Colorful and vivid, the current Citrus Bowl logo makes a perfect match to the name of the game. We cannot say the same about the old logo, though.
The first game of Citrus Bowl was played in 1947, under the name Tangerine Bowl. Since that time, it has become one of the most awaited and significant events in the American college football world. Since the very beginning, the game has been held at the Camping World Stadium; with just one game, in 1973, played on Florida Field, an arena in Gainesville, Florida.
For its quite long history, Citrus Bowl has changed several names with all but the first two (Tangerine Bowl and Florida Citrus Bowl),l changed according to the bowl’s sponsors at the time.
What is Citrus Bowl?
Citrus Bowl is the Intercollegiate football bowl game, which was first played in 1947. Today the Bowl holds its games at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. Citrus Bowl is affiliated with the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conferences. After getting a new sponsor in 2019 the bowl is known as the Vrbo Citrus Bowl.
The original badge of the Citrus Bowl was executed in a delightful and bright yellow, green, and orange color palette; with the stylized citrus tree set on a white background in the center of the rounded badge. The image was enclosed into a double circular frame in a thin gold outline, with the bold capitalized “Florida Citrus Bowl” inscription written along its upper part in black sans-serif letters.
The redesign of 1994 made the logo of the Citrus Bowl more modern and strong — refining the tree’s contours and enclosing it into a solid green frame, with the lettering colored in white Joe, and its typeface changed to a bold extended sans-serif. At the bottom, the logo was crossed by a solid red ribbon with the “CompUSA” logo in white.
In 2000 the white logotype on the red ribbon was replaced by the “Ourhouse Com” lettering, executed in a simple cursive font, with each of the bold letters outlined in black. All the other elements of the logo remained untouched. This version of the badge was in use by the Bowl for just one season.
The green framing was removed and the red ribbon was replaced by a calm blue one in 2001. Now the bold black “Florida Citrus Bowl”, set in a heavy geometric sans-serif typeface was written around the perimeter of the circular badge right on a white background, around the tree, and inside the thin black outline of the medallion. As for the inscription on the ribbon, it was now a “Capital One” logotype in its corporate style, set in white over a blue background.
The concept of the Citrus Bowl logo was completely changed in 2003, with the iconic tree being replaced by the image of a brown rugby ball and a palm tree on a yellow circular badge with a thick turquoise outline. The turquoise ribbon got a bit wider, with the “Bowl” in all capitals set under the “Capital One” logotype in white italicized letters, executed in a slightly narrowed sans-serif typeface. The dark brown “Orlando” tagline was arched along the bottom part of the circular badge in small capitals.
The redesign of 2009 was all about the color palette of the Citrus Bowl logo — the turquoise shade of the badge’s outline and the ribbon was replaced by a dark blue color. With the new shade, the logo started looking more professional and confident, creating a strong contrast between the elements.
The centerpiece of the emblem is a stylized citrus tree. It has a small trunk and a large crown with enormous and multiple fruits colored yellow and orange. Above the crown, the lettering “Citrus Bowl” can be seen. The blue, the color of the sky, reinforces the natural feel started by the green tree.
On the 2019 version of the emblem, there is a green banner featuring the name of the sponsor, “VRBO.”
In 2020 the Vrbo Citrus Bowl logo was slightly refined. First of all, the typeface of the arched inscription was changed to a bold sans-serif, with narrowed geometric letters. Secondly, the dark blue lines along the perimeter of the badge are now drawn in green and become thicker. Thirdly, the green ribbon with the “Vrbo” logotype was removed, and now the corporate sponsor’s emblem is drawn in white over a solid blue background, at the bottom of the circular badge.
The Citrus Bowl logo redesign of 2023 was changed after the game got a new sponsor, Cheez-It. The bright and funny badge is composed of a rhombus in a striped orange and yellow pattern, with a dark red rectangular banner, where the name of the bowl’s sponsor is set in white and the white roundel with a stylized tree and citrus circles on it. The two banners are decorated with each other by the uppercase black “Citrus Bowl” lettering.