Orlando City Officially Announces New USL Franchise: Orlando City B

Orlando City announced Thursday that the club’s new USL club team will be called Orlando City B and made it official that the club will play its home games at Eastern Florida State College. The team’s logo, color, and branding are in line with the MLS club.

Eastern Florida State College only has a seating capacity of about 1,500, which is well below the minimum 5,000 capacity set by USL. The club said they will use augmented seating to boost seating to 3,500 in the first year. Some of those additions will include a supporters' section behind the goal for the Facebook group Harbor City Hooligans, which has already been formed.

The club and EFSC will share the financial responsibilities in adding the seating, Director of Player Development Tim Holt said.

The club also announced that it has been formally granted the rights to a USL franchise, which was seen as a formality.

In addition, Orlando City B introduced five players that will be part of the squad. Current Orlando City player Tommy Redding will be on the roster, as will homegrown academy player Raul Aguilera, Irish international center back Kyle Callan-McFadden, defender Mikey Ambrose and midfielder Tony Rocha.

Holt said the primary driver of OCB will be to develop players to eventually make the jump to the MLS team, but the team is also hoping to continue the winning tradition Orlando City had in its previous four years in the USL.

"OCB will have an immediate impact in the advancement of our young and emerging players by offering week-in, week-out action in the highly-competitive USL, serving to accelerate their development," Holt said.

While some fans may not like the team name, the club wanted to follow the modern structure of Europe in naming the USL side.

"We've done this in the historic tradition of clubs around the world whose second teams carry the name B, such as FC Barcelona which has Barca B, Benfica with Benfica B, Portugal Porto with Porto B," Holt said. "So we're following in that historic tradition. At the same time, that's not something that is currently in play in USL. So it's a little bit unique to the United States. We think it fits us very well."

One of the reasons Orlando City selected ESFC was for its facilities. Titan Soccer Complex has a field with full-size dimensions and is a grass field.

Tickets will go on sale for the 2016 season on Oct. 20, but Orlando City MLS season ticket holders can purchase them now.

Polling Closed