Cassandra Lafser, spokeswoman with the city of Orlando, gave me a quick update that the city will vote on the project construction agreement with Orlando City Soccer on March 31. Groundbreaking is still hoped to happen in May 2014, though speking to FOX Phil Rawlins of Orlando City emphasized the word “hope”. Once started the construction process should take no more than 15 months, meaning opening during the 2015 MLS season.
Barely during the 2015 season. 15 months would mean August at the earliest. Probably more likely September.
Sentinel article quotes the city as saying completion date is February 2016. http://touch.orlandosentinel.com/#section/1229/article/p2p-79775457/
Pretty damn cool if you ask me. SKC's stadium is nice. They will play at Citrus Bowl for 2015, at least. Good Luck!
I certainly hope for 19k. Any stadium built to hold less than the league average, is a team saying they are striving for average. 1) don't point at KC, they designed their stadium prior to the league average being that high, and they can exceed capacity. 2) if you point to SJ, ... well, my point exactly.
This article says completion Summer of 2015. "Orlando City officials expect to open in the summer of 2015"
Doesn't SJ have an open end to their stadium? If they ever needed to expand I thought this was how they would/could do it. I thought Orlando was designing it in a similar fashion. I have no problem with these designs in these markets. Packed, passionate stadia, which I expect in Orlando, is more important initially IMO. Perception and image wise this enhances the product and increases demand. Not just in the home city, but for the league in general. If we have a great situation where the stadium os sold out for several years then add another 4,000 seats or so, amd it shouldn't be has hard to get approval or city help.....IMO.
Right, the team and fans want it ASAP or summer 2015. City is saying let's be practical and give ourselves breathing room and conservatively say Feb 2016. My guess is its somewhere in between.
I don't think some of y'all appreciate what goes into building a stadium. Every seat you add needs to be serviced on many levels. You've got to maintain the physical seat. You've got pay for construction of and then maintain/insure the additional square footage. You've got to balance how often that seat will be filled with how many bathrooms and concession stands you build; that's before we get to the certain standards that need to be met for accessibility and fire codes as capacity expands. It makes a lot more business sense to have 18,000 high demand seats than it does to have, say, 22,000 with less demand and all the additional costs that are associated with having those additional 4,000 seats.
I think you missed my point. I Agree with you that it makes more business sense to start small and build. The whole point i'm arguing is that as an expansion team this should be your final sentence. It makes a lot more business sense to have 22,000 high demand seats than it does to have, say, 26,000 with less demand and all the additional costs that are associated with having those additional 4,000 seats. If the league average is already at almost 19k with Chivas and NE dragging the league average down, then you have already set your sights too low for an expansion team. I agree that a small stadium full is better than a big stadium at 80% capacity. I'm arguing no team should be allowed in the league that can't fill a 20k stadium at 100% capacity. We want this league to grow.
I think your standards for attendance are too high. The only league in the world that has ever had every team in it average 20,000 (AFAIK) is the Bundesliga (the EPL may join them this year).
I admit the late 90's early 2000's live webcam of an unsuspecting construction site still does it for me, but I still get off on good ol' stadium porn more than anything. Give me a rendering, a few shots of her growing up and a final product and that will do it for me any day.
Populous, Barton Malow and ICON Venue Group Announced as Core Members for New Downtown Stadium Project http://www.orlandocitysoccer.com/news/?article_id=1808
Do we have a more definitive date than, "The stadium is expected to break ground in 2014"? Also has the stadium actually been designed yet? I don't recall seeing any renderings.
I love Orlando as an expansion team. I love it that Florida is returning to the MLS. Though the Rowdies would have been better. Still, they are doing it the right way. SSS. Grass. Nice unique uniforms/color scheme. ATL is an NFL stepchild on turf. NYFC will be Man City's minor league team and will be playing on dirt for the time being. And Miami doesn't have a place to play, and I can't stand Beckham.