Orlando City Soccer fans are used to walking a few blocks to get to the games at Inter&Co Stadium. You can certainly pay a premium to park on someone’s Parramore lawn or behind a random warehouse, but most people opt to use a parking garage downtown and hoof it a mile instead; pinching those pennies to use for a beer when they eventually get there. But a large portion of soccer lovers prefer to pedal to the game.
“It’s just easier than having to deal with all of the traffic before and after the game. I live in College Park and can just bike straight here, chain up by my entry gate, and walk straight in. It’s awesome.”
– T. CAMPBELL
But cyclists were surprised at the home game opener by a new security layout that made it all but impossible to access the stadium’s bike racks. Security checkpoints were moved away from the gates where they were located last year to the periphery of the stadium property, on the public right-of-way along the sidewalks, where cyclists were told they needed to chain their bikes somewhere off-property to trees, light posts, and fences; outside of security.
“I’ve had my lights stolen multiple times while enjoying a game, and that’s when my bike was chained up in front of a security gate. I’m kind of dreading the end of the game and seeing what’s left on my bike when I get back out here.”
– T. MURPHY
We spoke with Orlando City about the new security protocols and to see what that could mean for the future of cycling to the games.
“This was obviously our first go with the new security upgrades in place and, with those, our stadium perimeter has increased to now include the hardscape outside the stadium. A not-expected factor in that was the bike racks being inside the security perimeter on certain sides of the stadium, meaning if people wanted to lock their bikes up, they would have had to “enter” the stadium but, they obviously can’t “bring their bike into the stadium” due to rules. (Church & Central still have/had racks available outside the perimeter). That being said, our group is aware of that hiccup for Game 1 and we are working to slide some of the perimeter so bike racks will be available, outside the stadium perimeter. All-in-all, it wasn’t intentional and we are working to address for future games.”
– JACKIE MAYNARD, ROCKSTAR AND SENIOR DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND PR, ORLANDO CITY SOCCER AND ORLANDO PRIDE
So there you are. They’re working on it and it’s still the best way to get to the game.
