The bowl games wouldn't die immediately. Either they would move to BHNS, as Jacobs insinuated they should, or they will eventually decay to irrelevance as the SEC and Big Ten pull their tie-ins.
The Citrus Bowl property is owned by the City of Orlando and administered by the City and region sports authority (Florida Citrus Sports I believe). They do have the power to sell it if they like. Although I don't know the full extent of what such a move would entail. Seems like its been there for almost 100 years, might be harder than just hiring a realtor to sell it for them. Still great location if they can ever make it happen.
Fashion square mall is for sale (sorry too lazy to find a link) . How'd that be for a great location?
Wow. I'm shocked. The area wouldn't be bad, and a nightlife could be built around it, like at the former Colonial Plaza Mall (now an outdoor shopping center). It's not overly complicated to get to, but I'd try to avoid weekday games as much as possible.
Knock it down. Build an SSS. There's also an abandoned Toys'R' Us, movie theater and Mongolian B-B-Q just to the east. The area needs a good revitalization project. That's how I'd sell it. And while we're on that side of town...what's up with Herndon Airport? Do we really need that parking lot for rich guy jets? It's that very piece of land that causes all of our downtown buildings to look squatty (nothing over 35 stories or so). I grew up on the eastside and I, for one, think it's long over due for a make-over.
I absolutely agree that the Orlando Municpal Airport is prime real estate, but you said it, as long as charters and private leer jets go there, too much money to get rid of it. Fashion Sq Mall > West Oaks Mall, if there was ever a debate. Plus FSqM is in Orlando jurisdiction (not county or Ocoee like WOM). Maybe Dyer can take ownership of the situation instead of Jacobs dictating to him. And its a much closer downtown option. Would be closer to the SE and the large hispanic population also be a plus? I think so.
Thanks! Hey, looks like 2 soccer fans commented on the article asking for a soccer stadium. Looks like selling price is too high- over 100 million... Steep. There's a reason most stadiums are built in "less than desirable " locations...
I went to navy nuclear power school in the 90's which was a block away from where the mall parking began. I'm not sure it would be a great place for a stadium. As good or better than the other downtown locations, but it is still beyond reasonable walking distance from downtown. The area just seems more conducive to a more modern shopping experience and/or fancypants housing. Is that Mexican cantina still open on the other side of Colonial Drive?
Actually I think the area Chowda is describing is the fancypants area called Baldwin Park. No room for a stadium there now.
So is it looking more and more unlikely that "we see City in the MLS" by 2014/2015? Doesn't seem much progress is being made.
From when you first put shovels in the ground, maybe. It's getting to that point that takes a while sometimes. They couldn't break ground on a new stadium in Orlando tomorrow. It took just under two years for construction of what is now Sahlen's Stadium, but it only took six months to build Kennesaw State University's soccer stadium used by WPS' Atlanta Beat. Depends on what you do and how you do it, I guess. Sometimes it takes longer than 18 months, sometimes less than that.
Once approved, Bright House Networks Stadium only took a year to build. Once something is decided on, it all depends on whatever design is agreed upon.
It's the agreeing upon that is sometimes the challenge. Just ask DC. Since we're talking about MLS stadiums, Houston's took 15 months from groundbreaking. Kansas City's just under 18 months. Philly's just under 19 months. New York's took 3 1/2 years, but Orlando's weather would cooperate more than New York's. Denver's took a year and a half, but Salt Lake's took over 2 years. Year and a half seems about right. It's just always the process of getting to the shovels that's the challenge.
For sake of everyone's sanity, lets not include DC United's stadium quest as a norm or any benchmark to achieve. They are ground zero for the worse stadium situation in MLS. And I am including New England in that. At least their NFL stadium is nice and not falling apart.
Commentary piece in Sentinel today about Citrus Bowl deal in the works: "Citrus Bowl deal will make Orlando top-tier sports destination" (http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...hamps-sports-bowls-citrus-bowl-tentative-deal) No mention in the piece about OC or where the club fit into any Citrus Bowl deals or plans. I didn't think the odds were high there'd be much of a mention of OC, but it's also not unreasonable that given the news-burpiness of the local soccer team striving for MLS the sportswriters at the paper may have worked that angle into their story, too (ie: "...plus there's a soccer team that wants to go to MLS who might use the stadium, too...").
I had time to kill, so I decided to get a full count of seats in the 100s bowl of the Citrus Bowl. Here's what I found. Image from GoTickets, obviously not to scale. The corner sections are educated guesses in a couple cases, but I did my best to count everything. There are 37 sections in the 100s bowl. There is no 117, there is no 123. The x40s are temp seating only used for bowl games; they are normally not even erected. 101-105 and 135-139 are not sold for Orlando City games. 101 and 139 each seat 124. 102, 103, 137 and 138 each seat 235. 104 and 136 each seat 197. 105 and 135 each seat 112. Now for the Orlando City seating sections. The sideline sections--107-111 and 129-133--each seat 863 people. The fringe sideline sections--106, 112, 128 and 134--each seat 493 people. The main south end--119 through 121--each seat 580 people. The non-oblique end corners--115, 116, 124 and 125--each seat 299 people. The outside oblique corners--114 and 126--each seat 199 people. The inside oblique corners--117 and 122--each seat 395 people. 113 seats 99, and 127 seats 140. Then, there is the disabled seating adjustment. Sections, 110-119 all have space claimed from the first three rows for disabled seating. The number of seats taken up, less the disabled spaces created in that space, is 315. The total capacity of the 100s section of the Citrus Bowl is around 16,771. The total capacity available normally to Orlando City is around 14,965.
Rawlins pushes timeframe back but believes a stadium deal will be secured in next 18 months. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jun/20/mls-orlando-city-franchise-phil-rawlins Posturing, or legit?
I think he's hedging his bets. But what I'd like to know is what kind of idea he's working on. To be fair, this is the first I've heard of a timeline for a stadium situation.
Good news: the Citrus Bowl remodeling is on, scheduled to begin in 2014. Bad news: That means we're out of the Citrus Bowl in 2014.
So the need for a new home, preferably a SSS, has just grown? Maybe Rawlins wasn't lying when he said 18 months to get a stadium deal.