This morning, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs announced their new deal to start a planned $175 million renovation of the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium by 2014. It's great news for the Russell Athletic Bowl, as it means the long-awaited fixes -- which will amount to basically an entirely new stadium for a fraction of the price -- will be in place during the next contract cycle.

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Today and tomorrow, we embark on the daunting task of replacing eight years' worth of logos. Shirts, signage, stationary...probably some other things that don't begin with s.

This is the bowl's first name change in eight years, the longest stretch in an admittedly patchwork title history. By the time Florida Citrus Sports purchased the game in 2001, it had seen four different names (Blockbuster Bowl, Carquest Bowl, MicronPC Bowl and MicronPC.com Bowl). At the time, it was among the lowest tier of bowl games in a field of 25.

Starting in 2001 it became the Tangerine Bowl, a throwback to the old days of Orlando's original bowl game (now the Capital One Bowl). We had two title sponsors under the Tangerine name (Visit Florida and Mazda) before Champs Sports came on board in 2004 and helped bring the game to the next level.

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It's an exciting (and hectic) day at Florida Citrus Sports as we finally flip the switch on the Russell Athletic Bowl. This process has been bubbling for a couple of months now but it's just like bowl week: no amount of late nights and early mornings can avoid the pandemonium of game day (or in this case, launch day). It's straight downhill today; forget the breaks and just worry about steering.

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Here's a one-minute "hype" video we produced to announce the new title sponsor of our game.

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If you love this new bowl logo so much that you want to wear it, buddy, you are in luck. Ultimate Athletic, our official merchandise provider, has worked up some t-shirts and hats featuring the new mark. And yes, the shirts are all Russell Athletic stock.  In addition, Russell Athletic is offering a 30% discount to fans who shop online between today and June 26.

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(Press Release)

ORLANDO –Russell Athletic, a division of Russell Brands, LLC, and Florida Citrus Sports(FCSports) have entered into a partnership to present the Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando, Fla. through 2015. The 2012 Russell Athletic Bowl, most-recently known as the Champs Sports Bowl, will be played on December 28 at 5:30 p.m. (EST) at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium and air live on ESPN. The game will once again pit top teams from the Atlantic Coast and Big East Conferences.

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Official Champs Sports Bowl merchandise, including bowl patches, game programs and apparel, is available for purchase online.

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The Florida State Seminoles rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 18-14 in the 2011 Champs Sports Bowl before an announced crowd of 68,305 at the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium.

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Parking is SOLD OUT for the Champs Sports Bowl at the Florida Citrus Bowl. Free shuttle service is available to bowl fans. In addition, the City of Orlando and Florida Citrus Sports have published maps for parking, shuttles and road closures around the Citrus Bowl on game day. 

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The Florida State Seminoles and Notre Dame Fighting Irish football teams met on friendly terms today at Give Kids the World Village as part of Orlando Bowl Week. (Article by Neil Tredray)

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