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The Orange County Register reported on Monday that the Orange County Great Park’s sports park will open to the public on Aug. 5 with a grand opening event.
Of concern to local soccer fans, the sports park includes a soccer stadium, with an ambitious name of Championship Stadium, to be used by Orange County SC, and the club announced later in the day that they will open that facility with their home game on Aug. 15 against Tulsa Roughnecks.
Our Home Opener at the new Orange County Great Park Championship Stadium is Aug. 15th!!
— Orange County SC (@orangecountysc) July 18, 2017
Get Your Tickets TODAY!!https://t.co/8QAUnsXJce
The opening will culminate in a nearly year-long process of moving from nearby UC Irvine’s Anteater Stadium, which in recent years had been the OC Blues’ home venue, to Orange County Great Park. After opening a pop-up temporary soccer stadium on May 6 near the permanent stadium, which was still under construction, the new venue will presumably become Orange County SC’s home for years to come.
The stadium will have 2,506 seats, according to the OC Register story, with an additional 2,500 capacity for seating in the grass, which may or may not be ready for opening day. At any rate, the last venue opening OCSC had went pretty well, with a 4-0 win over local rivals LA Galaxy II, so here’s hoping the Aug. 15 game against Tulsa goes similarly. One note: That game is on a Tuesday (kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 pm PT), so if you want to be part of history and check out the brand-new stadium, make sure you’ve planned accordingly for an unlikely night in the schedule.
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