The president of Precourt Sports Ventures told a Texas Senate committee Tuesday night that if a bill targeting the group's Major League Soccer stadium deal passes, it would threaten the future of the city's first pro sports franchise, Austin FC.

Dave Greeley, president of PSV, made the statement during a hearing of the Senate's Property Tax Committee, which is chaired by Senate Bill 1771's author, Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston. The bill would allow other tax entities to opt in to collecting property tax on a stadium being built on city-owned land in North Austin.

"This bill would jeopardize the viability of Austin FC," Greeley said. "We are 100% privately financing (the stadium's construction). Our funding mechanism and debt obligation would be in peril, on top of millions in economic impact and thousands of jobs."

While taxing jurisdictions like the city of Austin often own land that is tax exempt, the Austin City Council entered into a "murky agreement" that "exposed a flaw" in the property tax system when the council inked a contract to lease the McKalla Place tract to Precourt for the construction of Austin FC's home stadium, said James Quintero of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Under the deal, PSV will finance and build the stadium. The city will remain the owner of the McKalla Place tract and also will own the stadium, which it will lease back to Precourt Sports Ventures for a total of $8.25 million over a 20-year term. Meanwhile, no taxing entity will be able to collect any property taxes on the proposed 20,000-seat, $225 million venue.

The deal has drawn criticism for the City Council unilaterally deciding to make the stadium exempt not only to property taxes from the city but also those imposed by the Austin school district, Travis County and other entities. Travis County Commissioners have asked the county attorney to challenge the deal.

Bettencourt said his bill is about correcting what he called "an anomaly" in property tax law, though he admitted it has put the MLS stadium deal "on the griddle." The bill was left pending.

"I don’t want taxing units setting tax rates for other units," he said. "I don’t want taxing units setting abatements for other taxing units."

PSV is set to break ground on the stadium in September with completion expected in spring 2021. The company already has spent $10 million as the project ramps up, Greeley said.

The construction company building the stadium, Austin Commercial, also would be negatively impacted by SB 1771, according to Jack Archer, vice president of the company's Central Texas division.

But most people who testified Tuesday were in favor of Bettencourt's bill. They included former Travis County Judge Bill Aleshire, who has said he is planning to challenge the stadium deal in court. Also offering support for the bill were Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty, former Travis County Auditor Susan Spataro and Precinct 3 Constable Stacy Suits.

"With the pressure on property taxes, it is very important that the elected members of these jurisdictions have a voice and aren’t superseded" by other taxing entities, Aleshire said.

The head of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, Mike Rollins, spoke against the bill.

"There is an agreement in place with a local government unit, and this has been made in good faith with a business," Rollins said. "This would be like changing the rules in the middle of the game."

But when Bettencourt pressed him, Rollins said he could possibly support similar legislation as long as it was not applied to deals already in place.