Welcome to another edition of The Wrestling Post. This week we take a look at the location of the next two Wrestlemanias as well as the latest ratings from Total Divas.
Wrestlemania 31 in Bay Area
The WWE announced that Wrestlemania 31 will take place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California in March 2015. Levi’s Stadium is still under construction and is estimated to open August 2014. It will be the permanent home of the San Francisco 49ers. The stadium’s capacity is set for 68,500 but could be expandable to 75,000.
The NFL has committed Super Bowl L in 2016 (L is the Roman Numeral for 50) to the site.
Wrestlemania has been an economic boon for the cities that host it. Aside from the event itself, there are week-long activities which bring in thousands of WWE fans to the city. The WWE announced that New Jersey received an economic impact of $101.2 million received from non-locals spending that were visiting specifically from Wrestlemania 29.
For those wondering, Wrestlemania 30 is in New Orleans this year and Wrestlemania 32 will be held at Cowboys Stadium although no official announcement has been made.
Payout Take: Cities clamor to host the WWE’s biggest event of the year. Certainly the hospitality industry does well during Wrestlemania week and the reported economic impact is something that every city desires. The WWE’s announcement makes sense as Levi’s Stadium will be less than a year old with enough capacity and a healthy surrounding region to support the event.
Total Divas drop to 1.2 million viewers this week
This week’s Total Divas episode this past Sunday was down as it received only 1.2 million viewers according to The Wrestling Observer (subscription recommended). The ratings may have taken a slide due to the lack of lead-in since “Keeping up with the Kardashians” season ended.
Payout Take: The ratings for the second half of the first season are as follows via TV By the Numbers:
Episode 9: 1.25
Episode 10: 1.41
Episode 11: 0.92
Episode 12: 1.44
Episode 13: 1.20
Even though last week’s ratings have dipped, its overall ratings have been pleasing and a second season is on its way. The season finale airs December 15th.
Big issue for WWE is the WWE Network.
Huge jump in the deep end if WWE really launches an new digital network that carries the PPVs, instead of a traditional cable network.
From some of the executive talk from Barrios, sounds like this digital network still might be a bluff. I think they still still want to be HBO, not Hulu.
As for WrestleMania 31, it’s officially going to be in California’s Bay Area. Levi’s Stadium, potentially nicknamed “The Field of Jeans,. Amazing looking forward for it. 🙂