I wonder, due to the Mayor slapping Tinker on the historical registry, if that precludes any non-baseball development for that stadium. Probably.
Supposedly.... What are the restrictions, rules, regulations for historic property owners? From the Federal perspective (the National Register of Historic Places is part of the National Park Service), a property owner can do whatever they want with their property as long as there are no Federal monies attached to the property. Is it city-owned? (I mean, we're going into the rabbit hole here; given the state of disrepair of the place, you simply wouldn't renovate it using any of the existing structure, near as I can tell. If they're not going to tear down the OB, you've got an awfully small footprint for a soccer stadium, though having the parking already there would be a plus.)
Yes. It's city-owned. Like I said months ago; Put up a plaque listing all the baseball greats who played Spring Training games there. Knock most of it down and build a 20K soccer stadium. Simple. If the city and county are serious about a Citrus Bowl renovation...make it a world class "sports complex". Two big NCAA bowl games, pro soccer, an X-treme Skate Park and a Monster Truck Museum. The only thing that could stop Orlando is a lack of imagination and the local Tea Party!
Thinking it would make more sense to tear it down and start over. It's still a tiny baseball stadium with the seats angled toward home plate. Nostalgia can only take you so far. The Twins moved out 20 years ago, Tinker's been dead since 1948, time marches on. No one needs that original grandstand and it would only get in the way.
Once last idea - the practice field east of the citrus bowl and the empty lot right next to it? It looks juuust big enough ...
Problem is, from recent politicians comments, no one is serious about it... It's an afterthought and only so as to keep bowl game money in town. See: "Private donations for Citrus Bowl is ludicrous idea" Article recently in Orlando sentinel
Thats the area that Ajax Orlando tried to build their stadium. Well basically they wanted the County (OCSP owns it I think, or did) to give it to them for free back then. If they can build a SSS in the practice fields area, then they should bulldoze either the CB or Tink and pave it for parking.
The fact that this discussion keeps coming back to Tinker field might be sayin something... That's a hard sale to a politician though...
Pretty much the only things that use Tinker Field are Lake Highland Prep baseball and Earth Day Birthday concerts. They also do VIP hospitality for the bowl games there. They set up a huge tent in the outfield.
Montreal impact's stadium is the plan. It's in the shadows of the larger Olympic stadium, started as a 13k seater and has been expanded to 20k for MLS, and is in the ghetto, I mean, heart of Montreal. Total cost? $40 mil. ? The stadium was inaugurated in 2008 and constructed at**a cost of $17 million. The sum of $7.5M was donated by the Saputo family, while $9.5M was financed on a 25-year term. The Quebec government has infused an additional $23 million**into the stadium for the**current expansion. So, all we need is a rich and generous backer, a bank with no financial sense, and a large shift in direction from our political leaders, and finally, the acquiescence of the Don. No problem.
Wait a second, those numbers are in Canadian Dollars; what's that in u.s dollars? A couple cases of grey moose and a pack of gum?
County Mayor Teresa Jacobs has told the Citrus Bowl to eat dirt. She wants $175 million to renovate the original campus of the Orange County Convention Center and keep it up to date. (It comes down to a $35m increase in its normal renovation budget over 5 years.) Full renovation of the west campus (the original OCCC) was delayed by the recessions and the arena. If passed, the Citrus Bowl would have to wait until 2018, risking loss of the bowl games. That's an insinuation that, if they are that desparate for a new venue, the bowl games should move to UCF. But what about Orlando City?
Business as usual in Orlando. Short-sighted politicians are nothing new here. Orlando City's future depends on a true SSS. We will need a little luck (donated land, a big company wanting to put their name on a stadium, and so on) to realize that dream.
Actually, Mayor Jacobs does have a point. In the grand scheme of things, the convention center is far more important than the Citrus Bowl. The ship has sailed on a long-term pointyball tenant. Even Orlando City is not a long-term solution for that piece of shit. But it should not be ignored for too long.
I agree, I think Jacobs is being straight here. I think this should be a wake up call (if they didn't know already) that OCSC is much better served working with the gov't and investors to build their own SSS and not rely on a potential renovated CB.
I ask this with admitted ignorance and am willing to sound dumb for a moment: What are the odds that the City of Orlando and/or Orange County arrive at a scenario in the next year or three that outright selling the Citrus Bowl is their only worthwhile option? I assume that scenario would have to have conditions such as: a. city/county make OCCC sole priority: they choose to upgrade and keep fresh OCCC and decide the CB can be cut loose; b. CB then loses its main pieces of business: various other interested parties such as the NCAA are alerted to city/county's OCCC priority decision, and conclude there is no reason to remain in Orlando for any bowl games; c. city/county decide not to sit on the CB and let it rot (more) for 5 or 10 or more years, so they decide to try to cut their losses. Obviously selling the CB to any private entity (OCSC, for example) won't recoup the losses of a several bowl games and whatnot else. Also, I'm not even sure a city can sell a public stadium as simply as I imply above. Obviously anyone can sell anything they want, and if the city/county wanted to dump the CB they could, but I think someone like Prime could probably speak to this more wisely than I can, from a standpoint of public property, etc.