Not that you are biased or anything, I think Ocoee could work, but south Winter Garden and Clermont are really too far. I would imagine though, even if West Oaks is dying, it still would be very expensive to place. Although they wouldn't have to worry about parking. Ocoee reminds me a lot of Sandy, Utah, where RSL built their stadium. I wonder if Orlando City used their Yordany Alvarez connection and spoke to RSL, if they could get the mayor of Sandy to call the mayor of Ocoee. Crazy idea? Ideally, downtown next to Amway Arena is best, but I don't think that's going to happen. Are their any downtown options? Well besides the Citrus Bowl.
Uh, oh - this is starting to sound like a DC United Stadium thread and many of you know how long that saga has been going on!!!
lol get used to it. Unless a soccer stadium is built downtown Orlando, what would be the point? And a downtown area stadium is going to be pricey, indeed.
Lots of stadiums in MLS are not in downtown, they aren't all in Frisco TX or Commerce City CO. True its better to be downtown, but it isn't the death of a club to not be there. LA, Philadelphia, Real Salt Lake and Sporting KC examples of clubs with great attendance and their stadiums are 15-20 miles from their respective downtowns. It is possible.
Homedepot center is more like an hour from downtown Los Angeles.... although that's a normal commute time overe there...
With all due respect, Orlando is no L.A., Kansas City or Philly. Only Salt Lake City compares to Orlando demographically, the others you listed are far and away larger cities than Orlando and for whom a downtown stadium would have been much more difficult than for you guys. I'll give you a 10 mile radius from downtown, that's probably realistic. Further out than that and it'd be a real wtf decision.
Orange mayor Teresa Jacobs calls for private money in Citrus Bowl renovations http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...cobs-administration-teresa-jacobs-citrus-bowl
I only see this is as good news as it makes it even more of a necessity for OCSC to secure a SSS deal. One year at OCSC would work, but I'm not really of the idea of them staying there, even if there are a lot of renovations.
There's quite a bit of land in the Lockhart area...No not that lockhart John Young and Princeton, now that's an area that could be cleaned up. Not to mention, all of the "homes" there can be moved EDIT: Oh yeah and it's also close to downtown, very close
For those interested, Orange County has a property web map that lets you discover a wealth of info on properties. http://paarcgis.ocpafl.org/Webmap3/default.aspx Here is a screenshot of the area in question:
I see there was disagreement on funding the citrus bowl upgrades between the mayor of orlando and the county... Even with renovations, it's not a long term home, but with no fixes, how long will it be safe to even have people in there? Especially when it rains??? Forgetting MLS for a sec, does it make sense or is there a high school or other stadium that can hold 10k in the area?
Problem with most HS football stadiums in the area is that their dimensions suck, the astro turf maybe old or their grass has a really bad pitch/drainage. Its a lose-lose-lose situation. Some HS are better than others. West Orange has a new turf field/stadium. Not sure who else as renovated recently. I think Winter Springs did. But none are ideal or located in a ideal place. Let alone the District's pricing will really hamper parking sales and no way there is any beer sales.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but DSG Park is the closest to downtown of the suburban parks - including all of the ones in your latter list.
Had to think for moment, been a few weeks since I posted that. Maybe it is. I know RSL's stadium is twice the distance from downtown SLC than DSP is from Denver. Yet RSL regularly out-attends Rapids. Just proves the point that a MLS team can survive (even thrive) in the Burbs. Just isn't ideal and doesn't work everywhere. Anyway, back to Orlando's stadium situation.
Actually, DSG and RTS are roughly equidistant from their respective downtowns, just short of 10 road miles. Livestrong is 12 road miles. PHP is 20+ road miles. As for us, as long as the bowls remain, they'll at least maintain the seats. The Citrus Bowl isn't unsafe, it's just older than dirt. They do maintain what's there, and being in a concrete bowl when it rains is better than being in a metal one. Every high school stadium in Orange County is the same. Tracks and limited-width fields. West Orange has had turf for at least five years, but that was provided by a booster. All others are grass, which is a county default standard. West Orange can squeeze 120x68 yards. Most typically draw it to 116x62 yards. Stands? Usually 4,000 or less. Newer ones usually less, and they don't even have press boxes because OCPS is too cheap to provide elevators to bring them up to code.
Although I completely agree on the HS stadiums, I'm going to have to disagree with on DSG and RTS distances. RTS in Sandy UT is further than DSG is from the downtowns. I've been to both and like you I'm a Google Maps wiz. Also PPL may actually be less than 20 miles, but traffic there is killer.
I measured to the wrong landmark for RTS. It's 13 miles, though it's also literally one turn off the freeway. PPL is 19 road miles. Forgot to measure that one.
And to restate, I don't think there is an alternative for City in Orlando metro. Besides maybe WWS or Tinker or UCF, all kind of non-options. I assume City has some kind of controlling interest in Seminole Soccer Complex but that's a terrible location and capacity.