In "what may be the first deal of its kind," Orlando City Majority Owner & Chair Flavio Augusto da Silva "is asking investors from Brazil, China and elsewhere to pay $500,000 each for a stake in the stadium he is building near downtown Orlando," according to a front-page piece by Ken Belson of the N.Y. TIMES. In return, the foreign investors "receive annual dividends, two season tickets and something even more valuable: a green card that allows them, their spouses and sometimes even their children to live and work" in the U.S. The visa offer "is legal, and it uses a 25-year-old federal program, known as EB-5, that is under renewed scrutiny in Congress." da Silva is "marketing to foreigners not because lending is tight, but because lawmakers in Florida would not provide subsidies for the stadium." da Silva said, “It was a business decision." He "expects to raise about half the construction cost through the cash-for-visa program." This is a "new approach for sports teams looking for new ways to pay for stadiums without financial support from local communities." EB-5 financing "helped pay for infrastructure work connected to Barclays Center in Brooklyn, but not for the arena itself." When Florida lawmakers balked at approving a sales tax rebate, da Silva "turned to the EB-5 program, something Orlando’s mayor, Buddy Dyer, cheered." Dyer said the team’s solution “ended up being a win-win-win for everybody." The club said that it had "already attracted 30 investors," bringing in $15M, or 10% of the project’s cost. MLS Deputy Commissioner & President Mark Abbott said, "The league doesn’t permit this type of financing for clubs, but for stadium projects, we thought it was appropriate" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/17). In Orlando, Stephen Hudak notes the city has spent $11M "on land and site improvements for the stadium" and contributed $4.15M "to add sewer capacity" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 5/17).
