A new report from the Tampa Bay Times has provided additional details on the seating capacity and safety protocols in place for WrestleMania 37 in Tampa next month.
Reporter Eduardo A. Encina notes that approximately 25,000 seats will be opened for each night of WrestleMania, representing 36 percent of the capacity at Raymond James Stadium. The Tampa Bay Times noted that the Super Bowl, at the same stadium, operated at 38 percent capacity but included 7,500 vaccinated health workers.
It was reported by several outlets that WWE’s previous plan was seeking closer to 45,000 per night. The company abruptly halted Tuesday on-sale for tickets and was pushed to this Friday.
The Tampa Bay Times also reports that safety protocols will include seating pods, social distancing, masks to be worn at all times, temperature checks, health screenings, cashless concessions, and mobile ticketing. There will be free masks being distributed upon entry to the events.
Tickets for WrestleMania 37 go on sale this Friday at 10 am ET with an internet pre-sale beginning Thursday at 10 am.
WrestleMania 37 takes place Saturday, April 10th, and Sunday, April 11th and will be WWE’s first large-scale event with fans since last March. The company has accommodated small numbers of fans at the NXT tapings at the WWE Performance Center while utilizing the ThunderDome with a virtual audience for Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
I’d be very surprised if they were worried about ticket sales. My guess is that this is health and safety related.
Given the fact that there have been really no big shows for a year and a half, I think fans will jump at the idea of going to mania…especially in that region.
My feeling is the NXT outbreak was an issue as well as that they may not sell out 45k x 2 seats.
This Wrestlemania has a really weak card from a “must see” standpoint. There is no John Cena, Undertaker, Rock, Goldberg, Brock, Rousey, Becky. It really seems like a regular show and not a WM.
You like have Lashley vs Drew and Roman vs Edge. The later seems decent but neither seems like a dream match. After that Bianca vs Sasha will be good but Asuka vs Charlotte is a rehash and there isn’t much else. They are banking heavily on Orton vs Fiend but I’m not sure anyone cares.
Also you don’t know which night Roman vs Edge is. Clearly it’s the one most people will want but how do you even know which day to get.
Bottom line is that for health and safety reason this was the right call so I applaud them. However this card on paper is weaker snd doesn’t scream a sell out of 90k seats at all.
Yeah promoting a huge crowd the same week as (another) outbreak at your development facility is a bad look. I think that is a huge factor in the change.
Also, the card looks pretty bad. Can’t imagine many people outside of Florida traveling to see a show with this lineup. It’s not special at all
I agree with most of this, but it’s also interesting. A lot of fans bitch and moan (I’m talking in general, I’m not talking about anyone specifically in this thread) when “part timers” come back, but then they complain that the card is weak when they don’t put those part timers on the card. Hypocrisy of the wrestling world lol.
I do think they would sell out, not because of the card, but because of the demand for seeing a show live right now. With that said, I do think that if someone like The Rock was on the show they would have a much easier time doing so.
Personally I am really in to the Roman/Edge feud, to me that feels like a WM main event. Drew vs Bobby is meh, nothing against Bobby, but we did just see it in the Spring, I also hate it when they flip a title just before mania. They should have put the title on Bobby somehow in the fall so Drew had a longer journey to get his title back. Charlotte vs Asuka is ok, very happy with Sasha vs Bianca. Couldn’t care less for Fiend vs Orton outside of seeing Fiends entrance at mania. We’ll have to wait and see how the rest of the card shapes up.
One dream match though could make this card…for example, imagine seeing this card with the addition of say Shawn vs Bryan or Shawn vs AJ etc. Won’t happen, but I would love it.
45,000 wasn’t going to be a problem. They sell those many tickets card-unseen in the Fall every year on the first day and now on top of that we’ve gone a year without anyone being able to get to shows. If people were going to one, they are very likely to go to both, especially knowing that this year has the best chance of sticking that 3 hours and out landing each night.
Considering how long they’ve gone without fans and how they’re still committed to not going the fan route after Mania, I have to imagine it’s for the “appearance” of safety (for whatever kind of internal reason they’ve decided to go this route, even being optimistic about the approach, I have to imagine safety is only part of it). Personally, I think whether its how many are at AEW shows each week or how many are going to be at this or the Super Bowl, it’s still taking a chance with spreading the virus (it’s not like hall ways or bathrooms or leaving is as controlled) whenever there’s any event with attendance, so honestly, as someone watching, seeing even less than I expected will only help to make it a less anxiety-filled watch. Glad they’ve been doing the vaccine campaigns lately, though. Hopefully the days of crowds being a bad thing are close to over.