Orlando City set to announce National Women’s Soccer League franchise – Orlando Sentinel

Following the unquestioned wave of success during its MLS debut season, Orlando City unveiled the next step for soccer in Central Florida.

The club announced Tuesday the launch of the Orlando Pride, an expansion franchise in the National Women’s Soccer League that will begin play in 2016. The Pride become the 10th franchise in the league, which is entering its fourth season. It is the first iteration of a women’s pro soccer league in North America to reach that milestone.

“We’ve proven this marketplace is thirsty for soccer,” Orlando City president Phil Rawlins said. “It’s the soccer capitol of the South and those are not just hollow words or a statement anymore, they’re proven with facts and data and economic impact behind them. So it’s the right time.”

The club unveiled a new logo, which includes the fountain at Lake Eola and also announced the hiring of its first coach, former U.S. women’s national team coach Tom Sermanni. Sermanni also has experience coaching the Australian women’s national team and was an assistant coach for Canada during this summer’s Women’s World Cup.

The Pride will play in the Citrus Bowl in 2016 before moving over to Orlando City’s new soccer-specific stadium in 2017. Season tickets will go on sale to the general public on Sunday at 1 p.m at Orlando-Pride.com.

Orlando City paid an undisclosed entry fee in order to acquire the rights to a franchise in the NWSL. Orlando joins the other nine franchises: Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, Houston Dash, FC Kansas City, Portland Thorns FC, Seattle Reign FC, Sky Blue FC, Washington Spirit and the Western New York Flash.  

The Pride will play 10 home games in 2016.

The NWSL averaged attendance was 4,804 in 2015, well below MLS, but a number that is on the uptick. The figure  was boosted by the Portland Thorns, which averaged 15,639 in 2015. Orlando is often compared to the Portland market, and NWSL commissioner Jeff Plush believes the league understands how to replicate the recipe that has led to so much success in the Rose City.

“I have a lot of confidence they are going to treat it like a major league property, and that’s what it takes,” Plush said. “You can’t treat it as secondary or irrelevant or an add-on. Your staff won’t react to that, so you have to treat it the right way, which they’re already committed to. … I think it’ll be really fun for us and the next step for us as a league.”

Orlando City will build its roster through a number of mechanisms, including an expansion draft, discovery signings and the 2016 NWSL College Draft.

The expansion draft will be held on Nov. 2, while the college draft occurs the same week as the MLS SuperDraft in January.

Rawlins said the club was interested in signing stars from the U.S. national team, but that process would not begin to show progress for another couple weeks. Targets could include U.S. national team forward Alex Morgan, whose husband, Servando Carrasco, plays for Orlando City, and goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, a Satellite Beach native.

Both players have been visible around the club in recent weeks, and Sermanni said “obviously it’d be fantastic to get a player of that stature,” if the club could find a way to complete a deal. Morgan plays for the Thorns, while Harris plays for the Washington Spirit.

“The U.S. marketplace is different than a normal soccer market, which is basically a free marketplace,” Sermanni said. “To build a team here is not just a case of being able to target players and go out and approach them. At the moment we need to wait and see which players teams are protecting and which players are available internationally.”

Orlando City has never been shy about its aspirations, however, and that theme carried over on the first day of the Orlando Pride.

“It’s something we’d love to look at it,” Rawlins said when asked about the possibility of signing star players that could include Morgan and Harris.

Email at ptenorio@tribune.com. For more soccer news, visit OrlandoSentinel.com/OnThePitch or follow on Twitter @oslions.