Florida Citrus Sports officials hope the upcoming $400 million renovation to Camping World Stadium won’t cause any hiccups that would prevent the venue from hosting events such as the Cheez-It and Pop-Tarts bowls and the Florida Classic game in 2026.
But if something were to arise that prevented the 60,000-seat venue from hosting the events, CEO Steve Hogan wanted to have an emergency plan in place.
That’s why he reached out to UCF athletics director Terry Mohajir about the possibility of moving some or all of those events to Acrisure Bounce House Stadium. The possibility was broached at last week’s Board of Trustees meeting.
“It was proactive by us all,” Hogan said on Sunday. “I spoke to Terry because we would like to have a backup plan should we not be able to host amidst the construction. It’s always been the plan to host the games at Camping World Stadium. But you can’t predict the future in construction, so you’d better have that as an option.
“You don’t want to get to a place late next year where something nobody foresaw was occurring in construction that didn’t allow us to play our games in Camping World [Stadium] safely and now all of a sudden, we have to go through a board [of trustees] process that doesn’t work timing-wise.”
Part of the Camping World Stadium upgrades includes renovating the upper deck, expanding seating capacity, and upgrading concessions and restrooms. The project is expected to begin sometime in late January or early February and will be ongoing through 2026.
Hogan wanted to reiterate that UCF had not submitted a bid to host the games.
“There’s no bid, it’s just us being prepared,” he added. “We want to play here in Camping World Stadium. We want the Florida Blue Florida Classic here. If the game gets impacted, at least we have some backups somewhere else in town.”
Acrisure Bounce House Stadium is currently undergoing its own expansion project: a $90 million renovation of the Roth Tower, which will increase the tower’s footprint by approximately 58,000 square feet, with approximately 15,650 square feet dedicated to club space.
It’s expected to be completed ahead of the 2026 football season.
The idea of using the Bounce House as a backup plan at least keeps teams and their fanbases in Orlando, utilizing area hotels and restaurants.
“It’s less about money, more about making sure Orlando benefits from the tourism that they would expect to benefit from. We just wanted to have that as an option,” explained Hogan.
Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com