Orlando City Soccer Club (2015)

The Orlando City SC is an American football franchise of the Major League Soccer ( MLS) from Orlando, Florida. The franchise was founded in 2013 and in 2015 will take the game operation.

Orlando is now the 21st franchise, which plays in the North American professional league football. The rights to the franchise holds the Brazilian businessman Flavio Augusto da Silva and Phil Rawlins, the current owner of the eponymous USL Pro team Orlando City SC, said da Silva holds the majority.

The Orlando City Soccer Club will thus be the first MLS franchise from Florida since the 2001 season.

History

On 25 October 2010 gave Phil Rawlins, owner of the Orlando Sports Holdings, announced that one could imagine franchise in the MLS in the next three to five years. On 28 February 2011, there were initial talks with officials of the Major League Soccer. Here, important factors, such as infrastructure and potential fan attendances in Orlando was discussed. Half a year later, on 20 November 2011, there were further discussions about a possible admission as the 20th franchise in the league. This was however later in the New York City FC.

Following further meetings and discussions with the League Authorities Don Garber and commitments by the City of Orlando and the County to build a new stadium, received the Orlando Sports Holdings on 19 November 2013, the commitment for the MLS franchise.

Stadium

In April 2013, the city of Orlando bought a property for 8.2 million dollars to allow the construction of a stadium in downtown. A month later, but failed a law in the House of Representatives in Florida, which should provide 30 million U.S. dollars for the stadium available. This was previously approved in the Senate of the State. Rawlins responded with the intent to seek alternative financing options. On August 8, 2013 came to the Orlando Downtown Soccer Stadium project a step closer. On this day, the Orange County and the city of Orlando agreed to support a financing plan for various projects, including also the construction of a possible MLS stadium. The remaining funding has been agreed in October 2013 by introducing a tax for tourists, from which a part is to go to the stadium project.