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Florida Citrus Bowl
Location	1610 W. Church Street Orlando, Florida 32805
Broke ground	1936
Opened	1936
Owner	City of Orlando
Operator	Orlando Centroplex
Surface	419 Bermuda Grass
Construction cost	$115,000 $38 million (renovation)
Former names	Orlando Stadium (1936-1946) Tangerine Bowl (1947-1975) Citrus Bowl (1976) Orlando Stadium (1977-1982) Florida Citrus Bowl (1983-Present)
Tenants
Capital One Bowl (NCAA) (1947-72, 1974-Present) Champs Sports Bowl (NCAA) (2001-Present) Florida Classic (NCAA) (1997-Present) UCF Knights football (NCAA) (1979-2006) Orlando Broncos (SFL) (1962-63) Orlando Panthers (CFL) (1966-70) Florida Blazers (WFL) (1974) Orlando Americans (AFA) (1981) Orlando Renegades (USFL) (1985) Orlando Thunder (WLAF) (1991-1992) Orlando Rage (XFL) (2001)
Capacity
10,000 (1936) 52,000 (1976) 65,438 (2002) 70,000 (2003)

The Florida Citrus Bowl (formerly Orlando Stadium, Tangerine Bowl and the Citrus Bowl) is a stadium in Orlando, Florida, USA, built for American football and currently seats around 70,000. Its main events are the Capital One Bowl and the Champs Sports Bowl. It also hosts the annual Florida Classic between Florida A&M University and Bethune-Cookman College. From 1979-2006, it served as the home of the UCF Golden Knights football team.

Contents 1 History 2 Future 3 References 4 External links

The stadium opened in 1936, with a capacity of 8,900. The first college football game was played on January 1, 1947. Catawba defeated Maryville 31-6. Two thousand seats were added in 1952. Five thousand more seats were added in 1968, along with the first press box. From 1974-76 the capacity was raised to 52,000. The current capacity of 65,438 was established in 1989, after a $38 million renovation that added the upper decks. In 1983, the Florida Department of Citrus was added as a title sponsor for the facility, at a price of $250,000. From 1999 to 2002, key stadium improvements included the addition of contour seating, two escalators, and a new 107-foot wide video screen. A new sound system, along with two full-color displays along the upper decks, was also added.

Now the stadium currently seats 65,438 people and can be increased to over 70,000 people with temporary bleachers in the north end zone. The temporary bleachers were last used for the 2005 Capital One Bowl, which had an attendance of 70,229. The Walt Disney World Florida Classic, a rivalry football game between Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman is held annually in November. The 2003 game holds the stadium's all-time record for attendance, 73,358. The Orlando Thunder of the WLAF played there in 1991 and 1992.

The playing surface is large enough for use in international soccer matches, and it was a venue for the 1994 World Cup. In 1996 Olympic soccer matches were held at the stadium. Several NFL preseason football games have been held at the stadium, most recently between the Buccaneers and Jets in 1997. Several neutral field regular season college football games have been held at the facility; notable games include Florida vs. Mississippi State and Florida State vs. Notre Dame on November 12, 1994.

Numerous concerts have been held at the stadium, including The Who, Genesis, Pink Floyd, George Michael, Paul McCartney, Guns N' Roses, Billy Joel/Elton John, and The Eagles. It was also the only venue where the two greatest live bands in rock played together, Van Halen opened for The Rolling Stones in October 1981. The Super Bowl of Motorsports monster truck event makes an annual January visit. The AMA Supercross Series holds an annual spring event. In July 2003, The Summer Sanitarium Tour 2003 made its stop in the Citrus Bowl featuring Metallica, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Deftones, and Mudvayne.

Drum Corps International has held its annual Drum & Bugle Corps World Championships at the Citrus Bowl four times in 1996, 1997, 1998 & 2003. The Corporate 5K Orlando road race has been based at the stadium for several years.

In 2005, Orlando-area government officials and University of Central Florida officials have expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the facility, which led UCF to move to a new on-campus stadium called Bright House Networks Stadium for the 2007 season. Since UCF is only a leasing tenant of the Citrus Bowl, they received minimal revenue from football games. They also have not liked the fact that the stadium is over ten miles from the campus.

City of Orlando officials are currently exploring a stadium refurbishment project. In 2004, the Capital One Bowl, held at the Citrus Bowl, bid to become a BCS game, but was not chosen, due to the stadium's aging condition. The Citrus Bowl also submitted a bid for the ACC Championship Game, but lost out to Jacksonville's Alltel Stadium. The key reasons for losing the bids are the lack of modern luxury boxes, bench seating, and capacity. If the stadium is rehabilitated, many experts believe that since Orlando is a large, tourist-based city with an abundance of hotel rooms, it could attract more events, including the Super Bowl. If it is not refurbished, many fear the stadium could eventually lose the remainder of their tenants, and risk being demolished.

The hopes for the Citrus Bowl became reality when, on September 29, 2006, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced an agreement on a $175-million expansion of the Citrus Bowl. It is part of the "Triple Crown for Downtown", a $1.1-billion plan to redo the Orlando Centroplex with a new $480-million arena for the Orlando Magic, a new $375-million performing arts center, and the Citrus Bowl improvements. Conceptual drawings for the possible improvements include enclosed concourses on the east and west sides of the stadium and additions to the north side that will finally complete the lower bowl [1]. The "Triple Crown for Downtown" agreement was approved by the Orlando City Council on July 26, 2007.

On March 21, 2007, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, and Central Florida Sports Commission President John Saboor held a press conference at the Orlando City Hall Rotunda announcing that the Citrus Bowl will host WrestleMania XXIV on March 30, 2008. Buddy Dyer and John Saboor stated that after six months of negotiations with WWE, the Commission managed to successfully recruit the 24th edition of the annual event to the city of Orlando. World Wrestling Entertainment officials were in Orlando at the beginning of the year to tour the Orlando Centroplex.

WWE and the city of Orlando plan to host festivities that will span over a five day period within the central Florida region bringing numerous branding opportunities and television coverage, leading up to the event at the Citrus Bowl.^[1] Despite the risks of an outdoor show, WWE chairman Vince McMahon has announced that the "show will go on, regardless of the weather."^[2] The Central Florida Sports Commission estimate WrestleMania XXIV will pump $25 million into the local economy while creating numerous jobs, and bring around 60,000 visitors to the city for the event.^[3]

Tickets went on sale November 3, 2007.^[4] Over 41,000 tickets were sold in 30 minutes, already making WrestleMania XXIV the highest-grossing event in the history of the Citrus Bowl. So far 46,000 tickets have been sold.^[5]

• Official Site of the Citrus Bowl
• Official Site of Florida Citrus Sports

Coordinates: 28°32′20.49″N, 81°24′9.91″W

Preceded by First Stadium	Home of UCF Knights football 1979-2006	Succeeded by Bright House Networks Stadium
Preceded by Ford Field	Host of WrestleMania XXIV 2008	Succeeded by TBD

Preceded by Rich Stadium 1995

Host of the Drum Corps International World Championship 1996 - 1998

Succeeded by Camp Randall Stadium 1999

Preceded by Camp Randall Stadium 2002

Host of the Drum Corps International World Championship 2003

Succeeded by Invesco Field at Mile High 2004

v • d • e Current NCAA Division I FBS college football bowl game stadiums

Alamodome (Alamo) • Aloha Stadium (Hawaiʻi, Hula) • Amon G. Carter Stadium (Armed Forces) • AT&T Park (Emerald) • Bank of America Stadium (Meineke) • Bronco Stadium (MPC Computers) • Cotton Bowl (Cotton) • Dolphin Stadium (Orange) • Florida Citrus Bowl (Champs Sports, Capital One) • Ford Field (Motor City) • Galena Park ISD Stadium (North-South Classic) • Georgia Dome (Chick-fil-A) • Independence Stadium (Independence) • Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (Gator)• LP Field (Music City) • Ladd Peebles Stadium (GMAC, Senior) • Legion Field (Papajohns.com) • Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (Liberty) • Louisiana Superdome (New Orleans, Sugar, BCS Nat'l Champ.) • Qualcomm Stadium (Poinsettia, Holiday) • Raymond James Stadium (Outback) • Reliant Stadium (Texas, East-West Shrine) • Rogers Centre (International) • Rose Bowl (Rose) • Sam Boyd Stadium (Las Vegas, All-American) • Sun Bowl Stadium (Sun, Texas v. Nation) • Sun Devil Stadium (Insight) • University Stadium (New Mexico) • University of Phoenix Stadium (Fiesta)

v • d • e WrestleMania venues
Allstate Arena • Caesars Palace • Citrus Bowl • Ford Field • Hartford Civic Center • Honda Center • Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena • Madison Square Garden • Nassau Coliseum • Pontiac Silverdome • RCA Dome • Reliant Astrodome • Rogers Centre • Safeco Field • Staples Center • TD Banknorth Garden • Trump Plaza • Wachovia Center

v • d • e Venues of the 1994 FIFA World Cup USA
Citrus Bowl (Orlando) • Cotton Bowl (Dallas) • Foxboro Stadium (Massachusetts) • Giants Stadium (New York/New Jersey) • Pontiac Silverdome (Detroit) • RFK Stadium (Washington, D.C.) • Rose Bowl (Southern California) • Soldier Field (Chicago) • Stanford Stadium (Northern California)