Orlandome-Basketball Configuration
Orlandome-Citrus Bowl ConfigurationA reader from Orlando had suggested a new multipurpose stadium for Orlando. The city is proposing a new Orlando Magic arena and a $175 million dollar upgrade to the Citrus Bowl, which is rarely used. The suggestion was to create a multipurpose dome for both the Orlando Magic and the Citrus (oh wait, I mean Capital One) Bowl.
Unfortunately, the multi-purpose dome format for football and basketball has beentried several times and has never been successful. The Spurs played at the Alamodome for 11 years and got a new arena. The Pistons played at the Silverdome for 10 years and got a new arena. The Raptors played at the SkyDome for 3 years and got a new arena. The Supersonics played at the Kingdome off and on for a while, then quit. The Timberwolves played at the Metrodome and got a new arena. Convincing the Magic to commit to this would be next to impossible
The major problem with the football to basketball set up is that so many seats tend to be miles from the court, and suites are throughout the whole building, not concentrated near the court end. A typical NBA Arena has about 40-50 rows of seats, while a typical football stadium has 70-80. Plus, seats in a football stadium are so spread out that they aren't necessarily directed at the court.
For the Magic to be prime tenants of such a building, their needs would come first. You can no longer build a football stadium and plop a basketball court on the floor, put up some temp bleachers and call it good. All that said, I think a good basketball/football hybrid can be constructed. If one can tighten the football playing field up to get it less than 250 feet across, then retractable bleachers can fill some floor space to create a decent basketball seating arrangement.
So this is my Orlandome; the idea was to create an arena setting first for the Magic, while being expandable for the Citrus Bowl. This stadium would seat 19,800 for basketball and 60,000 for football. The lower 23 rows of the football bowl on the sidelines would retract, while the lower 23 rows of seating on the West end would push Eastward 315 feet and lock in to form a complete bowl withthe Eastern end zone stands. These stands would be accessed by a temporary elevated walkway connected to the main walkway and a larger portal shown in dark grey. Eight rows of seats would also retract from the bottom of this bowl (shown in grey) to form a perfect bowl for hockey, and this would also work for basketball, which is often played on a hockey rink floor. 99 suites would be in the building, and 78 (shown in light blue) would have a good view of a basketball game, surrounding the court on three sides, at the lower, club, and suite levels. Club seats (shown in gold) would also be accessed from the club level. Finally, a smaller balcony would be used on the basketball end of the dome, with 12 rows, instead of 31 rows like the rest of the stadium. The thick blue line would indicate where curtains would go, creating a true arena atmosphere. The arena in basketball configuration would have 50 rows of seats on the North,East, and South side of the court, and 31 rows on the West side, which is not nearly as asymmetrical as other dome setups. Converting back to a football seating arrangement would involve:
1. Folding up the retractable grey seating closest to the floor
2. Removing the temporary elevated walkway
3. Moving the West end zone stands back to their original position
4. Unfolding the lower sideline stands.
The Basketball Court could be moved to the West end of the dome and utilize the large balcony for a Final Four, and gain increased seating for approximately 35,000
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