The Florida Citrus Bowl (formerly Orlando Stadium , Tangerine Bowl and the Citrus Bowl ) is a stadium in Orlando, Florida, USA, built for 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.

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Capacity

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 held the stadium's all-time record for attendance of 73,358 until 2008. WrestleMania XXIV broke the record with an attendance of 74,635.

Surface

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. It hosted the USISL A-League Orlando Sundogs in 1997. Its most recent high-level soccer game was on January 13, 2008, between Chivas de Guadalajara of the Mexican Premier Division and Deportivo Cali of Colombian Professional Football. Chivas won, 2–1, before 15,121 fans. ^[1]

History

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 wide video screen. A new sound system, along with two full-color displays along the upper decks, was also added.

Football

The Citrus bowl has hosted several professional American football leagues unsuccessfully. The Orlando Renegades of the United States Football League played there in 1985. The Orlando Thunder of the WLAF played there in 1991 and 1992. The Orlando Rage of the XFL played there in 2001.

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.

Concerts

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 Van Halen and The Rolling Stones played together live, which occurred 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.

Running

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.

WrestleMania XXIV

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. ^[2] Despite the risks of an outdoor show, WWE chairman Vince McMahon has announced that the "show will go on, regardless of the weather." ^[3] 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. ^[4]

Tickets went on sale November 3 2007. ^[5] Over 41,000 tickets were sold in 60 minutes, making WrestleMania XXIV the highest-grossing event in the history of the Citrus Bowl. In the end, 74,635 Fans attended the event, smashing the previous Citrus Bowl record. ^{[6] [7]}

World Wrestling Entertainment CEO, Linda McMahon stated that WrestleMania could be brought back to the Citrus Bowl in the near future.

Future

In 2005, Orlando-area government officials and University of Central Florida officials 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 (16 km) 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 . The "Triple Crown for Downtown" agreement was approved by the Orlando City Council on July 26 2007.

Movies and television

The Citrus Bowl was a filming location for the 1998 Adam Sandler movie The Waterboy . In the film, the Citrus Bowl depicted both the home stadium of the fictional University of Louisiana Cougars as well as the venue of the climactic Bourbon Bowl game.

Exterior shots of the Citrus Bowl were used in the television series Coach, staring Craig T. Nelson as Coach Hayden Fox. In the show, the Citrus Bowl was the home stadium of the fictional Orlando Breakers franchise lead by Coach Fox.

References

1. Guadalajara 2-1 Deportivo Cali
2. WrestleMania 24 Coming To Orlando.
3. WrestleMania 24 will go on, even if it rains.
4. Orlando To Host WrestleMania 24 At Citrus Bowl In 2008.
5. What you need to know about WrestleMania XXIV
6. Mayweather gets pretty payday in another ring - Los Angeles Times
7. Columns - newsjournalonline.com