Orlando, Florida has a history of major events in sports. It has had a considerable measure of success in minor league sports as well, with teams winning several minor league championships.
Major league sports ClubSportLeagueVenueAverage AttendanceFoundedTitles Orlando City SC Soccer MLS Inter.co Stadium 20,573 2015 0 Orlando Magic Basketball NBA Kia Center 16,785 1989 0 Orlando Pride Soccer NWSL Inter.co Stadium N/A 2016 1 Orlando Storm American football UFL Inter.co Stadium N/A 2025 0 Orlando Pirates Indoor football IFL Kia Center N/A 2018 0 Orlando Valkyries Volleyball MLV Addition Financial Arena 5,000 2023 1
Orlando Magic (NBA)
Orlando is home to the Orlando Magic, an NBA professional basketball franchise that plays at Kia Center in downtown Orlando. The Magic hosted the 1992 NBA All-Star Game at the Amway Arena, and hosted the 2012 NBA All-Star Game at the Amway Center.
Orlando City SC (MLS)
Orlando City SC began play in Major League Soccer in 2015 as the league's 20th team. In 2022, Orlando City SC won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, U.S. Soccer’s National Championship, by defeating Sacramento Republic SC 3–0
The effort to bring an MLS expansion team to Orlando had been led by Phil Rawlins, who was working since 2010 to bring MLS to Orlando. MLS officially announced in November 2013 that Orlando would join MLS, after the club had received the necessary approvals from city and county officials to construct a new stadium. Orlando City plays in Inter.co Stadium in downtown Orlando, completed in 2017. They played their first and second seasons at the venue then known as the Orlando Citrus Bowl. Orlando had been previously considered for a Major League Soccer franchise following its 1994 World Cup success, but no willing investors were identified at the time.
Orlando has hosted the 1998 MLS All-Star Game, where the U.S. All-Stars beat the World All-Stars, 6–1, and the 2019 MLS All-Star Game, where Atlético Madrid defeated the MLS All-Stars, 3–0.
Orlando Pride (NWSL)
The Orlando Pride is a professional women's soccer team based in Orlando, Florida and operated by Orlando City SC. The team joined the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of women's soccer in the US, for the 2016 season, and has played in the venue now known as Inter.co Stadium since starting play. The Orlando Pride are the 2024 NWSL Shield Winners and the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League Champions.
Orlando Valkyries (PVF)
The Orlando Valkyries are an American professional indoor volleyball team based in Orlando, Florida. One of the seven charter members of the Pro Volleyball Federation, the Valkyries are set to begin play for the league's inaugural 2024 season. The Valkyries play their home games at Addition Financial Arena.
Orlando Monarchs(WPF)
The Orlando Monarchs are an American Softball team based in Orlando, Florida. Formerly the Texas Monarchs, they moved from Bobcat Softball Stadium to the University of Central Florida Softball Complex, where they are set to play their first season of Women's Professional Fastpitch in Orlando for the 2025 season.
College
The UCF Knights, the athletics teams of the University of Central Florida, compete in NCAA Division I. They joined the Football Bowl Subdivision in 1996, Conference USA in 2005, the American Athletic Conference in 2013, and the Big 12 Conference in 2023. The UCF Knights football team won the Conference USA championship in 2007 and 2010, and the American Conference championship in 2013, 2014, and 2017. Its women's soccer program has produced several high-profile players, including FIFA 100 honoree Michelle Akers. The campus features the Acrisure Bounce House for football and Addition Financial Arena for basketball, both built in 2007. Other facilities include Jay Bergman Field (baseball), the UCF Soccer and Track Stadium (soccer, track and field), and The Venue at UCF (women's volleyball).
Orlando also has Camping World Stadium (formerly known as the Tangerine Bowl, then Citrus Bowl). It was formerly the home of several different teams, and is currently the home of the Citrus Bowl game (historically the Tangerine Bowl game), the Cure Bowl, and the Pop-Tarts Bowl (created as the Florida Sunshine Classic, but never known by that name). It also hosts a regular season game called the Florida Classic between the NCAA Division I FCS football teams from Florida A&M University and Bethune–Cookman University, and the state's high-school football finals.
International soccer Orlando has hosted matches for several high-profile international soccer tournaments. In the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Orlando's Citrus Bowl hosted five matches—four group-stage matches and one Round of 16 match—with Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Morocco each playing multiple matches at the stadium. Each of the five games drew an attendance of over 60,000.
Orlando also hosted six group stage matches for the 1996 Summer Olympics men's soccer tournament—three each in Groups B and D—with an average attendance of over 20,000 per game. Orlando also hosted three Group E matches for the 1996 women's tournament, with similar attendance figures.
The Florida Cup started in 2015 and hosts international clubs from several European and South American countries at stadiums across central Florida, including Spectrum Stadium and Exploria Stadium.
In June 2016, Camping World Stadium hosted three group stage matches for the Copa América Centenario.
In October 2017, Orlando City Stadium, now known as Inter.co Stadium, hosted a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match for the CONCACAF fifth-round of qualifying (also known as the Hexagonal). The United States defeated Panama 4–0 in a push to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which ultimately failed.
In March 2018, Orlando City Stadium hosted two matches in that year's SheBelieves Cup, featuring the women's national teams of England, France, Germany, and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup winner, the United States.
As of February 2018, Orlando is one of 26 remaining potential host cities and Camping World Stadium is one of 29 remaining potential host venues in the United 2026 FIFA World Cup bid, the joint bid of the United States, Canada, and Mexico to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The final version of the bid will include 20–25 venues, selected from the original 49 in consideration.
Minor league and semi-pro teams
Soccer
The original iteration of Orlando City SC played in the third division USL Pro from 2011 to 2014. In 2010, Steve Donner formed Orlando Pro Soccer which was awarded a future United Soccer Leagues pro expansion slot for 2011. Later that year, Phil Rawlins moved the Austin Aztex FC to Orlando and formed Orlando City SC, beginning play in USL Pro in 2011. Orlando City won the 2011 USL Pro Championship, and the highest attendance in the league while playing at the Citrus Bowl during its first three seasons. 2014 saw a decline in attendance that resulted from being forced to move to a smaller venue at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Walt Disney World Resort during the renovation of the Citrus Bowl. After Orlando City SC joined Major League Soccer, the organization added Orlando City B to the Tier III United Soccer League (USL), which was eventually given Tier II status in 2017. The B team went on hiatus for the 2018 season and returned for the 2019 season in the new Tier III USL League One. City SC pulled City B out of USL1 after the 2020 season, and City B resumed play in 2022 in a new Tier III league, MLS Next Pro.
The Central Florida Kraze formed in the Premier Development Soccer League (later named Premier Development League), the highest amateur league (4th tier overall) in the United States soccer league system, in 1998. Playing in Orange and Seminole Counties, the team won the PDL championship in 2004. Orlando City eventually took over several youth soccer groups and the Kraze to form a unified soccer development system under their brand. Orlando City has since been represented by teams in several levels of the United Soccer Leagues, including the Super Y-League, Super-20 League and PDL.
Baseball
Professional baseball has been played in Orlando since 1919, primarily in the Class A Florida State League, until the Orlando Twins joined the AA Southern League in 1973. Tinker Field, named for baseball hall-of-famer Joe Tinker, was a historic baseball stadium next to Camping World Stadium (formerly called the Citrus Bowl), but was demolished in 2015, and was commemorated by a history plaza. It was formerly the spring training home of the Minnesota Twins (and the Washington Senators before they relocated to Minneapolis) and the AA Southern League affiliates of the Twins, Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
The Orlando area was home to spring training for one Major League Baseball team. The Atlanta Braves trained at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort. In 2017, the Braves Class A Advanced affiliate, the Florida Fire Frogs of the Florida State League, moved into Osceola County Stadium in Kissimmee. The Disney stadium hosted first-round (Pool D) games in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and two three-game series between for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2007 and 2008. As is common with spring training complexes in Florida, the stadium currently hosts the Braves' rookie league affiliate, the Gulf Coast Braves.
There had been a grassroots campaign to attract Major League Baseball permanently to Orlando, with initial speculation pointed to the group building an MLB-class stadium with private financing. However, the group has settled for attracting a Class-A minor-league team with a new stadium on International Drive. They announced they were discussing a possible purchase of the Tampa Yankees in 2010, but those plans fell apart when a potential stadium construction deal was struck down.
Ice hockey
In the 1990s, ice hockey became popular in Orlando, perhaps due to large influx of northerners to the city. In the 1993–94 NHL season, the Tampa Bay Lightning played four "home" games at the Orlando Arena, with a 1–2–1 record.
In 2011, an investment group announced that they were approved to lease Amway Center for a new franchise in the mid-level ECHL, which was formally awarded on November 1, 2011. Two weeks later, it was announced that they had received the blessing of previous owner Rich DeVos to revive the Orlando Solar Bears name. The team began play in the 2012–13 ECHL season, with their first game against the Florida Everblades in Estero, Florida, on October 12, 2012. Their home opener was October 20, 2012, also against the Everblades. The DeVos family eventually purchased the ECHL Solar Bears in 2017.
Women's football
Orlando is home to the Orlando Anarchy, a women's professional football team that plays in the WFA (Women's Football Alliance). The Orlando Anarchy have been playing since 2010, formerly known as the Central Florida Anarchy.
In 2018, the Anarchy won the WFA Division 3 National Championship.
Venues VenueCapacityOpenedOwnerTeamsAcrisure Bounce House44,2062007University of Central FloridaUCF FootballUCF Soccer and Track Stadium2,0001991University of Central FloridaUCF Soccer, Track and Field, and Cross CountryJohn Euliano Park3,9002001University of Central FloridaUCF BaseballAddition Financial Arena9,4652006University of Central FloridaUCF Basketball, Orlando ValkyriesThe Venue at UCF2,5001990University of Central FloridaUCF VolleyballUCF Softball Complex6002002University of Central FloridaUCF SoftballKia Center20,0002010City of OrlandoInter.co Stadium25,5002017Orlando City SCOrlando City SC, Orlando Pride, Orlando StormCamping World Stadium60,2191936City of OrlandoSeveral bowl and rivalry gamesESPN Wide World of Sports Complex8,0001997Disney ExperiencesUsed for sports tourism
Defunct or relocated teams