Orlando City Soccer Club Stadium Renderings Released

Today was the day many Orlando City Soccer Club fans have been waiting for: the release of the new stadium renderings. Since Major League Soccer announced last year that OCSC would become the next franchise, the only thing we knew about the stadium was its location at the southeast corner of West Central and Parramore Avenue. Now, owner Phil Rawlins and his team have provided us with not only the renderings, but a live walk-through (which you can see here if you missed it).  Some of the details he shared with us include:

Supporters End

• One continuous bowl, separated from other two stands. Based on the wall in Dortmund.
• "First major league soccer stadium built in this country with safe standing room; no seats," he says, complete with capo stands at the front for leaders of the supporters groups.
• The supporters bar will be behind the stands, running the length of the stand looking over Central at 40' up.  It will have a special supporters entrance. 
• Rawlins says that this will be "the loudest end in Major League Soccer."

VIP Areas

• The VIP club lounge is located in the west stand and will hold 900-1000 people.
• There will be 1,600 club seats.
• The west stand will hold 38 suites, 20 spanning the lower section and 18 at the top north and south ends (on either side of the media seats).

Public Spaces

• There will be an open plaza along Church Street, separated only by a fence, to encourage interaction between the street and the game inside the stadium.
• Church Street will be pedestrianized during game days.
• The plans call for five entrances, with the main entrance at Church Street.
• Three entertainment zones around the stadium, at the SW, NW, and NE corners.

Parking and Access

• Not a single parking space will be built for this stadium. "Not even the coach gets one. I told him he gets a SunRail pass," says Rawlins.
• There are 16,000 parking spaces in Downtown within a half-mile walk.
• The stadium will be served by the free Lymmo circulator (Grapefruit Line), Lynx buses and SunRail.

The stadium could open as early as Spring 2016. "We will be building, in my opinion, one of the most iconic and best stadiums in Major League Soccer, certainly in the best location in the country," says OCSC owner Phil Rawlins.