Capital One Bowl may be in trouble

The Orlando Sentinel reports the Capital One Bowl and Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando are  in danger of losing their status with the Big Ten and Southeastern Conferences, suggesting there could be a shakeup in those league's bowl pecking orders.

The NCAA recently recertified the Cap One Bowl and its sister game, the Champs Sports Bowl, but the commissioners of the two conferences want to see the old, creaky Citrus Bowl renovated.

From the Sentinel's story:

Improvements to the dilapidated stadium projected to cost $175 million have been tabled indefinitely, with Hogan and several city officials agreeing it could be 10 years before the venue would be renovated because of the nosedive in tourism tax revenue.

And: "The first thing the commissioners told me was 'I thought you guys had approved renovation of the stadium. I don't think you guys realize how important this is for us,'" (Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve) Hogan said. " ... I didn't expect to be shocked as I was about how pointed and concerned our existing sponsors are right now."

A proposed $175 million renovation to the Citrus Bowl was been tabled indefinitely.

More from the Sentinel:

"I understand the desire to renovate the stadium as quickly as possible," Orlando City Commissioner Phil Diamond said. "By the same token, the reality of the situation is that the tourist tax has bottomed out."

Michael Walzak, board member with the local group CountyWatch, offers a more blunt assessment.

 "It's never going to happen," he said. "There just isn't any money."I've been to just one Capital One Bowl. Iowa fans may remember it.

I was surprised at the Citrus Bowl itself. I expected it to be ... nicer.

Photos from the air make it look perfectly modern, but the story on the ground is different. Here's a column I wrote for the Jan. 1, 2005 Gazette:

ORLANDO, Fla. - It will make good television this afternoon, palm trees lining the entrance of a gussied-up football colossus packed with 65,000 excited fans.

But the neighborhood surrounding the Florida Citrus Bowl stadium is no attraction to the thousands of visiting Iowans here for today's LSU-Iowa Capital One Bowl.

The area is no slum. But it is lived-in. Older local businesses populate much of the neighborhood. A modest residential section is to the stadium's other direction.

Today's ticket-holders may see Brothers Scrap Metals, A & M Pawn, God's Gift Auto Repair Shop and National Cylinder Head Exchange. Many other auto repair and auto salvage businesses are close to the bowl.

The stadium itself is old. All its seats other than in the suites are aluminum benches. It was commissioned in 1936 as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration Project to put citizens to work during the Great Depression.

 The first college football game played at the stadium was 58 years ago today, when Catawba whomped Maryville, 31-6, be fore a near-sellout crowd of 9,000.

The stadium held just 17,000 fans as recently as the mid-1970s, but was muscled up to 52,000 in 1976.

In 1985, the Washington Federals of the United States Football League moved to Orlando and played for one year at the Tangerine Bowl, which was renamed the Florida Citrus Bowl in 1983. Lee Corso coached the

Orlando Renegades to a 5-13 record in the league's last season.

Upper decks were added to both sides in 1989 to bump the Citrus Bowl's capacity to 65,438. One of the decks almost juts over Rio Grande Avenue, a narrow two-lane street that runs alongside the concrete stadium.

Such a venue looks even more imposing when in an unremarkable part of town. Two blocks from the stadium is Orange Blossom Trail, a commercial street, one of Orlando's busiest. It is nowhere near as picturesque as its name suggests.

Thursday, Freddie Granger sat in his wheelchair outside of Bo Dink's Pool Hall on Orange Blossom Trail. He was eating a chili dog from the A&W across the street and spilling some of it on his shirt when I approached him.

"The Hawkeyes are playing here Saturday!" he shouted when I asked if he knew anything about today's game. "I'm for the Hawkeyes. But I'm a Gator. I'm from Jacksonville. That's where the Super Bowl's gonna be. I worked at the Gator Bowl. I was a maintenance man. I did it all."

But now, Freddie has no right arm and can't walk.

 "Jacksonville, Florida, 1990. I got hit by a train. I cannot forget that day. I never will. I was dead.

"But I shed my tears and I shook it off. Life goes on. Not many people can get hit by a train and talk about it. God saved me for a reason."

Freddie moved to Orlando because his brother lives here.

"But I'm from Jacksonville, Florida," he said. "I went to school there

with Bob Hayes, the fastest man in the world (Hayes won the 1964 Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter dash). I played some baseball. I always liked Johnny Bench. Number 5, a catcher. That was my

number."

You won't see Freddie in any of ABC's shots of Orlando during today's Capital One Bowl telecast. You probably will see some theme-park plastic. Some of the actual city might be a little too real for the bowl and its sponsors to show America.

You hear what wonderful things these bowls are for the host cities, how they do so much for their communities. But whether it's San Antonio or Miami or Orlando, most citizens don't seem interested or affected by the bowls or the people they attract. Unless they're running a hotel or restaurant or nightclub, it likely doesn't involve them.

While an all-important (?) football game will be played two blocks away, the traffic will keep buzzing by on Orange Blossom Trail.

"You come back here and see me Saturday," Freddie said. "I'll be right

here. Bring some friends."