Camping World Stadium planned upgrades revealed, as City of Orlando shops around naming rights

The City of Orlando has unveiled renderings and features of the proposed $400 million upgrade to downtown venue Camping World Stadium.

Features of the planned upgrades, based on renderings from architects DLR Group Inc., include hurricane bracing added to the exterior of the stadium that looks like something off an Esquivel album cover (this may or may not be a bad thing, depending on your tastes), a retractable stage pocket to accommodate the scale of larger touring bands, revamped upper bowls, a new upper bowl on the north side, new premium suites and expanded seating capacity to 65,000 — really only an upgrade of a few thou from its current capacity of 60,000-and-change.

The funds for the renovation will come from the Tourist Development Tax fund — money that cannot, by law, be spent on more pressing quality-of-life issues for the greater Orlando populace. In fact, when this $400 million upgrade was first proposed (and sidelined) in 2023, Orange County Commissioners were dubious about the community benefits of a high-priced project like this.

“There’s got to be some financial responsibility,” said Commissioner Mayra Uribe at the time.

But that was then and this is now. And now the Municipal Planning Board is set to review the plans on Aug. 19.

The project was approved last November by the Orange County Board of Commissioners with anticipated completion by late 2027. The BCC hoped that Orlando might be the temporary home of the Jacksonville Jaguars while their stadium undergoes renovations in 2027, and pledged $11 million in April to persuade the NFL to pick Camping World as the host stadium.

If approved, construction will commence with a goal of being done in time for the city’s bid to host the Jacksonville Jaguars’ “home” games in 2027. Hopefully the 2027 season will be less ill-fated than their 4-13 (oooof, and we don’t even watch football) showing last year.

In other Camping World news, the Orlando Business Journal reports that, amid all the renovation-mania, Florida Citrus Sports (operators of the City of Orlando-owned venue) is shopping naming rights for the stadium around. Camping World’s sponsorship deal expired in 2024 and has not been renewed. Camping World’s hold on the former (sigh) Citrus Bowl’s name ran from 2016 to 2024.

So get in there, Beefy King … or whoever.

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This article appears in Jul 2-8, 2025.