Ultra-successful Pro Bowl Games and Olympic Marathon Trials are only the beginning for Orlando | Commentary

With MegaCon — the massive sci-fi convention and geekfest — among the many massive events in Orlando this weekend, let it be said right now that our city is in the prequel stages of Star Wars.

We are just beginning our fight against the Galactic Empire of bigger, stronger sports and entertainment cities, but in the end we shall prevail.

The force is with us.

Correction: The forces are with us: the forces of civic coordination, government cooperation, sports-minded politicians and other community sports leaders who are thinking big and making things happen

This weekend we had the NFL’s Pro Bowl Games and the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Orlando.

Call me crazy, but I can foresee a day when we’ll be hosting the NFL’s Super Bowl and the Olympic Games themselves.

No, not next year or the year after that or the year after that. But in the next 10 to 20 years, Orlando has the makings of being — what mayor Buddy Dyer calls — “the No. 1 sports destination in the world.”

Dyer believes Orlando is already the world’s No. 1 sports destination but, of course, he is an Orlando native and the longtime mayor, so he is obviously biased. Sorry, Mayor, but you can’t be the world’s No. 1 sports destination when you don’t host any of the world’s No. 1 sporting events. We missed the cut on hosting World Cup matches in 2026, and we’ve never hosted the Super Bowl or the college football national championship game either.

However, I believe as Orlando keeps growing and our leaders keep aspiring, we have what it takes to be a major player in national and international sports.

“We’re in a position that we can host virtually anything that the world can bring us in terms of sports,” Dyer says.

Says Steve Hogan, the CEO of Florida Citrus Sports and one of the community leaders in charge of getting major sporting events to Camping World Stadium: “People want to come to Orlando for all the obvious reasons.”

Kudos to Hogan, Greater Orlando Sports Commission president Jason Siegel and others for beating the bushes and keeping Central Florida front and center for hosting bigger and better sporting events. Siegel and Hogan both will tell you that Orlando is a desired location for just about every major sporting organization in the world.

The NFL is the perfect example. It keeps putting Orlando in the Pro Bowl rotation even though the weather hasn’t always cooperated over the last few years and Camping World Stadium isn’t exactly up to NFL standards.

Here’s all you need to know about our hunger for the NFL: Orlando drew a crowd of 55,709 for Sunday’s Pro Bowl Games, which essentially consisted of some cheesy skills challenges (hey, who doesn’t love watching NFL centers show off their abilities by snapping balls at targets of different sizes and point values) and the main event — a flag-football game!

“This has been an awesome experience in Orlando,” Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Evan Engram said of spending Pro Bowl week in Orlando. “I think players love bringing their families to Orlando and visiting all of the attractions.”

Speaking of the Jaguars, the Orange County Commission just approved $400 million in upgrades to Camping World Stadium, which will make the venue much closer to NFL quality. Dyer hopes the Jags will play at Camping World Stadium if, as expected, the city of Jacksonville renovates the team’s stadium during the 2026-27 seasons.

Perhaps hosting the Jags for a season will be a catalyst to Orlando someday getting its own NFL team, which would allow Central Florida to bid for a Super Bowl. I don’t think there’s any question that the NFL would love to have a team in Orlando in the not-too-distant future. After all, we are already the biggest media market in the country without an NFL team AND we are one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country. It’s estimated that by 2030, the Orlando metro area will have more than 5 million people, which will make us bigger than the current populations of such major cities as Boston, San Francisco and Detroit.

Because of our growth, our weather, our airport, our hotels and our attractions, Orlando is on the radar of just about every sports entity in the country, including the United States Olympic Committee. The U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials were a resounding success on Saturday with the USOC, the runners themselves and the tens of thousands of fans lining the streets in downtown Orlando raving about the event.

“A big shout-out to Orlando,” said Clayton Young, who qualified for the Paris Olympics by finishing second in Saturday’s Marathon Trials. “What a phenomenal event, a great community and a great course. It was flat, fast and we ran what we needed to do to get to Paris. The crowds were amazing, almost too loud. I almost thought I needed some earplugs out there. I’m really grateful to the city of Orlando for having this event.”

Today, it’s the U.S. Marathon Trials and the Pro Bowl Games.

Tomorrow, the Olympic Games and the Super Bowl.

May the force be with us.

Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen