The U.S. will be at the center of the soccer world over next several years, with Orlando to play a big part in making it all work
Just last week, more than 100,000 fans descended upon New Orleans for this year's Super Bowl. New Orleans is a tourist town, so it knows how to host such events. Even so, there's nothing quite like a Super Bowl, right? The parties, the dining, the hotel stays, the economic opportunity – it all goes boom when an event like the Super Bowl comes to town.
Hosting such mass gatherings isn't easy. It requires infrastructure, investment and coordination from figureheads in various industries. The way Jason Siegel sees it, though, there's no city in the world better prepared to host those types of events than Orlando. After all, they seem to be doing it virtually every day.
"If you take the attendance at just the theme parks on any given day, we're hosting a Super Bowl every day of the year," he tells GOAL, referencing all of the attractions that bring millions in each year to Orlando and the surrounding communities.
Siegel is the President and CEO of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission, the organization tasked with bringing big events to the city of Orlando. His focus, especially, is on sports. And of late, that's really been soccer.
Over the last decade, Orlando looked to establish itself as a soccer city and, just as importantly, a worldwide destination for the sport. It starts with the local clubs, Orlando City in MLS and Orlando Pride in the NWSL, but that's just the base of it all. In 2024, Orlando hosted the U.S. men's national team multiple times. It hosted matches during the Copa America. Manchester City and Barcelona faced off in a friendly in the city, as did Club America and Atletico Nacional.
In fact, over the last several years, the city has hosted dozens of men's and women's soccer events, and that isn't stopping any time soon. It's all part of the plan to turn Orlando into a premier soccer destination, one that can be counted on to host games at the highest level each and every time.
ImagnA history of hosting
"Hospitality means something to all of us here," Siegel says. "It's in our DNA."
The stats back up those claims. There are few cities that host quite like Orlando, and fewer can do so every day like the city does. The city attracts 74 million visitors a year, which averages out to more than 200,000 a day, twice what New Orleans just had at the most recent Super Bowl. In the summer, during peak season, with all of the people physically in the city, Orlando would jump from the country's 15th largest market to the 11th on any given day.
It's not just theme parks, Siegel is quick to point out. Yes, DisneyWorld and Universal play a part, but the work he and his team have done to broaden Orlando's sporting horizons has also driven that tourism. WrestleMania, NCAA Championships, the Pro Bowl, March Madness, Olympic trials, Rugby World Cup, soccer – Siegel admits it feels like it's never ending. Even before the latest event ends, he and his team are back at work planning the next one.
"We serve the residents of this community," Siegel says. "Part of the equation is that we want the residents who live here to have incredible options of different events. Some are inexpensive to attend. Others have a different price point. Either way, regardless of time of year, we want to have lots of options for residents. We all have aggressive, unified personalities. We're hungry, and we've been building these relationships for a long time. We're aware of how sophisticated and competitive the landscape is and we just want to keep delivering."
One of the areas of emphasis is soccer. Orlando officials see the growth of the sport, and the city is determined to be at the forefront of it all.
AdvertisementIMGANGrowing a soccer city
For many, the sight of seeing the Orlando Pride hoist both major NWSL trophies in 2024 will have felt like a coronation. Just about a decade after both the men's and women's teams arrived at the top level of American soccer, Orlando had a champion. So much had been invested to get to this point. So many had worked hard to make it all happen.
Given the playoff runs by both the men's and women's teams in the city, 2024 marked the year Orlando truly arrived as a soccer city. That's now how it's felt from those who have been there, though. This has been a steady process, one built on the backs of the Wilfs, Kaka, Marta, Nani, Barbra Banda and anyone else who has done something to make that purple pop on the field.
"We're a soccer city, and I think that that is truly in our DNA," says Caesar Lopez, the COO of Orlando City, the Orlando Pride and the club's home, Inter&Co Stadium. "It shows in the type of players that are wanting to be here. It's less recruiting now and more trying to figure out who's the right fit. That's a good thing for us. We're still growing the game nationwide and soccer being successful is a microcosm of everything else that's happening across the nation. It's great, but, to me, Orlando is made to be a soccer city."
That, of course, includes the clubs, who established the groundwork for that culture, but a successful pro scene doesn't do it on its own. Given the growth of the game in America, and the infatuation with both European and South American soccer that has helped spurred that growth, it's been vital to welcome in outsiders, too, as only Orlando does.
To start, Orlando has made it a point to be a key base for both the U.S. men's and women's national teams. The men have played in the city every year since 2019, aside from the pandemic-hit 2020. The USWNT, meanwhile, has been in town four times since 2018. U.S. Soccer often uses Orlando as a base prior to playing road games in the Caribbean due to both the proximity to those games and the facilities available in the city and surrounding area.
Orlando, though, is defined by international flavor. Millions travel to the city from countries all over the world. Over the last several years, Arsenal, Chelsea, Juventus, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Barcelona have come over from Europe. On the women's side, England and Colombia have been brought in as USWNT opponents, while the men hosted Brazil just last year ahead of the Copa America.
In Siegel's eyes, being a "soccer city" isn't about succeeding in just one facet of the game, but proving you can be a destination for all of them.
"Whether it is at the grassroots level of the pro level, there's an unwavering, constant conversation about elevating everything," he says. "Listen, if it's good for soccer, it's certainly good for the two franchises, too."
Getty ImagesCollaboration is key
If there's one thing we can take away from last summer's Copa America, it's that this hosting stuff isn't easy. It requires and incredible amount of collaboration and communication from a city's worth of stakeholders. Security, ticketing, transportation, hotels, dining, entertainment – all have to be aligned. If not – well, you get what happened in Miami at the Copa America final.
Siegel says that Orlando's biggest strength, more than anything else that the are has going for it, is collaboration. Everyone, from all circles of this, is generally pulling in the same direction. For everyone involved, the end goal is the same: bring big events to the city of Orlando.
"If someone calls us and says they have an opportunity and can use our help, we can all collaborate and make this work together," he says. "That's the unique part of our city and out county and our region: we're willing to help and pull and push and pull to continue to elevate the experience for anybody who is coming into our market."
Orlando, obviously, has the infrastructure. There are more than 200,000 hotel rooms, timeshares or rental properties available in the region, so housing guests will never be an issue. The city has seven of the world's top 10 most popular theme parks, which gives guests plenty to do should they extend their stay. Beaches, shopping, other sporting events – the entertainment options are endless.
"The experience you have from the minute you step off the airplane until you see the bellhop at the hotel or resort, to the second that you're greeted at a theme park or an attraction or the minute you walk into one of our stadiums, it's a different vibe here," Siegel says. "We always are talking about positive outcomes and unbelievably real experiences with the way that a vacation destination makes you feel, it has to be the same when it comes to sports. We want to make sure that we're modeled so that, no matter where you go around this town, that it feels like that."
From a soccer perspective, Siegel is quick to point to the amount of base camps available for any team that does visit. Orlando City alone has the club's stadium as well as two training facilities. ESPN's Wide World of Sports is there, too. There are dozens of potential host venues across the local counties that are built to house teams.
There are options aplenty for teams looking to stay in the area, and those locations will have plenty of potential teams to host over the next few years.
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Looking ahead
For Siegel and the rest of his team, all eyes are on the 2025 Club World Cup. Orlando is the only one of the 11 host cities to have games played at two separate venues, with both Camping World Stadium and Inter&Co Stadium hosting matches this summer. Both will host two group stage games, including matches featuring, headlined by a clash between Juventus and Manchester City on July 26, while the larger Camping World Stadium will then go on to host a Round of 16 match and a quarterfinal.
There will be no World Cup game coming in 2026, but Orlando could still play a part in that summer's tournament. Orlando has been named as one of the Team Base Camps designated by FIFA, which means one of the world's top national teams could spend a large chunk of next summer preparing for the tournament in the city.
"Orlando has always been this melting pot, I think, of so many different communities with this passion for the game," said Lopiez. "It's a global game. What I get really excited about is seeing different types of events coming, day in and day out, year in and year out. We're able to fill this venue and really drive passion and excitement. It's nothing without the collaboration and community that we have to bring those types of events together."
Added Siegel: "I think one of the things that we hope resonates is that we are able to do big things."
Big things are coming to American soccer. There will be more opportunities for massive events in the years to come. The 2026 World Cup isn't the end, but just the beginning and, as those big moments come to the U.S., Orlando hopes to be at the center of more as they look to build out their own soccer community.