Public funding for a SSS does not mean he can't own an MLS team. See just about every NFL, NBA and NHL team posturing for new stadiums.
Stop trying to rain on Orlando's parade. Face it, they have a million times a better chance to get an MLS side than Tampa does.
And it was true. No one said it's going to happen for sure without a shadow of a doubt, but at this point in time Orlando's chances of getting a team are 100000000000000 times higher than Tampa. Anyway, here's more on possible stadium solutions/MLS from Rawlins: http://www.cfnews13.com/video?clip=...o City owner Phil Rawlins talks MLS expansion
Rawlins net worth is around 60 million that's a far cry from the other "billionaire" owners who moved to MLS (Saputo,Paulson). So of course he's looking for public-funding and I don't think the city of Orlando will tax people so that he could build his SSS. and I was right I found this article: Unfortunately, the economic downturn has kept Orlando’s tourist money from reaching the Citrus Bowl, but the upgrade plan is still there. While Florida Citrus Sports and the local government has college football bowl games in mind, there is no reason that a refurbished Citrus Bowl couldn’t become the next Century Link Field (Seattle’s home to the NFL’s Seahawks and the MLS attendance leading Sounders) A 20-thousand seat soccer specific stadium downtown would be ideal, but isn’t practical at this point in time. http://www.baynews9.com/article/sports/2011/december/354217/
PT, don't feed the troll. He's mad enough USL is swooping in to take the fans the not-Rowdies alienated with their move to the wrong side of the bridge. And "working with city/county" does not mean "asking for money" per se.
Does anyone know if there is any intent on placing a SSS within the Creative Village? Looking at the rendering for it, seems like they could easily fit one in.
That's what many of us want. I know in 2007 a design was worked up for a new minor league baseball stadium in there, but I believe it was squashed.
I ask because it looks like there is one (or what could easily become one) in the bottom left of the rendering that can be found on the website for the Creative Village.
Bottom left is tennis courts, to replace the tennis courts by Amway Arena that will be demolished. Looking at the possible parcel, it's 200x140m. It would be a tight squeeze replacing that block with an SSS.
To ORays and anyone else: I haven't looked at the Creative Village images so I'm asking this blind and out of curiosity: would the tight squeeze be for the usual American-style sports stadium (ie: assuming large swaths of surrounding land for parking lots, etc.)? Or, would a SSS fit there if it was like one of those (for lack of a better term) urban-style stadiums such as Zaragosa's in La Liga, or to a lesser extent Wrigley Field? I ask because I've wondered about this for a while: why does a stadium have to be surrounded by open fields for parking lots and whatnot else? The new Orlando Magic arena doesn't have that anymore, it's just parked nice and snug in that corner between the 408 and I-4. Cheers.
The "tight squeeze" I'm referring to is for an SSS. Any American SSS I've seen, the smallest I've seen are 170m wide using Google Earth to measure. But when I saw your question, I decided to look for some European stadia that were around the 20-30k size range. I did find one design that could possibly fit the bill. Craven Cottage, home of Fulham, holds 25,700. It's only 117m wide. Then again, it hasn't changed much since it was originally built in 1896. Another possibility, with a more modern modification than Craven Cottage, is Carrow Road (Norwich, 27k), which is 140m wide. In my search, I found Reebok Stadium (Bolton, 28k) is 175m, and Molineux (Wolves, 27k) is 170m. Loftus Road (QPR, 18k) is 112m wide. Liberty Stadium (Swansea, 21k) is 150m wide. DW Stadium (Wigan, 25k) is also 150m wide. In Germany, Badenova Stadium (Freiburg, 25k) is 157m wide. Rhein-Neckar Arena (Hoffenheim, 30k) is 180m wide. There's nothing else smaller than Rhein-Neckar capacity-wise.
Sort of ironically, the one stadium that came to mind reading this list, both for capacity and (as near as I can tell) land size, is Stoke City's Britannia Stadium. Not that they could replicate it here, but I'd expect the OCSC ownership are composing some of their stadium ideas against their knowledge of Britannia. As an aside, Britannia also happens to be a great looking park (IMO).
Just saw this: http://sanantonioscorpions.com/images/scorpionsstadium.pdf It's the San Antonia NASL group's stadium plan, with five total phases to finish at 18,000 seats.
Well its going to start at 6,100 which is way more realistic. Still its a nice idea and a nice design. I wish them luck. ...certainly OCSC can afford that!
For your stadium-wanking pleasure, Orlando's satellite images on Google Maps and Google Earth just got updated to January 3, 2012. And Field 30 of the WWOS, where we just played our friendly with Old Dominion, was a patch of dirt on that day. Field 28, behind the team benches, was only half sodded. I'm impressed. Also, they're about to finish New Independence Parkway. The long-sought connection between Universal Blvd. and John Young Parkway is on its way.
What about the current west oaks mall site? They're losing tenants (recently sears) faster than mice from a sinking ship. Continuing leases could be a big problem though... Would be a great location though...
I never thought of that before, and didn't realize things were getting that bad at West Oaks. It's right at the nominal west end of the 408, so freeway access is pretty easy (except for from the Turnpike; no direct outlet to West Colonial Drive there). It wouldn't be a bad possibility.
There's access to Turnpike just west of there off Colonial near Ocoee/Winter Garden border. Weird but that is a good spot. I forget is that Ocoee city or unincorporated County? Remember the last area Dillon was hoping for was west and south of there in Winter Garden.
It's really bad. Myself and about 2 other people were there the other night, and I was the only one buying anything. From the turnpike you gotta back-track a little but just 1/2 mile. It's definitely within a 30-40 minute drive of anywhere.
It's in incorporated Ocoee. The area Dillon was thinking of was technically in Winter Garden but far down the 429 in orange grove territory... 45 mins or more from Lake Mary... If that doesn't bother you, there's the half-developed PlazaColina sitting empty in very east Clermont..
PlazaColina has a Turnpike Exchange. It's great land (in the hills of south Lake County). You can see the Orlando skyline from there (although it looks very tiny in the distance). Fans west of Orlando would love it. Fans living north, south and east would probably not like driving out there.