ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando City Commissioners voted Monday to select Barton Malow, a Michigan-based construction firm, to renovate Camping World Stadium.
Forbes lists Barton Malow as one of America’s largest private companies. The builder completed “Daytona Rising” in 2016, the $400 million makeover of the Daytona International Speedway.
The $60 million renovation will modernize restrooms and concession areas in the upper level of Camping World Stadium, improve club-level seating, and upgrade the parking lots.
Mayor Buddy Dyer said the renovations were supposed to have been included the last time the stadium was updated in 2014 at a cost of $200 million. The city shaved off the upgrades to save money.
Dyer, who pushed for the previous renovations which included demolishing most of the lower bowl and modernizing almost the entire stadium, said those upgrades brought in high-profile events and returned hundreds of millions of dollars to the community.
“When we originally did the renovation to what’s now called Camping World Stadium, the original proposal was $230, $240 million and we ended up doing about $207 million dollars so there were some things we weren’t able to accomplish,” Dyer said. “So we’re coming back, the county has allocated $60 million additional through the Tourist Development Tax, so we’ll do some things like closing in the northern end zone where the party deck was which hasn’t worked out in a way that we thought it would. We’ll enhance the club space, there are always things with technology that you have to enhance just about every year, then, of course, some of the parking areas we will improve them.”
The stadium, formerly known as the Citrus Bowl, has hosted NFL Pro Bowls, a Metallica concert, a Rolling Stones concert, Wrestlemania, the Electric Daisy Carnival, international soccer matches and is in the running for the 2026 World Cup.
"We have an NFL-quality stadium, and with this $60 million we're going to have spent less than $300 million," Dyer said. "And if you look at the price tags on other NFL quality stadiums, they're two, three, sometimes eight times as much as what we spent so I think we've been frugal with their dollars."
On Sunday, Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan announced Michigan will play Alabama at the stadium on News Year's Day.
“I am extremely proud of our community and sports tourism in general,” Hogan said. “Nothing worth doing is ever easy and we are all ecstatic with the impact the new venues [Camping World Stadium, Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts, and Amway Center] have had on our community.”
Orlando Venues Chief Venues Officer Allen Johnson said renovating the stadium in 2014 has been a boom to Central Florida and the upcoming renovations will do the same.
"We've proven the investment made in reconstructing Camping World Stadium allowed us to modernize the facility while also attracting new, high-profile events that generate a sizeable economic impact for the City of Orlando," Johnson said. "Since reopening the stadium's gates, we've welcomed everything from WrestleMania 33 to the Rolling Stones to the Monster Jam World Finals to our fourth annual NFL Pro Bowl next month. This additional $60 million investment will enable us to remain competitive and ensure we continue to draw more marquee events."
Money from Orlando's Tourist Development Tax (TDT) or "bed tax" would fund the renovation. The TDT collected almost $284 million from visitors last fiscal year.
Dyer expects the renovation to be completed by the end of 2020 and said the stadium will continue to operate even while it’s under construction.
Turner Construction did the last Camping World Stadium renovation completed in 2014.