Just noticed this part. That's SOUTH of Fashion Square, not east. You're confusing FS with Colonial Plaza. And St. Pete can tell you how hard it is to tear down and re-purpose an old airport. They wanted their municipal airport shut for a new stadium for the Rays, before they settled for the Al Lang site, which failed. Airport partisans didn't want the former, condo partisans didn't want the latter. If somebody had the money or the balls to do it, tearing down Herndon Airport would kill the skyscraper restriction downtown. The SunTrust Center is the tallest thing that can be built there because of it. And a replacement GA/business terminal can be built at OIA at the old UPS terminal (which, ironically, was OIA's original terminal in the McCoy Jetport days).
Are the owners of DC United going to write MLS a FAT check for upwards of $100 Million? Didn't think so. You know who will? The owners of NYC2. With a world class show piece stadium in Queens, there will be a bidding war to see who gets the right to own and operate NYC2 and it's stadium. So while it isn't necessarily fair to DC United Fans, it's just reality. Will Chang, DC's current majority owner does not have the funds to build a stadium currently. He's seeking investors to help him. DC will get a SSS eventually. Whether or not it will be in or in close proximity to DC is another matter all together. One thing Orlando fans must keep in mind as well (same goes to San Antonio fans) is that in the lower divisions, tickets are way less expensive. Montreal is having difficulties drawing good crowds in Stade Saputo since joining MLS, compared to recent expansion teams. One of the main reasons is that the tickets are no longer dirt cheap, like they were in the A-League and NASL days. When/If Orlando eventually gets to MLS, fans have to realize that their costs are going to rise rather significantly. Especially if the owners have to fund a SSS, and also depending on the rent the operators of the Cirtus Bowl would charge them (if a SSS cannot be built).
I myself am well aware that prices will rise when we get to MLS. The prices charged by the Union are equal to the prices we charge for equivalent sections at our international friendlies. And your prices are actually among the highest I've found in MLS. Only the Canadian teams and Portland are significantly higher. Though I can see why the Impact might be having issues selling in general: their seating chart makes no sense, and sideline seats are far more expensive than anybody else.
This isn't true. Their season tickets for their top seats maybe more expensive than elsewhere but their seats that are comparable to mine at RFK are cheaper & their lowest price season tickets are a good deal lower than RFK's lowest ticket price.
LA, Houston, Seattle, Chicago and NYRB are higher then us. The Union's Season Tix prices are actually middle of the road for MLS. Our ticket prices are the same for all Union Matches at PPL, and in some instances are lower (Open Cup matches, the Schalke Friendly this season). I'd also say that it's a safe bet that DC's Ticket prices will be up there amongst the higher ones once they build their SSS. What shocks me is how clubs such as Columbus, Chivas, & Colorado have such a difficult time with attendance when they have the lowest ticket prices in the league. Montreal is shocking as well. They have a decent team when everyone is healthy, and DiVaio is going to score a lot of goals in this league. I'm not trying to start a war of words, just adding some food for thought.
Have you had a chance to check out our latest article and images for an Orlando City stadium located adjacent to the Lynx Station downtown? In talking to Phil Rawlins, when I mentioned this site he got kind of quiet and said that he couldn't comment. Considering he flat out turned down several other sites I had mentioned, it caught me a bit off guard when he had no response. http://www.scoringthird.com/2012/06/orlando-city-stadium-site.html
Nice blog. You could watch games from the courthouse! If a stadium could be sandwiched in there, why not in the old stadium area? I drove by yesterday - lots of space / parking there. I can't imagine it all being taken by business offices ... Whoops, just remembered that the village plans are already semi-set in concrete and ... No stadium . Ok...
What's that all about "Moderator"? We have had a chance to talk to Phil dozens of times, great guy, good for the sport and the city.
Sharp-looking blog. Good content. I think they're dreaming re: a stadium inside the I-4/central city location, but I sure do love the idea. I've always thought that would be amazing, but probably insanely expensive.
There are several sites around downtown Orlando that are along that I-4/SR-408 "Crosshair" for OCSC to build a stadium. From talking to the front office, they have estimates in hand for an 18,500 seat stadium for $70-80M similar to BBVA in Houston. The plan is to try and get the city and/or county to chip in the land and the team would privately fund the stadium. It's not a lock by any means, it never is until the ink is on paper and the shovel is in the ground. According to the team, the goal is to announce a stadium plan in the next six months (off-season).
An 18,500-seat stadium as beautiful as BBVA? Inside that crosshair area? And all for $80 million??? That's hard to believe, and I admit I know just about zero about such things. I look at UCF's stadium that was done for about $45 million, but that included the advantages of building essentially on our own property and doing so with that sort-of prefab kind of construction. I don't knock it, it's may alma mater and I dig the place, but to this layman a BBVA-like park inside the confines of downtown Orlando proper is partly hard-to-believe and partly dream-come-true.
No malice intended. Far from it, I wish you all the success in the world. I am former Orlando resident and seeker of all things pro-Orlando soccer. I found it interesting how many times you mentioned Rawlins's would not comment on the N Orange Ave property and the fact that he warned that sometimes things are on the down low to keep negotiations progressing. Seems like maybe he wouldn't want you to write that. But hey, if that's fine and you still have a great journalistic relationship with the Orlando City brass, good for you. Great ideas, blogs and thoughts. Keep them coming.
If Buddy grows a wild hair and decides to surrender city-owned land to build one, it's very possible.
I was wondring why don't you have a question/answer session with Rawlins? I read the interview and I didn't see any direct quotes from Rawlins.
Great point, simple answer, he called me out of the blue to talk and I wasn't ready to record the interview. I did my best just to type out his answers as we talked, but since I didn't get everything word for word I didn't want to consider any of it as quotes. We could definitely do a Q&A session with Phil sometime as an interview, but my only concern would be asking him the same old questions again and again. We did an 11 Questions interview with him back in January which you can read here for some Q&A and quotes. http://www.scoringthird.com/2012/01/11-questions-phil-rawlins-president.html
That's a valid point, but part of our effort on the stadium issue is to keep our readers informed of potential locations so they can chime in with their thoughts. At the same time, but us throwing out locations to fans and getting responses the team gets some informal feedback on how potential stadium locations will be received. Thanks for the kind words on the blog, hopefully you can continue to follow us.
It might come as a shock, but BBVA was mostly a pre-fab stadium as well which is why they were able to build it in 16 months. The exterior is just a facade, no structural purpose, to give it that unique look. If you peeled the front off it would look like a brick and mortar stadium that you would find at any college. And here's the kicker, it still comes off as one of the best stadiums in the league. Orlando is looking to do something similar but smaller in size. That coupled with the poor construction market that continues to recover in Central Florida and you'd be surprised at what $70-80M will get you these days. I am an engineer by trade, I do the blog in my spare time, so this is one subject I feel fairly well informed about.
I can imagine that something passable for a permanent pro stadium can be done for the Bouncehouse range (~$50m not including real estate).
The pricing breakdown of the $95M for BBVA was $60M for construction, $20M for infrastructure, and $15M for the land. BBVA has just over 22k seats, 34 suites, 1100 club seats. My understanding is that OCSC's stadium would have 18,500 seats, 16 suites, and 800 club seats. Houston is a huge market vs Orlando, so the push more towards "general seating" at the OCSC stadium makes a lot of sense.
I just looked on the Orange County website and that parcel of land next to the Lynx Station that we discuss in our article is listed with a market price of just over $8M. Food for thought, half the price of Houston's land.
That's true, but a blank field doesn't require a substation to power stadium lights, increased water mains for fire protection and field sprinklers, or stormwater run-off plans which is why infrastructure will still be a cost in the several million dollar range. The way I see the stadium it will be a lower bowl of 10 rows, a level of suites on on side of the field, then an upper bowl of 20 rows, just like BBVA except the north or south end would be open and could expanded upon later.