Orlando Joins Florida’s Stadium Boom With $420 Million Bond Sale

Orlando plans to borrow more than $420 million to renovate Camping World Stadium, joining a wave of Florida cities pouring public funds into stadium projects.

The city plans to sell about $420 million of tax-exempt bonds on Thursday to modernize the open-air football stadium and expand its seating capacity. The deal will also fund a new multipurpose events center on the stadium’s campus. The debt is backed by a portion of Orange County’s tourism tax, with the county providing support if revenues fall short.

The bond sale follows a surge of public stadium spending across Florida as cities compete to lure professional franchises, marquee performers and major sporting events. Jacksonville pledged $625 million toward a $1.4 billion overhaul of the National Football League’s Jaguars’ stadium, while St. Petersburg and Pinellas County offered $600 million for a new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark before the team backed out of the deal. Orlando also committed $226 million to upgrade the Kia Center, home of the National Basketball Association’s Magic.

Renovations to Camping World Stadium are expected to help the venue attract headlining sporting events, including WrestleMania and NFL games, according to Allen Johnson, executive director of Orlando Venues.

“If there’s another major sport that wants to come to Orlando, we’re ready,” Johnson said. “Orlando is one of the fastest growing cities in the country right now and there’s plenty of room to grow, unlike other cities that may be locked in by water on one side, such as Tampa.”

Camping World Stadium hosted Taylor Swift last year, four 2025 FIFA Club World Cup matches and this year’s NFL Pro Bowl. But it lacks an NFL or NCAA football team as a permanent tenant.

“In general, football stadiums host very few events, and thus any additional revenue they might bring in from hosted events tends to be far less than the costs of renovations,” said JC Bradbury, a sports economist at Kennesaw State University.

Orange County leaders approved a proposal earlier this year to spend as much as $11 million to lure the Jaguars to Camping World Stadium for the 2027 season while EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville undergoes renovations. The team’s 2027 home games will be held at either Camping World Stadium or the University of Florida’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, according to the NFL.

Orlando welcomed more than 75 million visitors in 2024, including nearly 4 million international travelers, making it the fourth most-visited US city by foreign tourists last year, according to the International Trade Administration.

“We have the hotels, we have the airport, we have infrastructure to handle these big type events and these big crowds,” Johnson said.

Despite the public enthusiasm, sports economists have long warned that teams and local officials often overstate the benefits of stadium deals and understate the costs. Still, team owners from Las Vegas to Tennessee, to the District of Columbia, continue to lock in taxpayer support for ever-larger venues at the center of sprawling retail and real estate developments.

Photo: Camping World Stadium during the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 quarter final in Orlando on July 4. Photographer: Michael Reaves/Getty Images