MLS expansion club Orlando City SC President Phil Rawlins said the club has sold "just shy" of 7,500 season tickets for the '15 season, according to Paul Tenorio of the ORLANDO SENTINEL. The club "ended its month-long World Cup sale on Tuesday, taking calls until midnight, and surpassed the halfway point towards its cap of 14,000 season tickets." Rawlins: "It shows the tremendous interest soccer is generating in the community." Tenorio notes Orlando City "sold more than 5,000 season tickets in the first week of availability, and interest in the World Cup and the signing of Brazilian star Kaká drove sales over the next three-plus weeks." Orlando ranked as ESPN's "seventh highest-rated market for World Cup games." Rawlins said that the club "plans to make another push in season ticket sales towards the end of the USL PRO season in September, and then again after the holidays, when the team will likely have its MLS schedule to promote." Meanwhile, club officials have said that they "hope to break ground this fall" on the club's new soccer-specific stadium in downtown Orlando. The club "plans to cap the season ticket sales at 14,000 to ease the transition for ticket holders in the changeover" from the Citrus Bowl, where it will play in '15, to the new stadium when it opens in '16 (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 7/17).
