The Sunshine State Wants another Wrestlemania

There was an article in the Orlando Sentinel today acknowledging this years past Wrestlemania that took place in Orlando, FL. According to the article, the event brought in $51.5 million dollars to Central Florida. The biggest spectacle of the year for WWE takes place usually in March or April. Wrestlemania 24, which aired on March 30th, 2008, took place in the Citrus Bowl, setting a record attendance of 74,635 people in the venue.

Wrestlemania isn't just a day long event. The WWE spends months building up to the actual show and make events all week long for fans to attend. According to the article, Wrestlemania drew fans from all 50 states and 21 countries that spent an average of 3.8 nights in the Orlando area. That helped benefit area hotels, restaurants, retail locations, and all of the parks. And the WWE wasn't the only company to capitalize on the amount of fans in the area. TNA is based in Orlando, so they held shows three days in a row to give fans who normally wouldn't have a chance to see a live taping. One of these shows included their first ever live broadcast (rather than the live to tape shows they have). Also, the top independent company in the country, Ring of Honor, held two shows the Friday and Saturday before Wrestlemania, drawing over 1,000 fans each night. Fans that normally wouldn't get to see Ring of Honor or TNA have a chance to see it because Wrestlemania brings ALL the wrestling fans to one area of the country at once for this yearly event.

WWE tries to give the most to their fans by making many different opportunities for fans to interact with the wrestlers. They have signings all over the Florida area, appearances at theme parks, special brunches for fans to eat with the wrestlers, etc. This brings the thousands of fans to different parts of the state to help generate revenue in even more areas. The article talks about of the fans in the area clearly want WWE to return to the Citrus Bowl for another Wrestlemania. But it wouldn't be a too hard to guess that the city of Orlando would love for the WWE to come back to generate another bulk of money like that for the city. Also, it's nice for the WWE that they city had a good experience and would probably go out of their way to get a 'Mania back there, rather than the WWE seeking out cities. It makes it look like the company and the product are wanted, which sheds a good light on them.



http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-tourism0108dec01,0,259821.story