Images: Greater Orlando Sports Commission
After the disappointment of missing out on host city status for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Orlando is currently gearing up to take on a unique staging role for the revamped Club World Cup this year, amid grand plans to transform Camping World Stadium into the premier facility in the US, outside of NFL stadia.
The United States will be the launching pad for FIFA’s new-look Club World Cup, with 32 teams competing from June 15 to July 13. The US was awarded hosting rights back in June 2023, with the venues decided back in September last year.
The majority of the 12 venues selected for the Club World Cup are on the east coast of the US, with only Lumen Field and Rose Bowl Stadium on the west coast. This came after no east coast venues were selected to host matches during the 2025 Gold Cup national team tournament, which will take place at 14 stadiums across the US and Canada from June 14 to July 6.
For the Club World Cup’s venue masterplan, Orlando will be the only host city with two stadia being utilised – Camping World Stadium and Inter&Co Stadium, home of Major League Soccer (MLS) team Orlando City SC.
Jason Siegel, president of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission, told TheStadiumBusiness.com: “For context, our relationship with FIFA has been fostered for many, many years, going back to hosting the World Cup in 1994 (when Camping World Stadium was a venue).
“Then of course, with this new administration, with (FIFA president) Gianni (Infantino) and (CONCACAF president) Victor (Montagliani) and the wider leadership team, we had the opportunity to renew these high-level conversations during the 2026 World Cup bid, which we were not awarded.
“That said, I think we certainly made an impression and created a path and runway towards future opportunities. Having an ongoing relationship and hosting multiple events, in association with CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, we had the Copa América here last summer, to build on this and have the opportunity to have a unique conversation around hosting in both our venues, I think to some degree satisfies the needs of FIFA and our community jointly.”
The dual stadium offer
Orlando’s role in the Club World Cup will allow it to provide a contrasting offering for fans, in terms of the stadium experience. While Camping World Stadium’s capacity is in the region of 60,000, Inter&Co Stadium will provide a more intimate soccer-specific experience of around 25,500.
“If you’re a soccer fan, there’s a really strong chance, at least in the local marketplace, that you’ve been to one or both venues,” Siegel said.
“Because of the platform, and the heightened awareness and excitement that’s going to be around Club World Cup, there’s a terrific opportunity for us to showcase both venues, to fans that are also going to be visiting Orlando.
“We think that, conservatively for the six matches, the economic impact should be in the region of $70m (£56.2m/€67.4m) to $90m. The unknown is the obvious. For the final two matches, we don’t know who the opponents will be, so certainly there’s the chance of us exceeding those expectations. But, for now, those are conservative.”
Marketing the Club World Cup
Expanding the Club World Cup had long been one of the key missions of Infantino’s FIFA presidency. China was due to host the inaugural edition of a revamped tournament in 2021, only for it to be cancelled due to the global pandemic. The vision at that time was for a 24-team tournament, but a 32-team event will now take place this year, and subsequently be held every four years.
Commenting on the strategy behind marketing what is essentially a new tournament concept, Siegel said: “Education is certainly important. I think that FIFA has done a good job through social media and other channels in beginning to educate the soccer enthusiast as to what this tournament is all about.
“At the same time, our community has hosted Man City, Flamengo and Juventus. For a number of years now we have had significant matches such as USA v Brazil, Copa América, SheBelieves Cup, the US men’s national team etc.
“I think fans in our region have become accustomed to coming here and seeing the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, and many of these great clubs. What we’re really excited about, from a tourism front and as a destination that has had 74 million visitors as the No.1 visited city in the United States last year, is the ability to now host clubs from Mexico, Portugal and other parts provides a really great opportunity for our tourism bureau to attract fans to Orlando and experience everything we have to offer.
“Whether that be theme parks, attractions, Michelin starred restaurants or world class accommodation. So, there’s a two-pronged approach to this opportunity for our community.”
World Cup on the horizon
FIFA decided on the 16 cities that will host the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada back in June 2022, with Infantino outlining the goal that by the time of the tournament football will be “the No. 1 sport” across North America.
The announcement concluded a process which first started during the bidding stages for the national team showpiece with 44 cities and 49 stadia across the three countries. Orlando had put forward Camping World Stadium for its bid, with the final decision making it one of six cities that failed to make the cut from those that had reached the final shortlist.
Siegel reiterates the belief of Orlando authorities that the city could have made a major impact as a World Cup host, adding it is still keen to play a key role during next year’s tournament. “Without sharing specifics, which aren’t available quite yet, I think you’ll see the opportunity for us to host friendlies, and pre-tournament training camps in preparation for World Cup in 2026,” he said.
“We’ll be an active participant in those activities leading into the World Cup. I think there’ll be a good possibility we’ll partner with others to do Fan Fests, or some things that are really network inspired. We’re really bullish that we’ll be able to share some exciting news in the future around activities, maybe as early as January and March next year, leading into World Cup.
“So, we’ll play a role, not necessarily all of what we were hoping for. We thought that the value of hosting matches in our community was somewhere in the neighbourhood of $739m, but we know there’s still other opportunities and we’re hoping to capitalise on those.”
Siegel said the Club World Cup is also being envisioned as yet another means for Orlando to display its event hosting prowess, specifically referencing the FIFA Women’s World Cup and Rugby World Cup.
The Rugby World Cup is due to head to the US for the first time in 2031, while US soccer leaders are targeting future editions of the Women’s World Cup after electing to withdraw from the bidding process which ultimately saw Brazil awarded the 2027 tournament back in May.
Siegel said: “The opportunity to host games in both venues checks a lot of boxes for us, especially with being able to stage a quarter-final here. But it also begins a pathway to a number of other opportunities, most immediately which comes to mind is Rugby World Cup – we anticipate that both venues could be in play there.
“This (Club World Cup) will create a best practice and give the opportunity to show what our community can do, activating in two different venues. Women’s World Cup also comes to mind. We may have to have both venues ready for a potential bid in 2031 or 2035.”
Building in Orlando
While Orlando’s immediate events focus may be on the Club World Cup, city authorities are also in the midst of major infrastructure projects.
In January 2024, Orange County approved a $626m funding package that will be directed towards renovation work for Camping World Stadium and the Kia Center arena, home of NBA franchise the Orlando Magic.
Camping World Stadium, which is owned by the City of Orlando and operated by Orlando Venues, secured the full $400m package it had hoped to attain for a major overhaul of a facility which first opened in 1936 and has since received several upgrades.
Allen Johnson, chief venues officer of Orlando Venues, told TheStadiumBusiness.com: “We have spent almost $300m on the stadium since 2014 and we’ll be investing a further $400m, starting in 2026, so after the Club World Cup, but the preparations for this summer include substituting the synthetic turf for natural turf.
“All of this comes after three stadium concerts. We have Shakira, Post Malone and Jelly Roll, and then we have a sold-out K-pop show, Stray Kids, on June 14. So, the challenge there is getting in there after the concerts, but we’ll do it, and we’ve completed such work in shorter timeframes than that and we have a great team.
“But we’re really gearing up for this $400m project, where we’ll be doing a very large renovation. Removing and replacing the upper decks, adding some premium and suites, updating a lot of back-of-house fixtures, as well as building a new events centre to add to our portfolio.
“It’s a very exciting time and I’ve never had as much construction on my plate, $226m for the Kia Centre and $400m for Camping World Stadium.”
Camping World Stadium plans take shape
In October, Live Nation was also appointed to operate a 3,500-seat music and entertainment venue that will be developed as part of Westcourt, a district that will be located adjacent to Kia Center. In terms of Camping World Stadium, DLR is the architectural studio behind its transformation project with final designs expected to be unveiled in the near future.
Johnson also revealed Orlando Venues is close to selecting a partner for the construction manager at risk contract. Four bidders are currently in the mix in the shape of: Balfour Beatty/Austin Commercial, Barton Malow/AECOM-Hunt, Gilbane and Whiting Turner.
The key elements of the project originally foresaw all levels of the stadium connected by a 360-degree concourse, the removal and replacement of the upper terrace decks, and the introduction of a 100,000-square-foot multi-purpose space on the campus.
Johnson revealed that there have been some changes to the original thinking behind the venture. He said: “It has evolved. At one point we were just going to remove the upper decks and replace them, but what we found was that the structure of the decks was so good and we decided why start over on what would be the most expensive piece. So, what we’re going to do is put a new seating section on top of that.
“One of the challenges we have is vertical transportation because in Florida we can’t really dig down into the ground because of our water table being so high. So, you always have to build up. The saying at all our venues is always you have to go up to come back down.
“We are going to add new seating options. We want to be in the conversation for the College Football Playoff (CFP). We also want to improve the music side for concerts. We’re going to recess our south endzone, creating a concert stage to push back or retract to allow for opening up more sellable seats, some three to four thousand in P1 price category. That will bring us equal with what Tampa has and be competitive with them.
“In the last 10 years or so you’ve had what you can call the Taylor Swift effect, if you like. Stadiums are now taking seriously what their music needs are, and how to accommodate concerts. We’re having to adapt our back of house, production capabilities, our loading docks, the ability to drive onto the field.”
Johnson states that Orlando Venues hopes to begin work on the Camping World Stadium revamp in February 2026, with events continuing at a reduced capacity venue through to projected completion in August 2027.
He added: “This is a transformational project for Camping World Stadium. Not only for college football events, but also for the soccer games we host every year. We believe that soccer is a huge growth sport for people in our country. But also, concerts are a big money-maker for us and a crowd-pleaser.
“When we complete this stadium, it will be basically brand new. It will be, by far, the nicest non-NFL team hosting venue. In terms of the stadiums that we compete with across the country that are non-NFL hosting, we will be taking a leap above them.”
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