Orlando Ran across this as I was checking out UCF's web site. Plans are in the works for an on campus 40,000 seat stadium. Looks nice. Probably about 15,000 too big for MLS but who knows. It would be great to have an MLS team south of DC and east of Dallas... Here's the links to some renderings. http://www.stadium.ucf.edu/PDF Files/UCF_02.pdf http://www.stadium.ucf.edu/PDF Files/UCF_03.pdf And yes, I realize as with all potential expansion sites, if Orlando had an investor with enough money MLS would be there... nice stadium nonetheless.
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? Orlando would be a great place for an MLS team. MLS needs a couple of teams in Florida. An Orlando - Miami rivalry would be awesome.
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? ACtually this is bad news for any hope of MLS in Orlando. Now, the state won't be willing to fund another stadium in the area. Had never really considered Orlando as a possible destination for MLS anyway (USL, yes).
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? yeah, you're in LA. you have a nice SSS. i live in a soccer blackhole. if there was a team willing to play there i'd go. as for the state ponying up money, i don't think that'd be in the cards regardless... the Marlins couldn't get any. i know there's not a ground swell for MLS but I'd thought I'd post the picks anyway. plus maybe a USMNT match could be played there? i can dream.
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? Isn't Monticello near Tallahassee? You'd be a season ticket holder to a team over 3 hours away?
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? It would be a great Soccer Stadium. Dont know why they cant share it with Football. this is a very narrow mindset.
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? Monticello is 30 minutes east of Tallahassee. And yes I would be. I am a season ticket holder of the Jags (2 1/2 hr drive) so a few more minutes for a soccer team wouldn't be too bad. but of course it's all baseless speculation...
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? are ........ you .......... serious ??? have you ever watched a Revs home game?? A Wiz homegame??? Metro homegame??? I don't care if the facility is new. Im totally against this cause the City of Orlando will NOT pony up more $$ for a SSS. So evntually a potential franchise in Orlando would be no better than having the Quakes stay in SanJose.
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? I dont know what your issue is. That stadium is just fine. The HDC is used for more than soccer.
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? Yes, it's great stadium. But I seriously doubt if any MLS team is going to be created in or moved to any city where the soccer team doesn't have complete control of the stadium situation. There might be an exception to this in the case of a Salt Lake City or Houston, but that's only until the new team has time to build its own place. Trying to play soccer in a gridiron stadium really turns into a bummer in the fall with scheduling problems. It sucks to have to play too many games on Wednesdays. I met a really friendly sheriff one time hitchhiking through Monticello. Said it was a cold night and offered me a cell until morning. If I hadn't been holding, I would have taken him up on it. I opted for the bus.
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? Its main purpose was for soccer..... if AEG uses it for anything else then thats their business.
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? i think that makes two of us here on the BS boards who have been to Monticello. Very nice and friendly town, that story sounds about right... i agree it wouldn't be ideal... but MLS has to make a push south... they're leaving out one of the fastest growing areas in the US...
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? I live in Orlando and I know for a fact that there is some considerations to a possible MLS tenant for this stadium project. Here are some of the facts: -Built by private funds by UCF alumni, no state/government (not good for MLS IMHO) -Won't be built until 2007 season -UCF already promising nearby residents that only half a dozen college football games will ever be played there (seems like they are missing the boat for other revenue streams) -Will leave UCF's current venue, the Citrus Bowl, completely empty except for occasional events. -I have emailed UCF and they told me they have no plans of having soccer played there, in any form.
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? well that information kinda sucks no doesn't it? isn't the citrus bowl an absolute crap hole? i don't know much about it except what i saw driving by it on the highway. it looks like its in need of some renovations. i wonder how many people that things holds. (time to do a bit of research) if they're going to be desperate for tenants come 2007 i wonder if an MLS franchise could secure an advantageous stadium lease...
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? Citrus Bowl holds 70,188 people, far from ideal... http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadiu...ca/united_states/florida/orlando_citrus.shtml
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? Citrus Bowl holds about 70,000 http://64.225.93.97/citrusbowl Remember it was used for the World Cup in 1994, so its not "that" bad for soccer. Capacity is the real problem, its too big. I guess in some fantasy world, MLS and/or some wonderful investor could lease the Citrus Bowl until UCF let them use the new football stadium or a SSS was built. HAHAHAHAHA!
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? a few thoughts: 1) it's interesting that this story was floating around in the last few days, and then this morning (8/24/05) the orlando paper has a story about the ajax academy here in orlando negotiating to buy into both the quakes and the wiz. the one hurdle they mentioned to considering an mls club for orlando was the lack of a stadium. (go read the thread about it I posted a little while ago.) 2) the citrus bowl is, in fact, crap. it was almost condemned thrity years ago (the stadium started swaying when fans at the tangerine bowl game (original name) were jumping up and down in their seats), and there have been only minor improvements since then that were heavy on cosmetics and light on substance. it would be an embarrasment to the league: a 76,000-seat mausoleum. and I say that as a lifelong orlando resident, and as a ucf alum whose had season tix there for almost ten years. bottom line: mls must hold out for the best---a SSS is the proper strategy, and without signed and sealed blueprints for one, no "temporary" solution such as the citrus bowl is even remotely acceptable. if that scuttles the possiblity of having an mls team come to my hometown, so be it. the game will be better for it. 3) soccer at ucf is only a slightly more valid possibility, but then most anything would be, compared to the citrus bowl. ucf is already allowing whole herds of hippy moonbats to delay even the commitment to building the new stadium, let alone the actual shovels in the dirt. any proposed soccer in orlando should not lower or expose itself to that level of roadblocking. 4) there is also the issue of the field with the ucf idea. that tiny little field the quakes play on isn't great. the odds would be high that any soccer field configuration at the new ucf stadium would be sub-standard, too, for reasons of size and sightlines, among other reasons. it's exciting to hear about, as a soccer fan in orlando. but I put the game before my own personal fan-related desires, and any sub-par/half-assed try at making a team fly in orlando can only hurt the (proposed) team, the league, and the game.
Re: New Stadium in Orlando, MLS to follow? I agree. The Citrus Bowl does suck for MLS and UCF isn't helping matters. Ajax America is hoping that at some point Orlando will be interested. But for now they are basically interested in having a professional American outlet for their academy products. PS WorldGame, have you been to our Oveido World Cup parties? You should...
MLS and Disney need to talk! It would make sense for both Disney and MLS to have a franchise in Orlando. Can you imagine if Disney built the stadium in Disney World and used a sss (built by Disney) as an attraction inside one of Disney's massive theme parks. Disney with billions of dollars could build a really nice soccer stadium for cheap. It would be awesome if people could go to Disney World for the day and then at night go to a soccer game. Once the soccer game is over there can be fireworks meaning people can stay at the soccer stadium to watch the show for free. Since people from all over the world go to Disney World, it makes perfect sense. MLS n
Re: MLS and Disney need to talk! The most logical place would be inside the Wide World of Sports. But, Disney has already said they do not want to have a professional sports team on their facilities (although they do host Braves spring training). Also, relying on tourists so heavily cuts into season ticket holders. The city of Orlando, with a population of around 1.8 million, is smaller than any MLS city, other than Salt Lake City, and given their stadium issues, they may not be there much longer. Disney World is located outside of the city, and since there's really only one highway that runs north-south. If you live in the suburbs north of Orlando, its not convenient. Also, it's a huge conflict of interest--disney owns ABC, and their partner, ESPN...the network that holds the broadcasting rights for all MLS national telecasts.
Re: MLS and Disney need to talk! Orlando is in a pretty good spot because it's not too far from Tampa and Jacksonville. Putting a team in Disney makes it that much harder for people from those areas to get there. If Disney were to buy a team and they built the stadium in Orlando, I'm sure they would do some kind of package deal with tourists. They'd be stupid not to. Orlando supports the Magic and had pretty good support for the Predators (AFL) and the Solar Bears (minor league hockey) when I was stationed there in 96-97. The question remains as to whether the city would support an outdoor team.