Drive harder bargain on downtown soccer venue
Just when you thought Central Florida had gotten past its venues battles, the city’s minor-league soccer team has kicked off a new one by asking for its own taxpayer-subsidized stadium.
The Orlando City Soccer Club wants a $110 million, soccer-only facility downtown so it can join Major League Soccer as an expansion franchise. The team is offering to put up $30 million for the18,800-seat stadium, but wants taxpayers to cover the rest.
We’d love to see a second bigleague sports team in Orlando.
It would expand Central Florida’s array of entertainment options for residents and visitors alike. It would be a new source of civic pride for the region. It would raise Orlando’s profile among soccer fans around the nation and in Latin America. It would add momentum to the city’s effort to revitalize its core. It would boost area businesses. So much to like.
But for a region that already has committed $1.1 billion in public funds to build other sports and cultural venues, and is still struggling to recover from the Great Recession, Orlando City’s offer is too tight-fisted.
The team is counting on legislators to raise $30 million in state dollars for the stadium by expanding a tax break already provided to other professional sports franchises in Florida. It’s fair to make the same deal available to big-league soccer teams.
Orlando City also wants $25 million from Orange County’s tourist tax. Granting the club’s request would reduce by $2.8 million a year the money available to Visit Orlando, Central Florida’s lead tourism marketing agency, but not until the 2018-19 budget year. It wouldn’t eat into the tourist-tax proceeds earmarked for building the performing-arts center or renovating the Citrus Bowl and Orange County Convention Center.
Visit Orlando’s tourist-tax funding is projected to keep growing in later years, even after Orlando City takes its cut. And directing some dollars to the soccer team could do as much or more to draw tourists to Central Florida — especially if the franchise carries out its plan to sign a top Brazilian player.
Finally, the team wants Orlando to put up $25 million in cash and land. This is where things get tricky.
The city plans to pull $29.5 million from its reserves this year to balance its budget. Orlando doesn’t have a spare $25 million to hand over to a soccer franchise — especially one that is now backed by a wealthy owner, Brazilian entrepreneur Flavio Augusto da Silva. He needs to dig deeper into his fortune to ease the burden on the city’s cash-strapped government and its taxpayers.
Orlando also should insist on other conditions from the team before ground is ever broken for a new soccer stadium. The team should guarantee to cover any construction cost overruns, and the bill for any future expansion of the stadium. It should commit to remain in Orlando for at least 25 years, as the Magic did before the Amway Center was built.
Adeal for a new big-league team in Orlando is worth pursuing, but only if the price is right.