ORLANDO, Fla. — From 2013 to 2017, Kyle Starcevich had one of the best seats anyone could ask for...on the field.

The former Iowa State quarterback is back in Orlando this week with family for the second time in recent years.

“I actually came to the bowl game two years ago when we were here,” Starcevich references when Iowa State played Notre Dame in the Camping World Bowl. “It was a blast. Always great weather, good people, great stadium and love coming to Orlando.”

This year, the family came to town the day after Christmas and are staying through Friday.

Four nights of places to stay and things to spend money on. Hard to do for the Starcevich family back home.

“It is 17 and sleeting. This 85 and sunny is pretty good,” the former Cyclones QB laughs.

What else is good is the economic impact the Florida Classic, Cheez-It Bowl, and Vrbo Citrus Bowl bring to the area.

“All three events we estimate bring in a hundred million dollars in economic impact,” Florida Citrus Sports Director of Marketing Sam Gardner says. “That’s hotel stays, people eating in restaurants, thats people shopping and dining across the board.”

For this tailgate, it’s a party of seven. As for the rest of the Cyclones faithful, over 15,000 are on hand for the game.

“Iowa State always travels well,” Starcevich says. It feels like we are in Ames, Iowa.”

Of the more than 40,000 fans in attendance between the two schools, over 70% are expected to be from out of town fans spending at least one night.

“We are very proud of the economic impact on the hospitality sector and places like that,” Gardner states. “But really for us it's what we do here in the West Lakes Community and that's the neighborhoods that surrounds the bowl. Within the last seven years, we have had a $100 million in capital investment.”

Florida Citrus Sports hosts the the Florida Classic, Cheez It Bowl and Vrbo Citrus Bowl. They're feeling very fortunate this year. So far, at least five bowl games across the country have been cancelled due to COVID concerns.