F1, Georgia-Texas make Austin the sports capital of the world

If live sports are your thing, there’s no better place to be this weekend than Austin.

Formula 1 is back in the Texas capital for it’s annual U.S. Grand Prix, with practice beginning Friday and the race getting underway on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, stream live on ABC/ESPN+). On Saturday, Texas hosts Georgia at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in one of the biggest college football games of the season (7:30 p.m. ET, stream live on ABC/ESPN+).

Austin’s Circuit of the Americas is circled on the calendars of F1 drivers from the moment each season’s schedule is confirmed, and the Longhorns are 6-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country. As a result, there is a definitive buzz on Sixth Street ahead of this weekend’s festivities.

ESPN’s Dave Wilson and Nate Saunders dive into why Bat City is so fired up for the showpiece events of Saturday and Sunday.

An emerging sporting powerhouse

Austin is proud of its roots as the “Live Music Capital of the World,” a $1.8 billion industry in a town that draws massive crowds for events such as SXSW and the Austin City Limits Music Festival, but it’s becoming a sports powerhouse as the city continues to grow.

The first year Austin hosted the F1 race at COTA, attendance was estimated to be about 117,000. Last year’s race attracted more than 432,000 fans. COTA says in its first decade, it accounted for $7 billion in economic impact to Austin and Texas, providing Texans more than 64,000 jobs every year, with the Austin Business Journal equating it to hosting a Super Bowl annually.

But the combination of the race with a massive SEC football game is a new twist.

Texas traditionally has played its biggest game of the season out of town, against…