This morning, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs announced their new deal to start a planned $175 million renovation of the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium by 2014. It’s great news for the Russell Athletic Bowl, as it means the long-awaited fixes — which will amount to basically an entirely new stadium for a fraction of the price — will be in place during the next contract cycle.

You can see our full story at FloridaCitrusSports.com. Or, if national/local journalists are more your type, check out coverage by these fine outlets:

Orlando Sentinel article by Mark Sclueb & David Damron
Orlando Sentinel commentary by George Diaz
Orlando Sentinel commentary by Matt Murschel 
Associated Press article by Kyle Hightower (via Tampa Bay Times)
ESPN.com Big Ten Blog post by Adam Rittenberg

We work very hard with the City of Orlando and all our various vendors to make the old lady look good every bowl season, but it’s not always an easy task (and based on a small sliver of our social media feedback, it doesn’t always go over well). A renovated stadium (including better seats, better restrooms, more concession stands, etc.) will improve the bowl experience exponentially. 

Shovels should hit the dirt some time in January 2014 following that year’s Capital One Bowl. Currently the plans will not be disrupting any bowl games.

It’s great to see our two community leaders team up to make this possible. We plan to do our part to make sure their investment pays off for Central Florida (and by association, the college football world).