Wrestlemania 28 set records yesterday with a record gate of $8.9 million. It also set records for the largest crowd at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Florida with 78,363 attendees and the highest grossing live event in WWE history.
WWE stock is up slightly at $8.83 near the close of Monday’s trading.
Via WWE press release:
The previous Sun Life Stadium attendance record was 77,912 for the BCS National Championship in 2005. Its highest grossing entertainment event was U2 on June 29, 2011, grossing more than $7.5 million. WrestleMania XXVIII surpassed the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania in Houston, which grossed $7.2 million. This marks the third consecutive year WrestleMania broke the gross entertainment event record of the host venue.
Payout Perspective:
While it is a press release from the WWE, if the attendance and gate are in the ballpark of the figures, the WWE’s annual event did not disappoint. The PPV buy rate should be good as well considering The Rock and the added promotion for the event. For a company that has suffered some setbacks (e.g. WWE Network) lately, its a needed boost. With the addition of Lesnar (and the subtraction of the Rock), the WWE will hope to continue the momentum from Sunday.
Additional numbers and news from the WWE:
– The Rock/Cena Countdown show, “Once in a Lifetime,” which first aired last Monday right before Raw on the USA Network scored 2.13 million viewers for a 1.47 rating according to Dave Metzler. The rating was low for the time slot but was twice as much as most UFC Countdown shows. This can be discounted slightly considering the uniqueness of the Rock/Cena show.
– The Atlantic had an interesting article pre-Wrestlemania asking the question of whether there would be blood in the HHH-Undertaker match. It’s an interesting read on the business versus entertainment decisions behind blood in the match. In the end, there was no blading (although HHH did bleed unintentionally).
– And the big news for UFC fans is that Brock Lesnar has signed with the WWE. Although he didn’t make his appearance last night, you may want to tune in tonight to see if Lesnar shows. His contract is rumored to be for one year with limited appearances but big money.
Attendance was 78,363.