ORLANDO, Fla. (June 14, 2016) – Orlando City returns to Major League Soccer (MLS) play on Saturday, June 18, at Camping World Stadium. In light of the tragic events affecting the City of Orlando and its LGBT and Latino communities, the match against the San Jose Earthquakes will be dedicated to bringing our community together to support #OrlandoUnited efforts.
“Our city has endured dark moments in the past couple of days following two horrific acts of violence, and we are looking forward to using the influence of our sports team to bring some positivity into people’s lives,” said Orlando City SC Founder and President Phil Rawlins. “We are in the midst of tirelessly working to create a memorable gameday experience to honor the memories of our brothers and sisters on Saturday.”
In a joint collaboration across sports teams in Central Florida, MLS’s Orlando City, NWSL’s Orlando Pride, NBA’s Orlando Magic, ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears and AFL’s Orlando Predators are joining forces to sell #OrlandoUnited branded t-shirts with all net proceeds benefiting the City of Orlando’s OneOrlando Fund – OneOrlando.org. For more details on purchasing the t-shirts please visit here.
In addition, fans can purchase commemorative gameday posters available at the stadium on Saturday for suggested $5 donations and participate in game-worn jersey auctions with 100 percent of proceeds benefiting OneOrlando.org. Further details of the auctions will be announced at a later date on our Club’s social media channels.
"Our partners at Orlando Health have all the blood stock they need at this time, they have also been in touch with One Blood who are also full but would encourage donors to give in the coming months,” added Rawlins.
Aside from the different ways fans can get involved, Orlando City’s game will be fully dedicated to the victims with special patches and t-shirts for players during walkouts, pre-game recognitions of first responders and support service personnel, as well as ticket donations for these groups. A commemorative section of the stadium will be blocked and dedicated to each victim. Orlando City will also stop live play during the game to implement a 30-second moment of silence, a first for MLS.
Orlando City Foundation, the Club’s community arm, has also pledged a $100,000 donation to OneOrlando.org.
In addition, a permanent commemorative memorial will be designed in Section 12 of the Club’s new stadium set to debut in 2017, encompassing rainbow seats representing each victim. The Club will also join as the title sponsor for Orlando Pride Week in October of this year.
