ORLANDO, Fla. – A new soccer tradition got underway Thursday night in Orlando.
Thousands of Orlando City Soccer Club supporters gathered at Church Street Station in downtown Orlando to take part in a half-mile march toward their future home. Led by a drum line, smoke bombs and club and government dignitaries, they convened for a ceremonial groundbreaking at the site of a new soccer-specific stadium.
Men, women and children of all backgrounds took part in the landmark occasion led by Phil Rawlins, president and founder of the club, and local mayors from both Orlando and Orange County.
In 18 months a new 20,000-seat stadium will rise in Orlando’s Parramore neighborhood, becoming the newest cathedral in Major League Soccer with 38 suites, 1,600 premium seats and a unique standing-room section for supporters at one end of the venue.
Before Thursday the property was nothing more than a vacant lot, littered with patches of dirt and grass, until piles of purple sand brought the club’s vision to life.
“It’s just another step closer to the dream,” Orlando City coach Adrian Heath said following the groundbreaking. “Four years ago, if somebody said to us that we were going to be walking down the street with thousands of fans, looking at building a brand-new stadium and going into Major League Soccer, that was our dream, but we didn’t think it was going to be a reality this quick. Tonight was just another step along the way.”
Orlando City will play the 2015 MLS season at the refurbished Florida Citrus Bowl, which has undergone a $200 million renovation and sits just down the road from the site of the club’s new home.
The Lions will open their new stadium at the start of the 2016 season, which is being designed and constructed by Populous, Barton Malow, and ICON Venue Group, who've worked on the construction of iconic venues like Wembley Stadium, 02 Arena and Yankee Stadium.
“This is not just a great day for Orlando, this is a great day for Major League Soccer, in fact the entire sport in this country,” MLS president Mark Abbott told the crowd in attendance. “Going through that march from downtown to the stadium site here, and seeing all these people out, I’m just simply awed.
“The fans and this community have shown the world that this city deserves a Major League Soccer team, and the world has taken notice,” Abbott said. “As great as today is, there are better days to come and our best days are in front of us.”
- Find more Lions news at OrlandoCitySC.com
Orlando City majority owner Flávio Augusto da Silva also addressed the crowd, and explained that the club’s vision is to make Orlando City a globally-known brand that will help provide a boost to the local tourism industry. He then turned to Abbott and proclaimed, “we didn’t come to this league to participate, we came to win,” to a rousing ovation.
“At this land here, a few months from now, we’re going to cry here, we’re going to support [the team] here, we’re going to leave real emotions at this land here, and I can’t wait to come back to this place for our first game,” Augusto da Silva said.
“Since the beginning I believed that the US would be a very good place to invest in soccer. I’ve been living here for more than three years and my son has been playing around Florida, and I saw the huge potential that we have for soccer here,” he said following the ceremony. “So when we see today these things happening, we’re very happy, but we believed from the beginning that we could get to this point.”
