NYCFC and Orlando City stadium plans revealed

Orlando City will play 2015 in the Citrus Bowl while their new stadium is being built. Right now they are dealing with a family owned church that wants $35 million for a small parcel of land land needed for the stadium footprint. The city has offered $1.5 million which is double the appraised worth. Negotiations are ongoing.

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"Due to unexpected delays in the city acquiring the final piece of the stadium land, we thought it best for our fans to enjoy the full season in one venue," Orlando City executive Brett Lashbrook told the Sentinel. "The fact that the venue is a $200-million renovated Citrus Bowl, it’s going to provide a great atmosphere and a great fan experience for our inaugural MLS season."

Orlando has bought most of the two square blocks of land on West Church Street where the stadium is supposed to be built. Most of the parcels were purchased from willing sellers, though the city took two owners to court to acquire their lots through eminent domain.

The final parcel not under the city’s control is Faith Deliverance Temple, a family-owned church. City officials and members of the church family have been in stop-and-go talks about buying the small church for nearly a year. At one point, the city offered $1.5 million -- more than twice the appraised value – but church members countered with a selling price of $35 million. That caused the city to threaten eminent domain, but a public backlash brought the parties back to the table.

“We are still in negotiations with the church for that property,” city spokeswoman Cassandra Lafser said. “We’re very hopeful of reaching an agreement.”

With no resolution yet, the club made the decision to push back the opening of a new stadium, and any goals of playing at least part of its inaugural Major League Soccer season in the new stadium.

Orlando City, which will play in four venues in four years, is giving fans an opportunity to pay a $50 deposit towards season tickets in the Citrus Bowl for 2015. Current season ticket holders already hold priority for seats in the stadium.

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meanwhile, NYCFC looks like they should have been told to wait for entry until a better stadium situation was set. Right now they are planning on playing in Yankee Stadium and will do so until they have built their own. Unfortunatly absolutely nothing has been nailed down yet and nobody knows how long it will take. NYCFC could be in Yankee Stadium for en extended amount of time.

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With a temporary home in place, New York City FC will continue its search for a permanent one.

While club Chief Business Officer Tim Pernetti was not in a position to say where a soccer-specific stadium will be built for the Major League Soccer expansion team, he did reiterate the club will not rush into a facility in the five boroughs.

"We're going to build a soccer-specific stadium in New York City," Pernetti said at a press conference that officially announced that Yankee Stadium will be the home for the MLS expansion side when it kicks off next season. "We're going to take whatever time is necessary to get it right.

"The beauty of building a franchise is that the fans are excited. People in New York are pumped up that this thing is coming. [It's] like this is a movie premiere in New York City. It's coming in 2015. That is happening one way or another. We're going to feed off that excitement and build at the same time. You've got to manage expectations. When we open the doors for a soccer-specific stadium for this club, it will be spectacular. But we're going to take the time we need to develop the right relationships and work in a productive way to get it to that point."

As for the permanent stadium itself, Pernetti said that the club is "conducting the same thorough search, looking at sites and developing that plan.”

"Our goal is to be in a soccer-specific building as soon as possible. At the same time, we're not going to create artificial deadlines based on pressure that comes in different directions in order to do it the right way. We're only going to get one shot to do it, so we're going to take the time necessary to get it there."

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they also released the configuration for NYCFC games at Yankee Stadium and it looks horrible from a fans perspective. Terrible sight lines, there are few seats at the center of the pitch, and a large portion of them are very far away from the action.



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