a knowledge base on Q2Stadium.com that we wanted the agent to stick to… not go out to the regular internet.”

“If the agent doesn’t know,” he adds, “we don’t want it to answer. We don’t want to give wrong information. At that point it transfers to the appropriate person.”

Lauryn sees that same system in action: “If there’s a question beyond its capability or knowledge, it will redirect that call straight to me… to ensure we’re providing accurate information instead of leading the guest in the wrong direction.”

That’s the Austin FC requirement in one sentence: speed without sacrificing trust.

“Weeks, not months”: deployment that fit the season calendar

In sports operations, timelines matter. You don’t get to “pause” match day.

Ryan was surprised by how quickly Austin FC could go live.

“What surprised me most was the speed and the ease,” he says. “We were able to deploy in weeks, not months.”

He credits the Dialpad team with guiding the rollout: “They stepped us through the process… we were able to deploy the agent we wanted… providing the guardrails that were important to us.”

And Austin FC was specific about the brand experience they wanted fans to hear: “We wanted it to be friendly,” Ryan says, “but knowledgeable.”

Lauryn noticed that right away. “The warm and clear tone surprised me,” she says. “It aligns with our hospitality standards.”

Early results: 68% deflection and fewer interruptions for the people on the ground

As soon as the agent went live, Ryan started tracking what mattered: whether fans were getting answers quickly, and whether staff workload was easing during peak demand.

“Our deflection rate is 68%,” he says. “Which far exceeded my expectations.”

Why does that matter? Because it changes the fan experience and the staff experience at the same time.

“We want to respond to our fans as quickly as possible so they can focus on the match,” Ryan explains.

Lauryn feels the difference in her day-to-day. In a stadium environment, support work competes with everything else: event readiness, staff coordination, and in-the-moment fan interactions.

Now, instead of spending her day answering the same questions repeatedly, she’s handling the escalations that truly require a human—more nuanced, more personal, and often not publicly available.

“Now it’s more human, personable calls that I get,” she says. “More detailed information… private event pricing… information that you can’t easily find online.”

And the best summary of what that means operationally?

“It feels like there’s a thousand more helpers on hand,” Lauryn says. “Anywhere I can’t be, the AI agent can be available to support.”

Scaling support without losing the soul of the club

Austin FC’s service standards aren’t just about answering questions. They’re about creating a feeling: welcomed, supported, taken care of.

That’s why fan trust is non-negotiable.

“Fan trust is everything,” Lauryn says. “It sets the foundation for everything we do operations-wise.”

Ryan agrees: “Fan trust is the most important thing… by putting in agentic AI, we know that the answers they’re going to provide are the correct ones.”

For Austin FC, that’s what “Southern hospitality at scale” looks like in 2026: fast answers, clear handoffs, accurate info, and staff who can stay focused on the in-person experience that makes match day special.

What’s next: expanding Agentic AI into new fan journeys

Austin FC sees this as the beginning—not the finish line.

Ryan lays out the roadmap clearly:

• 30 days: minor tweaks, knowledge updates, guardrail refinement

• 60 days: efficiency gains, staff freed up for more complex work

• 90 days: expansion into other areas of the business

One of the biggest opportunities: ticketing.

“We want to expand to our ticketing department,” Ryan says. “We want to be able to provide ticket sales information to fans at a time that works for them.”

The bottom line

In the right hands, the right platform doesn’t replace the human touch—it protects it.

With Dialpad and Agentic AI, Austin FC is meeting fans where they are: on the phone, at any hour, with clear answers—and a seamless path to a human when it matters most.

Because in Austin, match day isn’t just an event.

It’s a community.

And every fan deserves to feel taken care of—from the first question to the final whistle.