Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium

Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium
Fifth Third Bank Field
Former names	Orlando Stadium (1936–1946) Tangerine Bowl (1947–1975) Citrus Bowl (1976) Orlando Stadium (1977–1982) Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium (1983–present)
Location	1 Citrus Bowl Place, Orlando, Florida 32805
Coordinates	28°32′21″N 81°24′10″W / 28.53917°N 81.40278°W / 28.53917; -81.40278Coordinates: 28°32′21″N 81°24′10″W / 28.53917°N 81.40278°W / 28.53917; -81.40278
Broke ground	1936
Opened	1936
Owner	City of Orlando
Operator	Orlando Venues
Surface	AstroTurf GameDay Grass 3D 2010 to present Grass 1936 to 2009
Construction cost	$115,000 $38 million (renovation) ($1.9 million in 2013 dollars[1]) Renovations: ($70.4 million in 2013 dollars[1])
Capacity	65,438[2] (expandable to 70,229)
Field dimensions	120yds by 53.3yds (football) 114yds by 74yds (soccer)
Tenants
Capital One Bowl (NCAA) (1947-1971974-present) Russell Athletic Bowl (NCAA) (2001–present) Florida Classic (NCAA) (1997-present) MEAC/SWAC Challenge (2008–present) Orlando City (USL Pro) (2011–present) UCF Knights football (NCAA) (1979–2006) Orlando Broncos (SFL) (1962–1963) Orlando Panthers (CFL) (1966–1970) Florida Blazers (WFL) (1974) Orlando Americans (AFA) (1981) Orlando Renegades (USFL) (1985) Orlando Thunder (WLAF) (1991–1992) 1994 FIFA World Cup Orlando Sundogs (A-League) (1997) Drum Corps International (1996–1998, 2003) Orlando Rage (XFL) (2001) Jones High School football Florida Tuskers (UFL) (2009–2010) WrestleMania XXIV (2008) East-West Shrine Game (NCAA) (CIS) (2010–2011)

The Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium (formerly Orlando Stadium, Tangerine Bowl and Citrus Bowl) is a stadium in Orlando, Florida, USA, built for football, that seats 65,437.^[3]

It is the current home of Orlando City Soccer Club, a soccer team in USL Pro.It also hosts the Capital One Bowl, the Russell Athletic Bowl, the Florida Classic between Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman, the MEAC/SWAC Challenge, and Monster Jam. In the past it has served as home of several alternate-league American football teams.

From 1979–2006, it served as the home of the UCF Knights football team. It was also one of the nine venues used for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

On February 15, 2013, it was announced that Fifth Third Bank had purchased naming rights to the field for Orlando City matches. Its name during those will be Fifth Third Bank Field at the Citrus Bowl.

Capacity [edit]

The stadium has 65,438^[4] permanent seats and with temporary bleaches can seat 70,229 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. WrestleMania 24 in 2008 held the stadium's all-time record for attendance of 74,635.

History [edit]

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. A 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 (33 m) wide video screen. A new sound system, along with two full-color displays along the upper decks, was also added.

Football [edit]

The Citrus Bowl has been home field to several short-lived professional football teams. In 1974, the Florida Blazers of the World Football League played their only season in existence at Tangerine Stadium. The USFL's Orlando Renegades played one season in 1985. The Orlando Thunder of the WLAF called the Citrus Bowl home in their two-season existence (1991–1992), the XFL's Orlando Rage played there in 2001, the UFL's Florida Tuskers, who played 2 seasons (2009–2010) before moving to Virginia Beach, Virginia as the Virginia Destroyers in 2011, and the Orlando Fantasy of the Lingerie Football League moved to the stadium in 2011 (after playing its previous two years in UCF Arena).

Several National Football League preseason football games have been held at the stadium, including the Buccaneers versus 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.

The varsity football team from Jones High School uses the Citrus Bowl as a regular season home field, as it does not have a home stadium to call its own; the school has an agreement with the City of Orlando to use the facility.

Rollins College, Winter Park, FL, was the first college to use the then named Orlando Stadium as is home field. It played there prior to and after World War II.

Soccer [edit]

The playing surface is large enough for use in international soccer matches, and it was a venue for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. In five matches, attendance averaged over 60,000 per match. In 1996, Olympic soccer matches in both the men's and women's competitions were held at the stadium.

It hosted the USISL A-League Orlando Sundogs in 1997. It also hosted the Major League Soccer All-Star Game in 1998. 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.^[5]

The stadium is the home of Orlando City S.C., a soccer team in the USL Pro league. The investment group that owns the team is looking for a future expansion team in Major League Soccer, and have announced intentions to build their own soccer-specific stadium for that purpose.

1994 FIFA World Cup matches [edit]

Dat	Time (EDT)	Team #1	Res.	Team #2	Round	Spectators
1994-06-19	12.30	Belgium	1–0	Morocco	Group F	61,219
1994-06-24	12.30	Mexico	2–1	Republic of Ireland	Group E	60,790
1994-06-25	12.30	Belgium	1–0	Netherlands	Group F	62,387
1994-06-29	12.30	Morocco	1–2	Netherlands	Group F	60,578
1994-07-04	12.00	Netherlands	2–0	Republic of Ireland	Round of 16	61,355

Concerts [edit]

On April 14, 1979, the "Tangerine Bowl" hosted the Florida World Music Festival. The concert was commonly known as "Florrida Jam", named after previous festivals in other states like California Jam and Texxas Jam. The spelling of Florida used two R's like the Texxas Jam that used two X's and preceded it. Acts included Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Cheap Trick, Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush, Brownsville Station and Blackfoot. Ted Nugent joined Aerosmith on stage during their encore and played a couple of songs with the band.

It was also the only venue where Van Halen and The Rolling Stones played together live, which occurred in October 1981.

Metallica and Guns N' Roses brought the Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour to the venue on September 2, 1992, with Faith No More as their opening act.

Other events [edit]

The Citrus Bowl was the site of two Billy Graham Crusades, the most recent of which took place in 1983.

During the 1996 Summer Olympics, it hosted some of the football preliminaries.^[6]

Drum Corps International has held its annual World Championships at the Citrus Bowl four times in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 2003

The Feld Entertainment-promoted Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam shows held there every year feature a track similar to the one at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The Corporate 5K Orlando road race has been based at the stadium for several years.

The AMA Supercross Series holds an annual spring event.

The Citrus Bowl was the site of WWE WrestleMania XXIV

Future [edit]

A view of the field during the inaugural C-USA Championship Game in 2005.

By 2005, Orlando-area government officials and University of Central Florida officials expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the facility, which led UCF to consider relocating, or spend considerable expense to upgrade the facility. While UCF was the primary leasing tenant for the facility, it received minimal revenue from football games. In addition, the stadium's capacity was seen as too large for UCF, leaving the stadium an appearance of being empty with attendance of as much as 30,000–40,000 people per game. UCF's all-time attendance record was 51,978 for the 2005 C-USA Championship Game versus Tulsa. The stadium is located over 10 miles (16 km) from the university's main campus, with a travel time of up to a half hour due to traffic. UCF officials made the decision to leave the Citrus Bowl and to construct a new on-campus stadium called Bright House Networks Stadium, which opened for the 2007 season.

City of Orlando officials are exploring a stadium refurbishment project. In 2004, the Capital One 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. The key reasons for losing the bids are the lack of modern luxury boxes, bench seating, and capacity.

The hopes for the Citrus Bowl became reality when, on September 29, 2006, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced an agreement on a $175-million renovation 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.^[7] The Orlando/Orange County Interlocal Agreement was approved by the Orlando City Council on August 6, 2007.

In 2010 the natural grass surface was replaced with AstroTurf Gameday Grass 3D after the 2009 Champs Sports Bowl and 2010 Capital One Bowl were marred by poor field conditions that led to two football player injuries.

Movies and television [edit]

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, starring Craig T. Nelson as Coach Hayden Fox. In the show, the Citrus Bowl was the home stadium of the fictional Orlando Breakers franchise, which Coach Fox led during the series' final 2 seasons (1995–1997). The change, which coincided with a production move to Disney-MGM Studios, reflected the real-life expansion team, the Jacksonville Jaguars.

References [edit]

External links [edit]

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

v t e Olympic venues in football 1900: Vélodrome de Vincennes · 1904: Francis Field · 1908: White City Stadium · 1912: Råsunda IP, Stockholm Olympic Stadium (final), Tranebergs Idrottsplats · 1920: Jules Ottenstadion, Olympisch Stadion (final), Stade Joseph Marien, Stadion Broodstraat · 1924: Stade Bergeyre, Stade de Colombes (final), Stade de Paris, Stade Pershing · 1928: Monnikenhuize, Olympic Stadium (final), Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel · 1936: Hertha-BSC Field, Mommsenstadion, Olympic Stadium (final), Poststadion · 1948: Arsenal Stadium, Champion Hill, Craven Cottage, Cricklefield Stadium, Empire Stadium (medal matches), Green Pond Road, Griffin Park, Selhurst Park, White Hart Lane · 1952: Helsinki Football Grounds, Kotka, Lahti, Olympic Stadium (final), Tampere, Turku · 1956: Melbourne Cricket Ground (final), Olympic Park Stadium · 1960: Florence Communal Stadium, Grosseto Communal Stadium, L'Aquila Communal Stadium, Livorno Ardenza Stadium, Naples Saint Paul's Stadium, Pescara Adriatic Stadium, Stadio Flaminio (final) · 1964: Komazawa Olympic Park Stadium, Mitsuzawa Football Field, Nagai Stadium, Tokyo National Stadium (final), Nishikyogoku Athletic Stadium, Ōmiya Football Field, Prince Chichiba Memorial Football Field · 1968: Estadio Azteca (final), Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Estadio Nou Camp, Jalisco Stadium · 1972: Drei Flüsse Stadion, ESV-Stadion, Jahnstadion, Olympiastadion (final), Rosenaustadion, Urban Stadium · 1976: Lansdowne Park, Olympic Stadium (final), Sherbrooke Stadium, Varsity Stadium · 1980: Dynama Stadium, Dynamo Central Stadium, Grand Arena, Grand Arena (final), Kirov Stadium, Republican Stadium · 1984: Harvard Stadium, Navy – Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Rose Bowl (final), Stanford Stadium · 1988: Busan Stadium, Daegu Stadium, Daejeon Stadium, Dongdaemun Stadium, Olympic Stadium (final) · 1992: Estadi de la Nova Creu Alta, Estadi del FC Barcelona (final), Estadio Luís Casanova, La Romareda, RCD Espanyol Stadium · 1996: Florida Citrus Bowl, Legion Field, Orange Bowl, RFK Memorial Stadium, Sanford Stadium (final) · 2000: Brisbane Cricket Ground, Bruce Stadium, Hindmarsh Stadium, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Olympic Stadium (men's final), Sydney Football Stadium (women's final) · 2004: Kaftanzoglio Stadium, Karaiskakis Stadium, Olympic Stadium (final), Pampeloponnisiako Stadium, Pankritio Stadium, Panthessaliko Stadium · 2008: Beijing National Stadium (final), Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Shanghai Stadium, Shenyang Olympic Sports Center Stadium, Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium, Workers Stadium · 2012: City of Coventry Stadium, Hampden Park, Millennium Stadium, St James' Park, Old Trafford, Wembley Stadium (final) · 2016: Estádio Nacional de Brasília, Arena Fonte Nova, Estádio do Maracanã, Mineirão, Estádio do Morumbi