ORLANDO, FLORIDA – JUNE 12: A general view of Camping World Stadium during the second half of a … [+]
When the U.S. hosts the enlarged 2025 Club World Cup next summer, a quarter of the venues will be in Florida.
Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, which hosted the final of 2024 Copa America, is one of the venues selected for the tournament, and Orlando is the only Club World Cup host city with two venues: the Camping World Stadium, which was used at the 1994 World Cup, and Major League Soccer side Orlando City SC’s Inter&Co Stadium.
Along with the likes of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Florida is fast becoming the go-to place for global sporting events.
Hosting major tournaments can be a tough undertaking, especially given FIFA’s stringent requirements from host cities. Even Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium needed some upgrades to host the 2026 World Cup.
But the president and CEO of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission, Jason Siegel, says Orlando is well prepared for 2025.
“We’ve had a pretty robust schedule of events that have come into Orlando over the last 30 months” says Siegel, highlighting recent international soccer matches and pre-season friendlies involving top European sides. He says that as Orlando already hosts quite a bit of international soccer, there shouldn’t be any surprises.
Orlando has the infrastructure in place for major events with some 58 million visitors passing through its airport last year and more than 100,000 hotel rooms. Siegel says the area’s Disney and Universal theme parks handle so many visitors, it is the equivalent of hosting the Super Bowl every day of the week. He says these amusement parks, golf courses and Michelin-rated restaurants are its “secret sauce” that lead sports fans to often extend their stay by an average of two to three days.
The city bid for the 2026 World Cup but was unsuccessful, meaning the 2025 Club World Cup is its big opportunity to shine on the global stage and use the tournament as a springboard to attract more sporting events.
Siegel says Orlando has its sights set on base camps for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, is part of the U.S.-Mexico bid for the 2031 Women’s World Cup and is “very bullish” about its chances to host matches in the 2031 Rugby Union World Cup. He also says “It’s not out of the question that Orlando could host an Olympic Games in the summer of 2040 or 2044.”
There have been reports recently that Barcelona and Atletico Madrid could head to Miami this December to play the first regular-season LaLiga match outside of Spain. Siegel says Orlando is “following along closely” and “would absolutely welcome the opportunity to host regular season matches” should that opportunity become available.
There is a “sizeable appetite here in Orlando” to bring in this sports business. Siegel says the city has invested over a billion dollars in its sports and MICE venues and is “doubling down on our investment.”
Sports events bring in money through hotel stays and a marketing boost for the city, with a return on investment “in the neighborhood of 20-to-30 to one in our favor for every dollar we spend.” According to the sports commission’s 2024 annual report, sports tourism in Florida contributed $146.5 billion in economic impact and $13.9 billion in state and local taxes over the 2019/20 and 2020/21 financial years.
With such potential benefits, it’s no wonder Florida is positioning itself as a major sports hub. Orlando is already achieving that nationally, but with the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, it can really put itself on the global stage.
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