Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium [Renovation Completed]

[Universe_Explorer]

On 9/7/2018 at 8:33 PM, orlandouprise said:

Agree about the park. The CW Stadium now wants 60M more for reno. This place is a money pit and still looks like a high school stadium for all the money spent on it.  Bulldoze it and put a state-of-the art NFL quality retractable roof stadium for goodness sake and stop wasting money of this thing. I honestly believe ORL can bring Shad Kahn and the Jags if we did this.

The 60M additions make the stadium eligible for College Football Playoffs, a better option for the World Cup, and potentially (if the NFL ever softened their stance on cities with franchises) the Super Bowl. Although it's my least favorite of the "venues" funded by TDT dollars, it is far from being a money pit - it's actually the only one that makes money. The Pro Bowl has been a success despite terrible luck with weather, the college football kickoff games have been essentially an additional sold out bowl game, and in the last couple years Jay z, Beyonce, the Eagles, Jimmy Buffet, the Rolling Stones, and Guns'N'Roses have sold out shows there. Without the existing renovations we probably couldn't even have kept the original citrus bowl (or whatever they call it now), let alone all of that.  The TDT accounts are overflowing, the laws still don't let the money go to other things people may find more appropriate, and every time this stadium fills up so do hotel beds, restaurants, etc.  I'm all for it

[orlandouprise]

ok, the account is overflowing...why not bulldoze and build something nice with that money? For all that's being spent it still looks like a high school stadium

[AndyPok1]

The only part that looks high school is the upper level because of the concrete.  Everything else looks just like a 60k stadium you'd find anywhere else.

Granted, I'm with @HankStrong on this.  If it isn't horseshoe shaped, it doesn't matter

[HankStrong]

You can't polish a turd, but you can rub it in glitter.

Just look at the Jaguars stadium (Google says it is called "TIAA Bank Field" now) which is on the remains of the old Gator Bowl.  It was almost totally demo'd for the 1994/95 conversion, but it is still a horrible stadium that didn't really improve on the 1920s era stadium it replaced.  A real stinker of a NFL stadium.  Having been to about 1/3 of the stadiums in the NFL, this is definitely the worst I've experienced for a real NFL team.  That said, the CW stadium is miles behind Jax in quality.  That's remarkable with the money they've dropped into it.  I've been to both Pro Bowls here and it is a mockery, no matter how much I love being able to go to something I never thought I'd be able to go to.

As @AndyPok1 said, this junky appearance mainly falls on the upper deck.  I will throw in the statement of the upper deck AND the facilities beneath.  The restrooms are garbage.  The concessions are on par with my high school stadium (and that was forever and a day ago ) and while that sounds like a joke, it definitely isn't.  The pro shop being a semi-fenced in area near a gate is likely due to no one actually calling this stadium HOME but they need to do better than that.

I should throw a caveat that several of the NFL stadiums I've been to have been replaced (The RCA dome in Indy, Riverfront in Cincinnati, Cleveland Municipal in Cleveland, Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, and the Georgia Dome in Atlanta) but I'm still calling those way better than Jax.

[AndyPok1]

Don't get me wrong, I've been to beautiful stadiums over the years.  I'm not measuring on that level.  Jax and Miami are pretty equal to me... not a single redeeming factor to them.  But they're good enough for CFP and NFL.  That's all I care about.

[spenser1058]

The TDC has agreed to TDT funding for upgrades to the Citrus Bowl ($60m), PULSE Foundation ($10m) and Harriet's Orlando Ballet Centre ($4m).

It's up to the OC Commission for final approval.

Camping World Stadium in line for $60 million in upgrades, 4 years after major renovation
http://bit.ly/2OII1MS

From the Sentinel

[spenser1058]

I guess I haven't been paying attention lately or I've just forgotten but I was a little surprised to see when checking out how many folks could actually fit in the stands today at RayJ that it holds just a tad more than the Citrus Bowl: 65,890 vs 65,000.

[dcluley98]

I believe that Campy-Land technically has less capacity at like 60,000, but can increase to 65,194 for special events like the bowl games given that they designed the North Terrace for temporary stands . 

[HankStrong]

It is still a very backwoods place to go to a game.  Horrible bathrooms.  Horrible concessions. 

[spenser1058]

1 minute ago, HankStrong said:

It is still a very backwoods place to go to a game.  Horrible bathrooms.  Horrible concessions. 

I haven't been to the bathrooms since the redo but I wonder if the lack of a regular occupant affects the quality and variety of the concessions the vendors are willing to offer?

[HankStrong]

Could be?  We were there for the Pro Bowl and it was the equivalent of a mom and her sons working the local mini fair.  At least for the food/bev part.  The NFL had deluxe (albeit inside curtains and chainlink fence under stands) retail set up, though.

[uncreativeusername]

1 hour ago, spenser1058 said:

I haven't been to the bathrooms since the redo but I wonder if the lack of a regular occupant affects the quality and variety of the concessions the vendors are willing to offer?

For a city with such a developed event/convention market it seems impossible that there aren't folks in town who can figure out decent quality concessions on a short-term basis.  

[aent]

2 hours ago, uncreativeusername said:

For a city with such a developed event/convention market it seems impossible that there aren't folks in town who can figure out decent quality concessions on a short-term basis.  

The food at the convention center is pretty bad too from my experience, my understanding is all the food contracts are for the entire venue, and there's no competition within the venues, so there is no incentive to make it better, hungry people will eat whether they like the quality or not for the most part.

[spenser1058]

So it turns out the XFL is going to Tampa and RayJay instead of Orlando and the Citrus Bowl.

No word yet on the about face and it does not affect the AAF and the Head Ball Coach at the Bounce House starting next spring.

Stay tuned...

https://www.tampabay.com/blogs/bucs/2018/12/05/its-official-xfl-is-coming-to-tampa-bay-will-play-games-at-raymond-james-stadium/

From the St. Pete Times 

 

[jgardnerucf]

Real grass vs asphalt under turf.

[jliv]

On 12/5/2018 at 7:48 PM, spenser1058 said:

So it turns out the XFL is going to Tampa and RayJay instead of Orlando and the Citrus Bowl.

No word yet on the about face and it does not affect the AAF and the Head Ball Coach at the Bounce House starting next spring.

Stay tuned...

https://www.tampabay.com/blogs/bucs/2018/12/05/its-official-xfl-is-coming-to-tampa-bay-will-play-games-at-raymond-james-stadium/

From the St. Pete Times 

 

That's a relief.  Orlando is spared yet another fly-by-night sports league...

[Pete C]

On 11/26/2018 at 10:51 AM, HankStrong said:

It is still a very backwoods place to go to a game.  Horrible bathrooms.  Horrible concessions. 

You've been since the renovation? There was nothing horrible about the bathrooms when I went.

[orlandouprise]

If you have gone to a Modern NFL stadium... yes its backwoods still...

[tc01]

Compared to a Billion Dollar Stadium!!! I would think so.......

[Xander]

18 hours ago, jliv said:

That's a relief.  Orlando is spared yet another fly-by-night sports league...

I see no downside to a sports league choosing Orlando as a home and playing in a venue that we already have.

1 hour ago, orlandouprise said:

If you have gone to a Modern NFL stadium... yes its backwoods still...

Nah, this isn't true. There's nothing wrong with the amenities at CWS. If you compare it to the most expensive NFL stadium, of course it'll seem on a lower level because:

1. It's not an NFL stadium and

2. It has no main tenant.

It's plenty adequate for the events it holds, however. 

[HankStrong]

On ‎12‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 4:10 PM, Pete C said:

You've been since the renovation? There was nothing horrible about the bathrooms when I went.

Yes.  I've been nearly a half dozen times since.  I used the NFL Pro Bowl as the gold standard as the fanciest event.

On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 8:20 AM, orlandouprise said:

If you have gone to a Modern NFL stadium... yes its backwoods still...

Correct.

On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 9:12 AM, tc01 said:

Compared to a Billion Dollar Stadium!!! I would think so.......

Yes.  But it was sold as a renovation to put it right up there with a real stadium and it is sorely lacking.  It is still a pig, but it has lipstick on now.

[JFW657]

I've never been to the (new) CWS, so I can't speak from experience, but from what I was able to see on YouTube from a Fox News report right around the grand opening, they looked plain but modern and clean....

Good enough for a sports stadium restroom I would think.

I guess it all depends on one's expectations. 

If you're expecting something like the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant Executive Washroom (skip to around :40)....

I suspect you'll be disappointed. 

[dcluley98]

Campy-land is not a bad stadium, but was designed to be very utilitarian and flexible. Everything they did was from a "cheap but functional" standpoint. Also, because there is not a permanent tenant, they designed it to be rather plain and to be flexible for many different functions and customizable in places. If it were a purpose built stadium for a particular NFL team, you would expect it to have fancier features and branded signage throughout that matches that team. But it isn't, so it's very plain jane throughout. This was done on purpose.  I think it works pretty well for what they were trying to do so that it can get the most use out of many different events, such as pro-bowl, soccer games, concerts, monster trucks, WWE, college bowl games, etc. etc. etc. 

[spenser1058]

“Campy-land” - I like that.

[JFW657]

If it's so "campy", where is Divine???

Where are the pink flamingos??? 

Where is Dr. Frank N. Furter??? 

And Brad and Janet????

Aside from those cheesy steel girder boxes on the sides with  their 60's pop art color scheme, I don't see anything remotely "campy" about the place!!!!