Orlando confident in acquiring Pro Bowl

Orlando, Fla., believes it has the inside track for the Pro Bowl not only for 2017 but as a three-year package, despite a bid well below that of Hawaii.

“I think it is pretty much ours to lose,” Mayor Buddy Dyer told the Orlando Sentinel after the Orange County Tourism Development Council unanimously voted to recommend appropriating $3 million in hotel taxes to help fund the bid.

The measure goes before the Orange County Board of County Commissioners next week and passage is virtually assured, a spokeswoman told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority has a contract with the NFL to play the 2017 Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium, but either party may opt out of the deal by May 31.

The original contract opt-out date of March 31 was extended to May 31, which has allowed Florida Citrus Sports, the non-profit group promoting sports tourism in central Florida, to put together its multi-year bid in competition with Hawaii; Sydney, Australia; and Houston.

Houston is the host of the 2017 Super Bowl.

An NFL spokesman has declined comment on the process.

With two exceptions since 1980 — 2010 (South Florida) and 2015 (Glendale, Ariz.) — the Pro Bowl has been held at Aloha Stadium.

Orlando officials have taken note of the Pro Bowl’s $26.2 million reported economic impact in Hawaii.

Steve Hogan, Florida Citrus Sports CEO, told the TDC, “We have been very open (with the NFL) about our event not being a one-and-done.”

Hogan acknowledged that Orlando’s 2017 bid, which is believed to be approximately $2.5 million initially and rising in subsequent years, is less than the $5.2 million called for in Hawaii’s contract with the NFL.

But Hogan said a Pro Bowl in Orlando would incur lower transportation costs, draw a larger crowd and better address the NFL’s stated Pro Bowl mission. Hogan told the TDC, “as we have gone through this process we have learned very much that they (the NFL) want to make a massive commitment to attracting all levels of the sport around youth and family and invest that in Pro Bowl week. We obviously believe, here in Orlando, that we’re the perfect platform to serve that kind of a mission.”

Orlando’s 70,000-seat Camping World Stadium, formerly known as the Citrus Bowl, has undergone a $207 million renovation.

In Hogan’s slide presentation to the TDC, the facility had a giant Pro Bowl logo photoshopped atop its scoreboard.