Orlando City SC has given away more than 110,000 car magnets this season, and the decals "have become wildly popular," as they can be seen on vehicles "all over the city," according to Iliana Limon Romero of the ORLANDO SENTINEL. Orlando City Founder & President Phil Rawlins was "quick to credit" the club's marketing and social media teams for "turning what they initially thought was 'another crazy idea' into something fans were eager to collect and display." Rawlins said, "We started to come up with more and more ingenious ways to do it. ... They made it something fun. And then when it became fun for people to collect them or come and get them or find them or steal them off a truck." Romero noted Orlando City created "Magnet Monday," informing fans they could "stop by the Lions' offices on Monday to pick up free magnets." Orlando City "started handing the magnets out at the end of games this season," and now, the club has "transitioned to placing them on cars" in the parking lots surrounding the Citrus Bowl (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 5/17).
SOCIAL NETWORK: The SENTINEL's Marco Santana wrote Orlando City SC Dir of Digital Media Ed Cahill "represents a change in how professional-sports teams interact with fans, often allowing real-time feedback through social-media accounts that do not have an offseason." Cahill said, "A lot of teams and organizations want to be edgy and push the boundaries. But you have to understand that there is a line you can't cross" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 5/16).
