Citrus Bowl

The Florida Citrus Bowl (official name is Orlando-Orange County Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium) is a stadium in Orlando, Florida, USA, built for American football and currently seats over 65,000. Its main occupant is the football program at UCF, the annual Florida Classic between Florida A&M University and Bethune-Cookman College, and two college bowl games annually, the Capital One Bowl and the Champs Sports Bowl.

The stadium opened in 1936, with a capacity of 10,000. 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.

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, Van Halen, and The Eagles. The most recent was The Rolling Stones in December 1997. The Super Bowl of Motorsports monster truck event an annual January visit. The AMA Supercross Series holds an annual spring event.

Local Orlando high school football rivals Jones High School and Evans High School play the annual “Soul Bowl” at the stadium. 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 all-time record for attendance, 73,358.

On December 3, 2005, the Citrus Bowl hosted the Inaugural Conference USA Football Championship Game presented by Xbox 360. Tulsa defeated UCF 44-27, in front of an all-time UCF home attendance record of 51,978.

The regular season attendance record for a UCF football game was set November 11, 2000. A crowd of 50,220 watched Virginia Tech defeat UCF 44-21.

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The ACC.com – The Official website of the Atlantic Coast Conference
NCAA – National Collegiate Athletic Association website
University of Central Florida
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