Two big college football games coming to Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando will be busy in the coming days — college and pro football will put the City Beautiful in the spotlight this year and next year.

Thursday, fans will head to Camping World Stadium for the Pop Tarts Bowl as North Carolina State takes on Kansas State, followed by the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, featuring Iowa vs. Tennessee.

On Wednesday, Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer made a stop at Camping World Stadium to meet with the media before Thursday’s big game

The mayor helped hang signs and said that the two college football games will generate millions of dollars for the local economy.

“These two bowl games will have at least a 100,000 visitors and $100 million of economic impact,” Dyer said.

The mayor also said that the $800 million in TDT funds (revenue generated by a 6% hotel stay tax) needed to refurbish Camping World Stadium would be money well spent for Orlando once approved.

“What we want to replace is this 40-year-old upper deck and close it in all the way around… and make it a great stadium,” Dyer said.

Aloft Hotels general manager Glenn Dickerson has worked in the hotel business for 35 years and said he believes bringing top college games to Orlando is essential for their business.

“It’s a very positive impact to the hotel — we should sell out tonight,” he said.” We have a lot of last-minute bookings, so it should be a very good day for us.”

Dickerson and his staff have been busy preparing the 188-room downtown Orlando hotel for visitors during the holidays, and he expected 350 guests for the Pop-Tarts Bowl. 

Dickerson said the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, though, will create a larger demand.

“We think the Cheese-It Bowl, with Tennessee and Iowa, will be bigger,” he said.