Orlando City Soccer Club Inaugural Match
We were very lucky to snag tickets to the hottest ticket in town last weekend, when Orlando City Soccer Club opened their inaugural MLS season against the New York Football Club.
The Orlando City media team did a wonderful job all week leading to the game with communicating with fans about transportation options for getting to the Citrus Bowl. Additionally, OCSC went above and beyond to alleviate traffic concerns by arranging for free Lynx bus rides from downtown Orlando to the stadium, free SunRail service to downtown Orlando, and free tolls on 408.
We arrived at our pre-paid parking lot (M) by 11:30am (lots opened at 11) and began our tailgating crusade, while passing time until the fan zone opened outside the stadium at 2pm. The tailgating and parking area was especially friendly and clean. However, the lots did not contain any portable bathrooms, which provides a problem when asking for folks to arrive as early as we did. 
The fan zone area outside the stadium was packed both inside and outside of their designated area with activities and things to see/do by the team’s sponsors. Highlights included purple headband/hair giveaways by Microsoft, EA FIFA soccer demos, and music played next to the Heineken vendor area, which sold $10 tallboys that came with a hard Solo type cup with Inaugural game graphics.
The Citrus Bowl itself looked wonderful post upgrades and construction. It was a pleasure to sit in real seats while having access to many vendors inside. However, ushers and security seemed to be few and far between, and overwhelmed by the record breaking crowd of 62,500.
Everything about the match was wonderful, down to the opening ceremonies and genuine appreciativeness of the fanbase around us. The Wall were amazing the entire match, and kept the energy up for fans around them. The team played an aggressive and energetic 90 minutes plus and in the end came out with a tie score of 1-1. Kaka showed why he is worth the big bucks and instantly became the hero of the city. If the team keeps up feeding their rabid fanbase with quality matches, it is certain that Kaka will soon overshadow Orlando’s previous sports hero, Dwight Howard.
Tickets for remaining matches are going fast and season tickets are almost at the 14k mark. For those interest in upcoming matches and purchasing tickets, visit http://www.orlandocitysc.com/.
