Wrestling

Miami, WWE WrestleMania Week celebrate success

 

Miami-Dade County wanting to host WrestleMania Week again

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Strong Numbers for WrestleMania Week

WrestleMania Week in Miami generated an economic boost.

• $102.7 million of direct, indirect and induced impact derived from spending by non-locals visiting specifically for WrestleMania 28.

• 71 percent of fans who attended WrestleMania were from outside the Miami area and stayed an average of four nights.

• The economic impact derived from WrestleMania Week was equal to the creation of 1,020 full-time jobs for the area.

• $6.9 million was spent by non-locals at Miami-Dade County restaurants.

Study conducted by the Enigma Research Corporation


jvarsallone@miamiherald.com

The prospects for Miami hosting another WrestleMania Week are very good.

WWE was very pleased with the relationship built between its staff, talent, fans and the Miami-Dade County community, hosting the extravaganza.

It wasn’t Miami-Dade County’s first rodeo, but it was its first WrestleMania, and everyone celebrated its success.

“WWE has a special relationship with Miami-Dade, and one that we hope will do nothing but continue to grow over time,” said John Saboor, Senior Vice President of Special Events for WWE.

The partnership includes the Miami Dolphins and Sun Life Stadium, the Miami Heat and the AmericanAirlines Arena, the Miami Beach Convention Center, Star Island, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Miami-Dade County Commission, city of Miami Beach and most notably the Miami-Dade Sports Commission, led by its chairman, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jose Pepe Diaz.

“We’re very encouraged by the continued growth [of WrestleMania Week],” Saboor said. “Our partners [for WrestleMania Week in Miami], led by Commissioner Diaz, did an exceptional job of embracing the vision for the continued growth of WrestleMania and WrestleMania Week. We think that has so much to do with the success.

“All the public and private sector partners that served to make-up the local organizing committee truly reinforced Miami-Dade County’s strong reputation as a major event host. The [Miami] partners came together very early and worked tirelessly throughout the planning process to put Miami-Dade’s best foot forward.”

That bodes well for a county accustomed to hosting major events -- NFL Super Bowls, NCAA National Championship Football Games, World Cup Soccer Games, NBA Finals, MLB World Series, NASCAR Championships.

“We’ll soon began our selection process for the placement of WrestleMania 31 in 2015 and WrestleMania 32 in 2016,” Saboor said, “and it is our absolute hope that Miami-Dade will be an early and active participant in that exciting discussion.”

WWE recently announced that WrestleMania 28 generated a record-breaking $102.7 million in economic impact for Miami-Dade County, according to a study conducted by the Enigma Research Corporation.

“Our domestic and international fans combined to create a result that serves as another powerful testament to the worldwide appeal of Miami as a destination,” Saboor said.

This record for WrestleMania’s economic impact represents a $40 million increase over WrestleMania 27 in Atlanta. WrestleMania 28 also generated approximately $15.3 million in local, state and county taxes.

“There are three very powerful factors that combine an incredible convergence to produce the result,” Saboor said. “Number one, 71 percent of those fans who attended were from outside of the [direct market access], and even more telling was that of those fans traveling into Miami almost 23 percent of them live outside the United States.

“Comparatively, for WrestleMania 27 [in Atlanta], those international fans represented only six percent. So that number very much reinforced Miami as a gateway city with an incredible international airport with incredible service to cities and countries around the world, very easy to travel there, and I think we saw many of those domestic and international fans combined attending WrestleMania Week with their annual family vacation. Miami was a significant appeal in that decision process for fans traveling.

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