Report: WrestleMania 32 Will Break WWE Attendance Records
WrestleMania 32 will set the WWE record for attendance at the April 3 event at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas with a reported 84,000 tickets sold already. This is according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Here’s what Dave Meltzer wrote in the Observer:
Tickets are almost sold out, and according to sources with access to the direct numbers, the number of tickets out was 84,000 as of 3/8. Unless they open up standing room tickets, the final real number will be very slightly over that amount.
The number breaks the actual real WWE company record of 79,127 tickets out for the August 29, 1992 SummerSlam show headlined by Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith and Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage at Wembley Stadium in London. WrestleMania III was the largest U.S. crowd in history with 78,000 as the legitimate attendance.
That’s a very impressive number that WWE should be proud of. Part of the reason for going to the Dallas area for WrestleMania is because it’s one of the best stadiums in America, but also one of the biggest. They booked the venue with the idea of selling more tickets to any WWE event in history and they have already apparently reached that goal. In past years, there were apparently up to 25,000 tickets bought up by ticket brokers and that number could be even higher this year since it’s a bigger venue.
WrestleMania 32 will also be the biggest gate in WWE history. Last year’s show in Santa Clara, California drew $12.6 million at the gate and that’s a legit number even though WWE counts service fees, which Meltzer notes is not something that other companies do. Considering what prices are at for WrestleMania right now, they should destroy that gate number this year.
It was also noted by Meltzer they might not be able to get more than 84,000 into the building although they are likely going to claim more than 100,000 people for the event or possibly something around 95,000 because they usually add about 10,000 to the WrestleMania total every year.
Of course when most WWE fans think about the attendance record they think of the 93,173 announced number for WrestleMania 3 in the Silverdome in 1987. That number was around 78,000 as mentioned above, but if you tell a lie for nearly 30 years apparently people will believe it.
I know people will question this because they think Meltzer reports false info, but that’s not true. I’ve subscribed to the Observer (available via subscription at wrestlingobserver.com) for a decade because Meltzer has been doing this stuff for over 35 years. The attendance figures that WWE releases have always been fabricated. Even though it’s a publicly traded company, they still do it. I listened to his radio show with him saying he has sources in the company that give him the real numbers and that you can also find them by looking at WWE’s key performance indicators.
If you’re going to the show like me and you don’t have a ticket yet, don’t fret. They are available on the secondary market (Stubhub) and chances are the prices of tickets there are going to go down as we get closer to the event. I may not get my ticket until the day before the show. It’s worked in other years and it will work again.
Who should WWE credit for the record number of tickets sold? Nobody in particular. Tickets went on sale back in November and none of the matches were announced until late February. This is further proof that the WrestleMania name sells itself. While WWE will probably credit the main eventers like Triple H and Roman Reigns, it’s really the WrestleMania experience that is the draw for the fans.
It’s funny how fans complain about the storylines so much, yet if you look at it from WWE’s perspective, this is going to be the biggest show in company history and it may not be topped for a long time.