Venue News: Orlando City Breaks Ground on New MLS Stadium; NFL Teams Redefine In-Venue Experience

A new soccer tradition got underway Thursday night in Orlando, writes MLSSoccer.com. Thousands of Orlando City Soccer Club supporters gathered at Church Street Station in downtown Orlando to take part in a half-mile march toward their future home. Led by a drum line, smoke bombs and club and government dignitaries, they convened for a ceremonial groundbreaking at the site of a new soccer-specific stadium. In 18 months a new 20,000-seat stadium will rise in Orlando’s Parramore neighborhood, becoming the newest venue in Major League Soccer with 38 suites, 1,600 premium seats, and a unique standing-room section for supporters at one end of the venue…

…The NFL is a robust $10 billion dollar a year business. But now, many of the league’s 32 teams are facing a new challenge: getting fans off the couch and back in the stands, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann. The Jacksonville Jaguars are 0-6 this season and haven’t had a winning record since 2007. Their history of losing has hurt attendance, so this year the team decided to reinvent the experience of coming to a game, not unlike others in the NFL…

…Sochi Olympic stadium passed a FIFA inspection checking on Russian World Cup venues, according to Around The Rings. The Fisht Stadium in the Black Sea resort, which hosted February’s Winter Games, was recently visited by a FIFA delegation. FIFA inspection committee head Christian Unger expressed confidence in Russian football authorities, who are behind the conversion of the venue to a multi-sport venue fit to host World Cup games in four years’ time…

…By the 2017-18 NHL season, the Detroit Red Wings expect to be playing in a new downtown arena. It is around that same time that the building that they’ve called home since 1979 will be demolished, according to the Detroit Free Press. The City of Detroit announced a settlement with Financial Guaranty Insurance, the city’s largest holdout creditor, that will include “The Joe” and its ultimate demise…

…The city of St. Paul is poised to weigh in on the Minnesota Vikings stadium’s big bird problem, writes the Pioneer Press. The St. Paul City Council will vote next week on a resolution urging the Minnesota Vikings and the Minnesota Sports Facility Authority to design a bird-safe football stadium across the river in Minneapolis. Why would St. Paul care about using bird-safe glass on the other side of the Mississippi River? According to the resolution, which will be voted on Wednesday, St. Paul “plays host to many seasonal migrant bird species, who rely on the metropolitan area for critical stop-over habitat each spring and fall.”