Osceola County Stadium is an outdoor sports venue located in

Kissimmee, Florida Kissimmee ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Osceola County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 79,226. It is a Principal City of the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area, wh ...

, part of the wider Orlando City SC Training Ground at Osceola Heritage Park. Originally a baseball park, it was converted into a

soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi- ...

by Orlando City SC in 2019 to house the club's

MLS Next Pro MLS Next Pro is a men's professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer. It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and will expand to 28 in 2023. The league comprises 27 reserve sides for MLS clubs ...

reserve team

Orlando City B Orlando City B (or OCB for short) is an American soccer club that began play in 2016 and currently plays in MLS Next Pro. Owned by Orlando City SC and based at the Orlando City training facility in Kissimmee, the club plays its home games at Osce ...

ahead of the 2020 season. It had previously served as the home field for the Class A Florida State League's Kissimmee Cobras (1995–2000), Osceola Astros (1985–1994) and Florida Fire Frogs (2017–2019).

Renovations

The Osceola County Stadium and Complex underwent a significant renovation in 2003 at a price of US$18.4 million The renovation increased

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

, upgraded the press box, improved the clubhouses, and added "Autograph Alley" which is a popular feature of spring training events. In May 2019, the Florida Fire Frogs accepted a half-million-dollar buyout from the county to leave at the end of the 2019 season. The stadium will be redeveloped to be part of a larger training complex at Osceola Heritage Park for Orlando City SC of Major League Soccer to house its senior MLS team, USL League One reserve team and Development Academy. As well as the stadium, the training ground will also include four practice fields - three natural grass and one artificial turf - a fitness, training and recovery center; a players’ lounge; meal room and a film room as well as of office space for working staff and facilities to support media operations.

Other uses

The Houston Astros of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

used the site for spring training between 1985 and 2016. The Astros' lease with the ballpark ended in 2017. The Astros and

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

moved into The Ballpark of The Palm Beaches in

West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

in February 2017. The Osceola County Complex was also home of the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring where many hopeful future major league umpires went to learn the trade. Additionally, it hosts numerous amateur baseball events throughout the remainder of the year in conjunction with the United States Specialty Sports Association, Triple Crown Sports, World Baseball Federation, and Promotion Sports. The venue hosted the 1998 and 1999

Atlantic Sun Conference baseball tournament The ASUN Conference baseball tournament, sometimes referred to simply as the ASUN Tournament, is the conference baseball championship of the NCAA Division I ASUN Conference. Before the ASUN expanded to 12 members in 2021 (2022 season), the top six ...

s, won by Florida International and

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, respectively. In the mid-1990s Osceola County Stadium was planned to be the home of the yet-to-be named Central Florida team, a charter franchise of the United League (UL) which was a planned third league of

(MLB). Osceola County Stadium hosted the Johnsonville American Cornhole League (ACL) Championships in 2018.

Gallery

File:Osceola County Stadium complex.JPG, A view of additional fields at the complex, circa 2004

References

External links

* {{FSL ballparks Grapefruit League venues Minor league baseball venues Houston Astros spring training venues Baseball venues in Florida Sports venues in Greater Orlando Buildings and structures in Kissimmee, Florida Tourist attractions in Osceola County, Florida Sports in Kissimmee, Florida 1984 establishments in Florida Sports venues completed in 1984 USL League One stadiums Soccer venues in Florida