Inside the New Citrus Bowl Part II

On Wednesday of this week I took a tour of the new Citrus Bowl facility.  Below are some additional pictures, observations and details I had in an exchange I had with Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan with respect to the future of soccer in Orlando outside of just Orlando City.

• The north end zone will also have two large screens on the northeast and northwest sides of the stadium.  While much smaller that the large LCD on the southend, these screens are also significant improvements over over what we had before.

• Similar to the pirate deck located in Raymond James Stadium, the new Citrus Bowl will have a party deck area overseeing the north end zone where Church Street is located.  It will have a clear line of vision overseeing Lake Lorna Doone.  The design for this deck is still TBD. 

• The upgraded Citrus Bowl will increase significantly the seating availability for handicapped patrons.  The Bowl used to have just under 100 seats available for handicap seating. That is increasing significantly to over 800.  

Facing the east side stands in midfield

Northeast endzone

• I had to opportunity to ask Steve Hogan why the selection of artificial turf over natural grass?  Mr Hogan responded with acknowledging that natural grass was the first choice, the maintenance of natural grass here in Orlando would be far too difficult because of the rain and climate in our region.  Hogan referenced the 2010 Capital One Bowl between LSU and Penn State as the catalyst for this decision.  

• I immediately followed up with asking Mr. Hogan if this would affect the ability for Orlando to get premier international soccer matches to the city.  His answered surprised me in a pleasant way.  Hogan said that Florida Citrus Sports is making it a top priority to bring international clubs and national teams to Orlando for friendlies and games of importance.  The FCS CEO acknowledged that many top international clubs and national teams will not play on artificial grass.  He immediately stated however that they will have plans in place to install natural grass on the Citrus Bowl pitch whenever necessary to attract these teams to play in Orlando.  While expensive to do, Mr. Hogan sated that this was a worthwhile investment needed to attract world class soccer to the stadium.  He acknowledged the success around the country in cities like Ann Arbor, St. Louis and Seattle hosting international club friendlies and is making it a priority to bring clubs like Manchester United to Orlando.  

• Florida Citrus Sports plans on hosting a kickoff classic similar to the one's hosted in Dallas and Houston starting in 2016.  Hogan stated they are deep in talks with two P5 conferences and seemed very confident that we will be hosting this event as scheduled in two years. 

Close up of seats

Northwest stadium LCD

New large pitch entrance way

Overall the upgraded Citrus Bowl will be a significant upgrade in stadium facilities from the legacy stadium.  That goes without saying and is obvious.  The money dedicated to upgrade the Citrus Bowl will be money the city of Orlando will quickly get back as most events FCS will be hosting, attract large number of tourist to our region.  

While I can't wait for our new home and stadium in 2016 for Orlando City, 2015 promises to be an exciting season on many levels for Orlando City, not the least of which is playing in this new state of the art Citrus Bowl.  My only concern is if club level seating is sold during Orlando City matches in the south end.  If that is the case, I hope those patrons understand the supporter culture and the fact that we will not sit down during the match.  Those new blue seats are nice, but they will get little to no use in the supporter sections.