Three Ways to Enjoy Away Matches

While game days are always fun, it’s easy to let the depression set in when you realize you don’t get to watch it from the purple plastic seats of Orlando City Stadium. Fear not, there are plenty of ways to support our Lions while they’re on the road.

City Pubs

Orlando City Soccer Club officially partnered with local pubs to bring you not only away games, but home matches as well. Unfortunately, the website hasn’t been updated in some time, but here’s what fans could expect from City Pubs last season. Because the following pubs were official partners, they agreed to take part in the following:

• Showing all home and away matches with sound.
• Having Heineken offered at a discount on game days.
• Hosting away game watch parties.

Again, this is last season’s information as the site hasn’t been updated at the time of publishing, but I’ll edit as more information is received. In the meantime, here’s a list of the official pubs from last year:

• Elixir.
• Lion’s Pride.
• Yard Bar.
• Wall St Plaza.
• The Hammered Lamb – Ivanhoe District.
• Liam Fitzpatrick’s – Seminole County.

Do you have a favorite bar or restaurant to catch the away games? Let us know where and why in the comments below.

Convenient Vacations

This one obviously won’t work for everyone, but if you’ve got the time, a trip to see the guys on the road is sure to be fun. My husband is a teacher and I am a school librarian, so we have breaks throughout the year. The first thing we did when the schedule came out was look at which matches would work for us to get away.

We chose to go to a game in June against Atlanta United FC last season for our first ever away match. That was quite the experience. We went with Atlanta fans and were a rare splash of purple among the red and black. The fun part of away games? Getting to experience what other supporters call home. I love our stadium and couldn’t wait to experience another club’s, especially one that is so talked about. I will admit, air conditioning in June in Atlanta was a nice luxury, as were the low concessions prices, but Mercedes Benz Stadium decorated for Atlanta United was underwhelming.

We sat in the upper 300 level in the front row and felt so disconnected from the action. The sound bounces off all the walls, making everything hard to hear, but we’re trying club seats this time, so maybe that will make a difference. I will also admit, taking the MARTA into the stadium was nice. It was packed with fans from all over the city making their way to the game. We met an Orlando native on the train that said he missed the intimacy of a soccer-specific stadium, which was interesting to us. The MARTA crowd was friendly and fun and I long for the day that SunRail will at least operate on match days.

Like I said, traveling to experience the other side isn’t an option for a lot of people. We take these as vacations and take the time to explore the new cities and surrounding areas. We’ve moved all of our regular monthly bills and expenses to reward cards so we can accumulate miles and hotel stays. We’ve seriously done this just to be able to add another away game to the list this season.

Comfort of Home

For some reason, I only really enjoy crowds at the actual stadium so I love watching away games at home. Tomorrow’s match will be available for viewing on YouTube TV, ESPN+, and My65. Watching at home is great for a variety of reasons. Sure, you could lounge around in your pajamas or house clothes, but in this household we get game day ready like we would for home games. Last summer, we were in New York City and had a game streaming on our phones before, during (intermission), and after Hamilton. Back to watching at home, you can invite friends over and have your own watch party with food and drinks of your choosing instead of being limited to a menu. Or you can skip inviting the friends over and cry alone, whether they be tears of joy or heartache. We’re betting on joy this season. I did vow to remain positive, after all.

I’m truly interested to know how others spend their time watching away games. Do you have a tradition or a favorite spot? Don’t be shy and let us know.