WWE Planning To Do More Stadium Shows In 2023
Nick Khan pushing for a change to WWE's premium live event approach.
As per Andrew Zarian of the Wrestling Observer and Mat Men Podcast, WWE is planning to expand the amount of stadium shows they do in 2023 as part of a plan to make such events the norm.
The driving force behind this initiative is said to be Nick Khan, with the idea being to do more stadium premium live events in 2023 than the eight such shows that take place across this year.
The scalability of large stadiums is very beneficial when it comes to having live attendance over 15k.
AdvertisementThe event doesn't have to be a sell-out of 50k+ but now you have room to do 20-35k shows more often leading to much higher revenue & higher level of excitement for the event.
— Andrew Zarian (@AndrewZarian) April 27, 2022
As Zarian points out, running a stadium event means WWE can bring in a far higher attendance than if that show took place in an arena setting. For example, this year's Day 1 premium live event had just shy of 14,000 fans at Atlanta's State Farm Arena, whilst that same month's Royal Rumble show had over 44,000 fans in The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis.
Of course, the Royal Rumble itself is a far bigger draw than a generic B-level show like Day 1, but this is just one example of how larger crowds can be obtained by housing premium live events in a stadium.
Recent years have seen WWE run major stadium shows from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the company has also now confirmed a huge PPV from Cardiff's Principality Stadium this September. By the sounds of it, events of such scale are going to become regular occurrences for Vince McMahon's sports entertainment giant as we roll into next year.