Sports in Orlando, Florida

Orlando, Florida, has a history of major events in sports. It has had a considerable measure of success in minor league sports as well, with teams winning several minor league championships.

Major league sports
Club Sport League Venue Average Attendance Founded Titles
Orlando City SC Soccer MLS Orlando City Stadium 32,847 2015 0
Orlando Magic Basketball NBA Amway Center 16,785 1989 0
Florida Fire Frogs Baseball FSL Osceola County Stadium 1,308 2017 0
Orlando Anarchy Football WFA Trinity Preparatory School — 2010 2
Orlando Predators Indoor football NAL Amway Center — 2019 0
Orlando Pride Soccer NWSL Orlando City Stadium N/A 2016 0
Orlando Solar Bears[1] Ice Hockey ECHL Amway Center 6,209 2012 0

Orlando Magic (NBA)
Main article: Orlando Magic

Orlando is home to the Orlando Magic, an NBA professional basketball franchise that plays at Amway Center in downtown Orlando. The Magic hosted the 1992 NBA All-Star Game at the Amway Arena, and hosted the 2012 NBA All-Star Game at the Amway Center.[2]

Orlando City SC (MLS)
Main article: Orlando City SC

Orlando City SC began play in Major League Soccer in 2015 as the league's 20th team. The effort to bring an MLS expansion team to Orlando had been led by Phil Rawlins, who was working since 2010 to bring MLS to Orlando.[3] MLS officially announced in November 2013 that Orlando would join MLS,[4] after the club had received the necessary approvals from city and county officials to construct a new stadium.[5][6] Orlando City plays in Exploria Stadium in downtown Orlando that was completed in 2017. They played their first and second seasons at the venue then known as the Orlando Citrus Bowl.

Orlando had been previously considered for a Major League Soccer franchise following its 1994 World Cup success, but no willing investors were identified at the time. Orlando has hosted the 1998 MLS All-Star Game, where the U.S. All-Stars beat the World All-Stars, 6–1, and the 2019 MLS All-Star Game, where Atlético Madrid defeated the MLS All-Stars, 3-0.

Major League Baseball

Orlando was a finalist in the 1993 MLB expansion. It lost to Miami and Denver. It was also a finalist in the 1998 MLB expansion, losing to Tampa Bay and Phoenix.

The Orlando area is home to spring training for one Major League Baseball team. The Atlanta Braves train at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort. In 2017, the Braves Class A Advanced affiliate, the Florida Fire Frogs of the Florida State League, moved into Osceola County Stadium in Kissimmee.

Orlando Anarchy (WFA)
Main article: Orlando Anarchy

Orlando is home to the Orlando Anarchy, a women's professional football team that plays in the WFA (Women's Football Alliance). The Orlando Anarchy have been playing since 2010, formerly known as the Central Florida Anarchy.

In 2018, the Anarchy won the WFA Division 3 National Championship.[7]

University of Central Florida Knights
Main article: UCF Knights

The UCF Knights, the athletics teams of the University of Central Florida, compete in NCAA Division I. They joined the Football Bowl Subdivision in 1996, Conference USA in 2005, and the American Athletic Conference in 2013. The UCF Knights football team won the Conference USA championship in 2007 and 2010, and the American Conference championship in 2013, 2014, and 2017. Its soccer program has produced several high-profile players, including FIFA 100 honoree Michelle Akers. The campus features Spectrum Stadium for football and CFE Arena for basketball, both built in 2007. Other facilities include Jay Bergman Field (baseball) and the UCF Soccer and Track Stadium (soccer, track and field).

Camping World Stadium, historically known as the Citrus Bowl, is the home of the Camping World Bowl (created as the Florida Sunshine Classic, but never known by that name) and the Citrus Bowl (historically the Tangerine Bowl). It also hosts regular-season football games for Jones High School, as well as the annual Florida Classic played between the NCAA Division I FCS football teams from Florida A&M University and Bethune–Cookman University, and the state's high-school football finals.

International soccer

Orlando has hosted matches for several high-profile international soccer tournaments. In the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Orlando's Citrus Bowl hosted five matches—four group-stage matches and one Round of 16 match—with Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Morocco each playing multiple matches at the stadium. Each of the five games drew an attendance of over 60,000.

Orlando also hosted six group stage matches for the 1996 Summer Olympics men's soccer tournament—three each in Groups B and D—with an average attendance of over 20,000 per game. Orlando also hosted three Group E matches for the 1996 women's tournament, with similar attendance figures.

The Florida Cup started in 2015 and hosts international clubs from several European and South American countries at stadiums across central Florida, including Spectrum Stadium and Orlando City Stadium.

In June 2016, Camping World Stadium hosted three group stage matches for the Copa América Centenario.

In October 2017, Orlando City Stadium hosted a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match for the CONCACAF fifth-round of qualifying (also known as the Hexagonal). The United States defeated Panama 4-0 in a push to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which ultimately failed.

In March 2018, Orlando City Stadium hosted two matches in that year's SheBelieves Cup, featuring the women's national teams of England, France, Germany, and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup winner, the United States.

As of February 2018, Orlando is one of 26 remaining potential host cities and Camping World Stadium is one of 29 remaining potential host venues in the United 2026 FIFA World Cup bid, the joint bid of the United States, Canada, and Mexico to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.[8] The final version of the bid will include 20-25 venues, selected from the original 49 in consideration.[9]

Minor league and semi-pro teams

Soccer
See also: Orlando City B

The original iteration of Orlando City SC played in the third division USL Pro from 2011 to 2014. In 2010, Steve Donner formed Orlando Pro Soccer which was awarded a future United Soccer Leagues pro expansion slot for 2011. Later that year, Phil Rawlins moved the Austin Aztex FC to Orlando and formed Orlando City SC, beginning play in USL Pro in 2011. Orlando City won the 2011 USL Pro Championship, and the highest attendance in the league while playing at the Citrus Bowl during its first three seasons. 2014 saw a decline in attendance that resulted from being forced to move to a smaller venue at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Walt Disney World Resort during the renovation of the Citrus Bowl.[10] After Orlando City SC joined Major League Soccer, the organization added Orlando City B to the Tier III United Soccer League (USL), which was eventually given Tier II status in 2017. The B team went on hiatus for the 2018 season and returned for the 2019 season in the new Tier III USL League One.

The Central Florida Kraze formed in the Premier Development Soccer League (later named Premier Development League), the highest amateur league (4th tier overall) in the United States soccer league system, in 1998. Playing in Orange and Seminole Counties, the team won the PDL championship in 2004. Orlando City eventually took over several youth soccer groups and the Kraze to form a unified soccer development system under their brand. Orlando City has since been represented by teams in several levels of the United Soccer Leagues, including the Super Y-League, Super-20 League and PDL.

Baseball
Main article: Florida Fire Frogs

Professional baseball has been played in Orlando since 1919, primarily in the Class A Florida State League, until the Orlando Twins joined the AA Southern League in 1973. Tinker Field, named for baseball hall-of-famer Joe Tinker, was a historic baseball stadium next to Camping World Stadium (formerly called the Citrus Bowl), but was demolished in 2015, and was commemorated by a history plaza.[11] It was formerly the spring training home of the Minnesota Twins (and the Washington Senators before they relocated to Minneapolis) and the AA Southern League affiliates of the Twins, Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

There had been a grassroots campaign to attract Major League Baseball permanently to Orlando, with initial speculation pointed to the group building an MLB-class stadium with private financing. However, the group has settled for attracting a Class-A minor-league team with a new stadium on International Drive. They announced they were discussing a possible purchase of the Tampa Yankees in 2010,[12] but those plans fell apart when a potential stadium construction deal was struck down.

The Disney stadium hosted first-round (Pool D) games in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and two three-game series between for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2007 and 2008. As is common with spring training complexes in Florida, the stadium currently hosts the Braves' rookie league affiliate, the Gulf Coast Braves.

Ice hockey
Main article: Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL)

In the 1990s, ice hockey became popular in Orlando, perhaps due to large influx of northerners to the city. In the 1993–94 NHL season, the Tampa Bay Lightning played four "home" games at the Orlando Arena, with a 1–2–1 record.

In 2011, an investment group announced that they were approved to lease Amway Center for a new franchise in the mid-level ECHL, which was formally awarded on November 1, 2011.[13] Two weeks later, it was announced that they had received the blessing of previous owner Rich DeVos to revive the Orlando Solar Bears name.[14] The team began play in the 2012–13 ECHL season, with their first game against the Florida Everblades in Estero, Florida, on October 12, 2012. Their home opener was October 20, 2012, also against the Everblades. The DeVos family eventually purchased the ECHL Solar Bears in 2017.[15]

Venues
Venue Capacity Opened Owner Teams
Spectrum Stadium 44,206 2007 University of Central Florida UCF Football
UCF Soccer and Track Stadium 2,000 1991 University of Central Florida UCF Soccer, Track and Field, and Cross Country
John Euliano Park 3,900 2001 University of Central Florida UCF Baseball
CFE Arena 9,465 2006 University of Central Florida UCF Basketball
The Venue at UCF 2,500 1990 University of Central Florida UCF Volleyball
UCF Softball Complex 600 2002 University of Central Florida UCF Softball
Amway Center 20,000 2010 City of Orlando Orlando Magic, Orlando Solar Bears
Orlando City Stadium 25,500 2017 Orlando City SC Orlando City SC, Orlando Pride
Camping World Stadium 60,219 1936 City of Orlando

Defunct or relocated teams

In 2000, the Orlando Rays moved from Tinker Field to Cracker Jack Stadium at the Wide World of Sports Complex. The Rays drew poorly at Disney and moved to Montgomery, Alabama, for the 2004 season. The Disney stadium has been mostly empty ever since.

The Women's National Basketball Association's Orlando Miracle played four seasons at Amway Arena (1999–2002). After 2002, when owners were permitted to sell their WNBA teams, the Miracle were purchased by Mohegan Sun casino and moved to become the Connecticut Sun. The semi-professional Orlando Aces played one season in the new revived American Basketball Association in 2006–07 before moving to Las Vegas.

The Orlando Titans of the National Lacrosse League moved to the city from New York City for the 2010 season. They folded after the season ended.

American football

Professional football in Orlando in goes back to the 1960s, when the Orlando Panthers played in the minor league Continental Football League. The Panthers won two CPFL titles in 1967 and 1968, but folded with the league after the 1969 season. In 1974, the World Football League was formed, and a franchise originally planned for Boston, then moved to the Washington, D.C. area, wound up in Orlando as the Florida Blazers. Despite playing before sparse crowds at the Citrus Bowl and not getting paid for weeks at a time, the Blazers won their division with a 14–6 record and qualified for the first and only WFL championship game, losing to the Birmingham Americans, 22–21. The franchise was relocated to San Antonio for the 1975 season, then quietly expired with the league in October of that year.

Since then, Orlando has hosted several professional teams in short-lived leagues. In 1985, the United States Football League's Washington Federals shifted to the Citrus Bowl and were renamed the Orlando Renegades. Despite a 5–13 record, the Renegades were one of the eight teams that stayed in the USFL for its projected fall season in 1986, but the league folded before any games were played that year. Next came the Orlando Thunder, a charter team in the World League of American Football in 1991 and 1992. They lost the World Bowl to the Sacramento Surge in 1992. Like all of the other the American-based teams, the franchise was dropped in the World League reorganization of 1995. Then came the Orlando Rage, a member of the XFL who also played at the Citrus Bowl. The Rage had the XFL's best record at 8–2, but were upset in the playoffs, and the XFL folded after the on season. The Citrus Bowl was once slated to host some of the games for the Florida team in the never launched All American Football League in 2008.

Orlando was one of the launch markets for the United Football League (UFL) in 2009. Orlando's team, the Florida Tuskers, was invested in by Stuart Sternberg, principal owner of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team, and played two of its three home games in the Citrus Bowl, and the third in Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. They compiled a perfect 6–0 record in the inaugural UFL season, before losing to the Las Vegas Locomotives in the championship game. Before the 2010 season, Sternberg sold his stake in the team and the Tuskers announced they would play all home games in Orlando. Its team was then purchased by Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Theismann. Before the start of 2011, the Tuskers moved to Norfolk, Virginia, and became the Virginia Destroyers.

The Lingerie Football League, a women's indoor football league now known as the Legends Football League, expanded to Orlando in 2010 with the Orlando Fantasy. They played their home games at the CFE Arena. The inaugural season had a 0–4 record under coach Kenny McEntyre, a former Orlando Predators' defensive specialist. The team folded after the 2012 season, before the league adopted its current name.

The most recent professional team in Orlando was the Orlando Apollos, which began play in 2019 as one of the eight founding members of the Alliance of American Football. The AAF folded before the end of its first season.

Orlando Predators (AFL)
Main article: Orlando Predators

The Orlando Predators first played in 1991 in the Arena Football League. The Predators created a rivalry with the Tampa Bay Storm called the War on I-4. The Predators won the ArenaBowl in 1998 and 2000, and also recorded the only shutout in AFL history in 1992.

After the original AFL folded in 2009, the Predators resumed play in 2010 in the revived Arena Football League reconstituted by a group of AFL and af2 franchises. The Predators played at the city-owned Amway Center until 2013, but in September 2013 the city of Orlando notified the Predators it was canceling their lease, because the low attendance numbers of 5,878 were in default of the lease's minimum provisions and because of the team's financial performance.[16][17] For the 2014 season, the Predators moved to the smaller CFE Arena on the University of Central Florida campus.[18] The team was then purchased by Westgate Resorts owner David Siegel during the 2014 season and the Predators moved back to Amway Center for the 2015 season.[19]

On October 12, 2016, the Orlando Predators announced they had suspended operations due to the reduced number of teams in the AFL and other pending disagreements with the league.[20] In 2019, former Predator Kenny McEntyre launched a new version of the team in the National Arena League.

Soccer

Minor league soccer has seen varying degrees of success in Orlando. The original Orlando Lions were formed in 1985, and played in the American Soccer League in 1988–90. A second incarnation played in the USISL from 1992–1995, winning the regular season title in 1992 and 1993.[21][22] Orlando made another attempt at pro soccer with the Orlando Sundogs, who played in the USISL A-League in 1997. They finished in the middle of the pack, but suffered poor attendance, and folded after one year. In 2008, Orlando hosted the Orlando Sharks of the Major Indoor Soccer League. After poor performance their first year, plans to shift to the new National Indoor Soccer League were eventually shelved.

Ice hockey
See also: Orlando Solar Bears (IHL)

The Orlando Solar Bears of the International Hockey League were formed in 1995 and were very successful, making the playoffs in each of its six seasons and qualifying for Turner Cup finals twice, losing both times, before finally winning the title in 2001. When the IHL folded after the 2000–01 season, Rich DeVos chose to fold the Solar Bears because his other team, the Grand Rapids Griffins, was moving to the American Hockey League (AHL) along with several other former IHL teams, but the AHL did not permit an individual to own multiple teams. In 2017, the DeVos family eventually purchased the revived Solar Bears that had been playing in the ECHL since 2011.[15]

In 2002, the Atlantic Coast Hockey League was formed with Orlando hosting one of the charter franchises, the Orlando Seals, which won their Commissioner's Cup in 2003; this made Orlando the only Florida city with two hockey championships. The Seals moved to the World Hockey Association 2 in 2003, then the Southern Professional Hockey League in 2004. The City of Orlando revoked their lease for the present Amway Arena, forcing them to sit out the 2004–05 season. They moved to Kissimmee and became the Florida Seals in November 2004. The team resumed play in the 2005–06 season, playing home games at the Silver Spurs Arena, making it to the President's Cup finals before losing to the Knoxville Ice Bears. On January 4, 2007, the Silver Spurs Arena evicted the Seals due to unpaid rent, causing the franchise to fold.

Other sports

Orlando is also the home to the NBA Pre-Draft camp, the NBA's Orlando Summer League, the MLB Winter Meetings, the NFL Annual Meeting, and since 2005, the PSP World Cup paintball tournament. They also host the final event of the extreme sport Dew Tour, the PlayStation Pro. Orlando hosted the Major League Baseball Draft for several years until 2009, when they moved to the studios of MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational is a PGA Tour tournament held at Bay Hill since 1966.

The Citrus Bowl hosted WWE's WrestleMania XXIV in 2008 and WrestleMania 33 in 2017. Amway Arena played host to WWE's Royal Rumble in 1990 and World Championship Wrestling's Bash at the Beach in 1994, as well as WWE's 2008 Hall of Fame ceremony, headlined by the induction of Ric Flair. The Amway Center has hosted the 2016 Royal Rumble and WWE's 2017 Hall of Fame ceremony. Orlando also hosted television tapings for WCW at varying times in the 1990s, both at Disney-MGM Studios and Universal Studios Florida. Impact Wrestling has also held a majority of its shows at Universal Studios. WWE's NXT brand is currently based out of Full Sail University in the nearby Winter Park suburb. The WWE Performance Center, the official pro wrestling school of WWE, is also located in Orlando. It served as the site of WrestleMania 36.

The annual Community Effort Orlando (CEO) is the second biggest fighting game tournament of the country. Having grown exponentially since its introduction in 2010, the event got over 4,000 attendees from more than 25 different countries in 2016.[23][24] Its Street Fighter tournament has been part of the Capcom Pro Tour since its start in 2014.

In 2020, the remaining games of the 2019-20 NBA season were arranged to be played in the NBA Bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando suburb Bay Lake, Florida.[25]

Famous athletes

Many major athletes are from Orlando, such as:

Orlando is home to many notable athletes former and present, including:

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See also

References
  1. "ECHL Attendance Down 2%; Ontario (CA) Reign Lead In Final Season With League", May 12, 2015.
  2. AP NEWS. 20 September 2018 https://apnews.com/986f66e688d24fe38b59f7044b2b8d3e. Retrieved 16 October 2018. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. Simon Borg (October 25, 2010). "Investors targeting MLS club for Orlando". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  4. "MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER AWARDS EXPANSION TEAM TO ORLANDO". orlandocitysoccer.com. Orlando City Soccer Club. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  5. Schlueb, Mark; David Damron (October 22, 2013). "'We are going MLS!' Pro soccer stadium is coming to Orlando". Orlando Sentinel.
  6. Straus, Brian (September 13, 2013). "MLS expansion team likely heading Atlanta's way". Planet Fútbol. Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on May 13, 2014.
  7. "GAME PHOTOS: Congrats to the 2018 Division 3 Champions Orlando Anarchy". July 28, 2018.
  8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwIMh5BEuPU
  9. "United Bid Committee Starts Outreach for FIFA 2026 WC Host Cities". www.ussoccer.com.
  10. http://dohertysoccer.com/2014-lower-division-american-soccer-attendances/2014-usl-pro-season-attendance-log/
  11. Kelly, Jason. "Orlando breaks ground on Tinker Field history plaza". WFTV.
  12. http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/sports/mlb/report-tampa-yankees-to-move-to-orlando-090110
  13. "ECHL approves Orlando for hockey franchise".
  14. "They're back! Orlando franchise in ECHL to be called Solar Bears".
  15. "Magic, DeVos family will buy Orlando Solar Bears". Orlando Sentinel. May 3, 2017.
  16. Orlando Sentinel, Orlando Predators lose their Amway Center lease, Sep. 4, 2013, http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-09-04/business/os-predators-football-default-20130904_1_orlando-predators-brett-bouchy-the-predators
  17. Sports Business Daily, Orlando Terminates AFL Predators' Amway Center Lease, Citing Attendance Figures, Sep. 6, 2013, http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2013/09/06/Franchises/Orlando-Preds.aspx
  18. Orlando Sentinel, Orlando Predators leaving downtown to play at UCF, Dec. 5, 2013, http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-12-05/news/os-orlando-predators-ucf-20131205_1_orlando-predators-jacksonville-sharks-brett-bouchy
  19. "Predators ink lease at Amway Center".
  20. "The Orlando Predators have chosen to suspend team operations". Orlando Predators. October 12, 2016. Archived from the original on October 13, 2016.
  21. http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1992.html#USISL
  22. http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1993.html#USISL
  23. Richardson, Matthew (2016-06-01). "3 new things coming to Orlando's biggest video game tournament". Orlando Business Journal.
  24. Alphonse, Craig (2016-06-23). "Community Effort Orlando is What it Sounds Like". Red Bull.
  25. Press, By Tim Reynolds | The Associated. "NBA Board of Governors approves 22-team restart of 2019-20 season". NBA.com.
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