Since there still isn't a sub-forum... Official announcement coming tonight that Orlando City Lions will be building a new training facility to move into next year. This is a bit odd since OC has spent the last two years building a terrific facility in Seminole county. This was explained by the club, as the Pride will inherit the almost brand new facility in Seminole all to themselves. "This will be the best facility in the NWSL by a mile" http://www.orlandosentinel.com/spor...aining-facility-lake-nona-20160128-story.html
Odd move by OCSC, but nice to hear that the Pride will have a really nice training facility to themselves. (Side note: can we merge threads? I started http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/pride-general-discussion.2025879/ a while back)
I thought I recalled a thread already but I was in a bit of a rush this morning and I couldn't find it. For OCSC, they built the Seminole facility with the idea of housing one MLS team. Last year at this time they expected the Louisville affiliation to work and the NWSL was a distant possibility. At the same time, they have been having great difficulty finding enough space for the academy to train in one location. The academy is spread out at four or five different locations. Also, the team really wanted the older academy players to be able to at least occasionally train with the MLS team. So this ticks off a lot of boxes for the MLS team while giving the Pride a great facility. I would expect they will also have a couple of the older academy teams train with the Pride at least some of the time. Basically, they outgrew the current facility far faster than they expected. Oh, one other item is that the new site would be much easier travel to Melbourne where the OCB team is located and maybe just a bit closer to downtown Orlando.
In a way, Lake Sylvan Training Facility has come full circle for women's soccer. It was built in 1993 for USWNT and now will house the Pride. In this article from August 2014, about the deal between Seminole County and OCSC, it says: In exchange, Orlando City — which owns the Lions professional team — will be given exclusive use of the county's training center and two soccer fields at Seminole's Sylvan Lake Park near Sanford for the next decade. More interesting articles from 1993 about the training facility: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1993-11-17/news/9311170886_1_soccer-federation-national-park-service-sylvan-park http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1993-11-18/news/9311180812_1_soccer-federation-sylvan-park-national-soccer http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1993-12-14/news/9312140628_1_soccer-federation-soccer-training-national-soccer
Wow! I read Portland had somewhere around 7000 season tickets sold before their first game, and I believe, drew over 16,000 for their first game.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Pride top that number for their first game. I know a lot of season ticket holders that are interested in the Pride but not ready to plunk down season tickets. Also, a lot of people like me figure there will be plenty of good seats available so no need to rush into buying season tickets. Huge venue this year in the Citrus Bowl. Next year is the SSS, things might tighten up a bit, prompting more season ticket holders if the product is compelling.
Schedules between the NWSL and MLS are hard. My away trips are screwed up pretty good. Can't even go to games and watch Pride/Lions on TV with same day games 17 Apr; 18 June; 16 July; 23 Jul; 31 Jul; WTF 7 Sept; 24 Sep; BUT we have at least two times all three games play at home in a 5 day period. 6-8 May is great and 21-26 Aug will be fun. Looking forward to the season.
Free tickets for 19 March double header at EFSC. Sign up at noon today IF you are not a season ticket holder.
Still no sub-forum for this club? It's been almost 5 months since the announcement and it's less than a month and a half from the season opener. What gives?
The mods don't seem to think the Pride have "enough fans" to justify a whole subforum. We've tried convincing them.
For any reading this thread, if you haven't posted a comment in the thread linked above asking for a sub-forum, please do so. I don't know what the magic "enough" number is, but the more, the better.
The Pride are getting into full preseason gear. Starting to get out into the community more, doing radio interviews, ect. It's starting to get real. Orlando is promoting another Two-Pack. This time OCSC v. Portland and the Pride Opener. They are going to introduce the entire Pride team at halftime during the Portland game. One Orlando Pride game and one Orlando City game all for one low priceTwo pack: https://t.co/q8RqNmfJ9K pic.twitter.com/xgLcwo4poh— Orlando Pride (@ORLPride) March 12, 2016
MOVING ON: Duffy resigns as NWSL president, will join Orlando Pride Jan 7, 2020 https://www.frontrowsoccer.com/2020...ns-as-nwsl-president-will-join-orlando-pride/
Any feedback or insider info on if this move to Orlando for her? Hearing that a move tocpick up a young Brazilian player is in the works as well...hmmmm?
https://www.frontrowsoccer.com/2020/06/22/theyre-out-orlando-pride-drops-out-of-nwsl-challenge-cup/ 6 Pride players test positive, team drops out of NWSL Challenge Cup Jun 22, 2020
And now the crazy fans are in action: Taylor Kornieck - I do not know her, but have had the pleasure of coaching against her (well not really pleasure because it was a hard week of film study to try to find ways to stop her). She has even been receiving death threats. That's just sick— Jon Lipsitz (@jonlipsitz) June 25, 2020 Nothing can justify that level of hatred.
Completely agree, and I'm sure its why several veterans have stepped in and publicly asked for the crazy and threatening social media messages to stop. On the opposite end of the spectrum, some fans have created an entire website in which they write supportive notes to every player and staff member: https://biggerthansoccer.wixsite.com/orlpride
The Equalizer In a club statement today, the Orlando Pride announced that Amanda Duffy is out as Executive Vice President. : https://bit.ly/32KI1rt
And now it looks like they might have their coach, but they haven't announced it yet (likely due to a conflict of interest): https://equalizersoccer.com/2021/11/29/sources-orlando-pride-amanda-cromwell-head-coach-nwsl-ucla/
Amanda Cromwell didn't want the ACFC job? She's an investor for goodness sakes! Also, why is she leaving the UCLA program out of nowhere? It wasn't her fault they did poorly in the first round of the NCAA tournament. I have too many questions...
She very well might have been interested... but ACFC already had Coombe. She'll definitely need to divest if she is to be announced as Orlando's coach. I've heard chatter on Twitter that she's thinking about getting an NT coaching gig sometime down the line, meaning she needs experience at the pro level...
With the way things are in the NWSL today, it’s going to be interesting how the media and the general public will handle a coach who had something to do with the college admission scandal and dating a former player of hers. I would think most would have an issue with a 51 year old male coach dating a 27 year old former player but it will be interesting to see what happens with this case.