Orlando City to privately finance soccer stadium, pay back city – Orlando Sentinel

Orlando City will no longer have to wait on state funding to build its soccer-specific stadium.

Team owner Flávio Augusto da Silva announced Friday the franchise will privately finance the construction of its downtown soccer-specific stadium. The stadium, originally envisioned and pitched as a city-owned venue, will now be owned and operated privately by Orlando City.

“We’ve been having problem funding the stadium, but we’ve got a new solution. … We’ll fund this project 100 percent privately,” Augusto da Silva said. “This is a big signal how we believe in this city, how we believe in this community, how we believe in these people, this marketplace and these fans.”

The team will also expand capacity of the stadium to between 25,000 and 28,000 – a significant increase from the original plans of a 19,500-seat facility – due to the “overwhelming support” for the franchise in its inaugural season.

“These fans, the city embraced our team,” Augusto da Silva said. “We are very excited about that. . . . One thing that we have been focused on is learning about this marketplace, how big we are, how big is our marketplace [is] in Orlando. Our plans in the stadium were between a 19 and 20,000-seat stadium. It’s obvious that we’ve overcome thse numbers. Suddenly, we’ve got a problem, a good problem to solve — 19,000 it seems is not enough. We are much bigger than that, Orlando is much bigger than that.

“. . . We started hearing from our fans and our supporters and we got the message. We need a bigger stadium. We are very focused on building a new stadium between 25,000 and 28,000 seats.”

The arrangement will save the City of Orlando more than $15 million it had pledged for the project, in land and construction funding — and will bring in additional tax revenue for the city, because the privately-owned stadium will generate property taxes.

Orange County will not have to pay $20 million it had committed to the project.

In addition to privately financing the stadium, which officials said is expected to cost more than the originally-projected $115 million, Orlando City will buy back the stadium land from the city.

A city official said the land is expected to be sold to the team for “fair market value,” though the exact figure was not available Friday. The team is also expected to cover the cost of storm water retention work for the site, which the official estimated at about $3.1 million.

Orlando City will take some time to update construction plans on the stadium and will explore other upgrades in amenities for fans, including in-stadium technology, before moving forward with construction.

The stadium is expected to be completed by the summer of 2016, meaning Orlando City will open next season at the Citrus Bowl.

“The goal is to be among the top stadiums in MLS,” a club official said. “We didn’t come here to be average.”

The announcement comes after stadium construction was delayed awaiting $30 million in state funding stuck in the Florida Legislature. The franchise originally planned an $85 million stadium. However, when the club learned it was the top candidate to receive $30 million in funds from the state, plans moved forward to design a $115 million stadium.

Now, the team will be able to proceed with plans for a bigger stadium – an expansion that would have needed more funding and thus likely faced more delays.

A 28,000-seat stadium would give Orlando City the second-largest soccer-specific stadium in MLS. The L.A. Galaxy’s StubHub Center has a capacity of 27,000, while Toronto’s BMO Field has a capacity of approximately 30,000.

Orlando City has averaged 37,420 fans during its first six home games, including 62,358 in the inaugural game on March 8. The lowest attendance of the season was 27,243 on May 8.

Los Angeles F.C., an expansion team set to join MLS in 2018, recently announced plans to build a $250 million, privately-financed, 22,000-seat stadium.

The Lions host the Columbus Crew at the Citrus Bowl Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

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