Reeves' Army

Orlando City hits the road again this weekend. They will be at Dayton Dutch Lions tonight at 8pm, and Pittsburgh Riverhounds tomorrow night at 7pm.

At the team website, Adam Soucie has the preview for the weekend, and Chris Jones crunches the numbers.

There will be watch parties tonight for the Dayton match. The Ruckus will be at World of Beer in Altamonte Springs, while the Iron Lion Firm will be at XL Soccer World off Lee Road in Winter Park.

I have come up with an idea that may jump-start construction for a soccer-specific stadium for Orlando City.

If the Citrus Bowl renovation project is approved next month, it means we will be unable to use the Citrus Bowl in 2014, as they will be tearing down the entire lower bowl and building a new one from scratch. The problem with that is, Orlando City has grown too big for any other venue currently in Orlando to be feesable.

It’s too big for any high school stadium, and we wouldn’t be able to sell beer.

Bright House Networks Stadium has an unsuitably narrow field, and all of the other venues at UCF don’t have enough seats.

Disney’s Wide World of Sports places a premium on all their tickets, making team revenue impossible at acceptable prices. Plus, they don’t have a suitable soccer venue for regular-season matches anyway.

Tinker Field is out of the question, since that space will undoubtedly be required for Citrus Bowl construction.

While writing my article yesterday, and thinking about it this morning, I have come up with a solution that not only could give us a venue for 2014, but could be the lynchpin to instigate expansion to Major League Soccer.

My idea is a hybrid of the “pop-up stadium” idea, combined with the modular stadium designs found in England and other parts of Europe.

Once a suitable location is found, contractors could be brought in to build a temporary, or “pop-up”, stadium, similar in construction to what was Empire Field in Vancouver. But instead of a single edifice, build it as four separate stands. Such a venue could go up throughout 2013 and be ready in time for the 2014 preseason friendlies.

At first, the design would be similar in structure to Empire Field, with only scoreboard, luxury suites and locker rooms having any permanent quality to them. As time goes on, we can replace other structures with permanent structures.

Eventually, the seating can be replaced on a section-by-section basis. Many of the older stadia in England–such as Old Trafford, White Hart Lane and Molineux–have been or are being renovated in this fashion, with each stand being an independent structure that can be worked on, torn down and rebuilt without requiring a full stadium shutdown.

If a starter venue could be constructed on the cheap like this, cheap enough that it would not require public finds, then it could be just what Orlando City is looking for to put them over the top for MLS expansion. If plans can be made quick enough, we might be able to pull off Phil’s 2014 target date for launching an MLS team after all.

With this idea, the only real question is this: Where do we put the darn thing?

This morning, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs will announce a deal to proceed with the renovation of the Florida Citrus Bowl, with a targeted start date of early 2014.

Under the new deal, the city will assume the burden of raising $140 million in bonds to finance the project, on top of their $21 million capital requirement, which will now pay for final design and pre-construction work.

The bonds will still be paid by the county Tourist Development Tax. The county will hold $12.5 million in reserve for backup funding.

Credit ratings firm Fitch Ratings says the municipal bond market in Florida is healthy, and particularly praised the debt structure of the City. These were probably part of the reason they decided to go ahead.

The plan includes rebuilding the lower bowl, including 8,000 club seats; replacing restrooms and updating the concourses; and adding luxury suites. That is in order of priority. They won’t know how much they will be able to do until they put out the bids. The original cost estimate was $175 million in 2007, but they anticipate a higher price now.

The unknown: What will Orlando City do after 2013? With the lower bowl being demolished, that means the Lions cannot use the Citrus Bowl in 2014. There are no other suitable places currently. The fields at UCF are too small, either field- or stand-wise; high-school stadiums are also now too small, and will not allow beer sales; Disney is economically unfeasable (and also unwilling to host pro soccer on a long-term basis); and Tinker Field is not a good idea, since it’s right by the Citrus Bowl and would impede construction.

The best solution would be to construct something similar to Empire Field in Vancouver, which was used as a temporary venue during the remodeling of BC Place. It wouldn’t cost much, and can be erected quickly once a suitable tract of land is found (like the old Agere plant at John Young Parkway and 528). Of course, that’s notwithstanding a snap deal for a permanent soccer-specific stadium this year that would allow construction in 2013, and opening in 2014.

If the rain or Friday work kept you away from the soccer game tonight, you have no idea what you missed.

In the rematch of last year’s USL Pro Championship Game, Orlando City crushed Harrisburg City Islanders, 3-0.

The Lions dominated play throughout, but couldn’t get the breakthrough at first. A shot that went in at 45′ was overruled on a late offside call. Matt Luzunaris followed up right at the death of the first half, popping the ball in at 45+2′ for a 1-0 halftime lead.

The team kept punching in the second half, with Dennis Chin getting on the board at 47′. He would notch a brace at 70′.

During this match, John Rooney was subbed in, playing for the first time in a while. And Adama Mbengue got his first minutes for the team in an official game.

Our next matches are next week, when we hit the road, going to Dayton on Friday, June 29, and Pittsburgh on Saturday, June 30. Our next home match will be Saturday, July 14, against Rochester.

Tonight is the rematch of last year’s USL Championship: Orlando City hosting Harrisburg City Islanders. Gametime is 7:30pm.

Adam Soucie has the match preview, Chris Jones crunches the numbers.

An even bigger story is the promotion yesterday of Senegalese midfielder Adama Mbengue to the pro roster. The 18-year-old is one of six players who have played all 10 games thus far with the U-23′s, after scoring two goals in Orlando City’s preseason. This marks the first time a player has been promoted from the U-23′s to the pro team.

As a follow-up to my reference to The Guardian yesterday, The Scoring Third released a summary of their latest discussion with Phil Rawlins, focusing on the prospect of constructing a soccer-specific stadium (SSS).

Rawlins could not get into discussions regarding potential locations, but has NDA’s with city and county regarding negotiations for a stadium. He did pretty much rule out the Creative Village and UCF as possible locations.

He estimates a stadium with an 18,000-seat capacity, expandable to 24,000, could be built here for $80-90 million. For reference, Bright House Networks Stadium, which seats 48,000, cost $50 million to build, at the height of the real estate bubble (which inflated materials costs as well as real estate). He cited San Jose and Houston as examples of cost-effective SSS construction. San Jose’s stadium will only cost $60 million.

Rawlins still would like to get a team to start playing in MLS in 2014, and is targeting 2015 to 2016 for the opening of an SSS. While it is ruled out as a permanent solution, the Citrus Bowl could still host an MLS team temporarily while an SSS is built.

The 100s bowl, for the record, has a total capacity of over 16,700, not including the temporary north end seating used for bowl games. Orlando City does not use the oblique corner seats in the open north end, giving them a current useful capacity just under 15,000.

Today, The (Manchester) Guardian posted an article analyzing Orlando’s chances of getting a Major League Soccer franchise, potentially ahead of the second New York City franchise currently in the works.

Some highlights…

• The writer, Leander Schaerlaeckens, quips that two major league franchises for each sport in the NYC metro area is “an unwritten rule”. MLS spokesman Dan Courtemanche says it will “build on the momentum” of Red Bull New York.
• The actual process, as Schaerlaeckens reckons, is that MLS is trying to find a stadium location for NYC2 before they solidify the owner situation. Courtemanche says “that leaves the door open for other markets”.
• He mentions Phil Rawlins, who first invested in Stoke in 2000. Rawlins says Orlando has a “very young, eclectic population” with a “perfect soccer demographic”.
• Orlando native and MLS player Dax McCarty adds some thoughts, mentioning the previous failure of Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion. He thinks Orlando City has the business model behind it to succeed at the MLS level.
• Schaerlaeckens mentions Orlando City’s success in USL Pro, which he correctly identifies as third-division. We are drawing 7,116 per match this season on his calculations (through Antigua, 6/9), which he recognizes as “a whopping number for a minor-league team”.
• He mentions Garber’s visit to Orlando, and him saying “not if, but when”. Rawlins says his biggest motivation behind the effort is growing the game in America.
• Schaerlaechens says the only real hurdle for Orlando is the stadium situation…something Rawlins thinks Orlando City will have settled in the next 18 months. He is currently targetting the 2015-2016 timeframe for Orlando to make it to MLS.
• Expansion will slow down now, but it will not stop at 20. Whether Orlando or NYC2 is next will likely not exclude the other.

Interesting note. I wish I had an idea of what Phil is working on with regard to the stadium situation here.

Happy Father’s Day!

Orlando City is hosting Antigua Barracuda FC tonight at 6pm at the Citrus Bowl.

The Lions have not dropped points to the Barracudas since their home match last year. Since then, they’ve won four in Antigua.

We will be going into match with a questionable Jamie Watson–it turned out he had a staph infection in his knee last week–and lacking Max Griffin and Rob Valentino, who are still nursing hamstring injuries. Anthony Pulis (family reasons) and Matt Luzunaris (illness) will be back in the lineup. We’ll see if Jean-Marc Alexandre can continue his domination of minor-league soccer.

Adam Soucie has a match preview, while Chris Jones crunches the numbers.

There will be festivities for Fathers Day. Sign up at the Stihl tent for a chance to participate in a Leaf Blower Race. I don’t know what the ultimate prize is, but I think the event involves trying to push a soccer ball with a leaf blower.

Over the past couple months, Orlando City and Florida Citrus Sports have been experimenting with officially allowing the use of smoke bombs in the Citrus Bowl, on the understanding that they were not to be thrown onto the pitch. They placed sand buckets for both The Ruckus and Iron Lion Firm to deposit spent smoke bombs after firing.

At this past weekend’s match against Charleston Battery, some smoke bombs were thrown onto the pitch following the uncalled penalty in the first half, causing minor damage to the artificial turf.

The City of Orlando came down on it quickly. Now smoke bombs are banned from the Citrus Bowl. Anyone caught setting off any sort of incendiary will be removed, arrested and banned from all events at the Citrus Bowl.

Thanks a lot, guys.

Also, due to some of the anger expressed at the poor officiating at the last match, the team would like to remind the fans that only streamers and confetti, within reason, are permitted to be thrown onto the pitch. And even that has its limits, as we found out last year.

The addition of Jean-Marc Alexandre paid swift dividends, but it was a rough battle to take a 2-1 win over Charleston Battery last night.

Alexandre started at striker along with Jamie Watson and Dennis Chin. He took a cross from Mechack Jerome, knifed forward and buried his shot at 7′ for the early lead.

From that point, the referees began to screw with the Lions, making several distasteful decisions including allowing several obvious dives. The Battery equalize on a corner kick, with Nicki Patterson striking off a deflection at 38′. Not long after, the Lions were denied what should have been a penalty kick, and voiced their displeasure.

Orlando City did their best to get back on the front foot in the second half, and slowly turned the momentum back in their favor. A similar situation found Jamie Watson taking a deflection into the goal at 57′ for the game winner. Orlando kept the pressure up for most of the second half. Both teams would miss great opportunities near the death, with Dane Kelly missing wide right for the Battery, and Jean-Marc Alexandre hitting the crossbar.

The threatening rain before the match held the attendance down to 5,602. It ended up not raining during warmup and the match itself, so a lot of people missed out.

With Rochester Rhinos getting a draw on Friday night, the Lions drew 5 points clear of the crowd in USL Pro last night.

Next Sunday, Orlando City will play the Antigua and Barbuda men’s national soccer team Antigua Barracuda. Match time will be 6pm, which means the entire match will be in the light of day.