The city of Orlando, Florida is ready to make a bid for the NFL Pro Bowl game for the next three seasons.
After nearly 30 seasons being played in the same location (Hawai’i), the NFL Pro Bowl moved from the island state for the 2009 season and was played in Miami, Florida the week ahead of Super Bowl XLIV.
Now it appears another city in the Sunshine State wants to play host — only this city wants to make more of a commitment.
Officials from Florida Citrus Sports, who runs events and programs for the Citrus Bowl stadium (including college bowl games and the new kickoff classic game starting in 2016) told the Orlando Sentinel that they are making a bid to host the game for three seasons, perhaps as early as the game scheduled after the 2017 season:
"“We’ve been very aggressively trying to showcase Orlando,” said Steve Hogan, Florida Citrus Sports CEO. “We believe it is the best city to host the Pro Bowl, and the NFL has given us the opportunity to pitch our city. We hope when all is said and done, we’re going to be hosting the game.”"
The game has been played in Honolulu for five of the last six years (moving to Glendale, AZ for the 2014 season), but the aging Aloha Stadium has been the subject of criticism by players and officials, while the state of Hawai’i hasn’t been open to a new facility to keep the game there.
Florida Citrus Sports, which previously said it will host a NFL preseason or regular season game in 2017, has been attempting to increase its exposure in the football world after improvements to the Citrus Bowl stadium. The location will host a Labor Day night game between Florida State and Ole Miss this year (with Alabama-Louisville and possibly Florida-Miami taking place in the future).
Another advantage is its close proximity to Walt Disney World, as Disney is a majority owner of the game’s broadcast network, ESPN.
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