Exploria Stadium – stadium description

New soccer stadium in Orlando was planned since 2013, when a new MLS team was in the making here. First the building was to be financed significantly with taxpayer money, but after such scheme was rejected, the newly-created Orlando City SC took all of the funding upon themselves.

A block of land just west of downtown was selected for the project, with only one building occupying the land. But that one building, a small church, refused to relocate and so the stadium was moved westwards, forcing demolition of Parramore Avenue, which would have ran through the centre of the stadium.

Construction symbolically began in late 2014, but in practice it took off in 2015. With just a slight delay compared to initial plans, the project was delivered in time for the 2017 MLS season, in February.

Interestingly, after groundbreaking it was still planned for 19,000 people, but Orlando City’s popularity during first MLS season (played temporarily at nearby Citrus Bowl) resulted in instant expansion of the stands by addition of three corner sections and an upper tier in the south. This raised capacity to 25,500, while the cost went from $110 million to $155 million.

The seating layout is fairly typical, with a slightly sunken field (2.5m). This created enough room to build 12 rows in a continuous lower ring, accessible straight from the street level. On most sides the seating bowl has two tiers, with the exception of the north end. Here a safe standing single-tiered terrace was created for the most vocal fans, with organized groups being allowed to bring flags, drums and even controlled pyrotechnics.