WrestleMania 37 has a new date and place, which means fans will probably attend.
The company announced Saturday that WrestleMania 37 has moved from April 10-11 to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, which was scheduled to host WrestleMania 36 ahead of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
WrestleMania 37 was originally scheduled to take place on March 27 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The Rams and Chargers home will now host WrestleMania 39 on April 2, 2023. WrestleMania 38 will take place on April 3, 2022 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
WWE said, in coordination with local partners and government officials, that it will announce ticket availability and security protocols for WrestleMania 37 in the coming weeks.
“Florida is delighted to welcome WrestleMania to Tampa in April at Raymond James Stadium,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a statement. “Florida has continued to work with professional sports and entertainment to operate safely while generating revenue and protecting jobs. WrestleMania will bring tens of millions of dollars to the Tampa area and we hope to hold more sporting and entertainment events in Florida this year. ”
Under DeSantis, Florida has been one of the states that has allowed fans to attend sporting events during the pandemic. In October, as supposed it gave states sports teams permission to fill their stadiums to full capacity, but the Jaguars, Dolphins and Buccaneers limited attendance to about 25 percent. For Raymond James Stadium, about 16,000 people.
California, meanwhile, has had very strict rules about fans attending games during the pandemic. SoFi Stadium was not allowed during the NFL season and the San Francisco 49ers had to play home games away from Levi’s Stadium at the end of the season after local health officials “temporarily banned” any sport that involved proximity and physical contact of strangers home. AT&T Stadium had allowed fans with a 25% capacity for Cowboys games.
“The City of Inglewood is looking forward to the opportunity to host WrestleMania in 2023 and is celebrating the postponement of this year’s event in Tampa Bay so they can have the right time for WrestleMania. Our time will come, ”said Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr.
WWE has allowed a small number of fans to watch its NXT shows at its Tampa Performance Center, but “Monday Night Raw” and “Friday Night SmackDown” have remained fanless live since March. WrestleMania 36 was held over two nights at the WWE Performance Center.
“On behalf of everyone in the WWE, we thank Governor [Ron] DeSantis, [Tampa] Mayor [Jane] Castor, [Arlington] Mayor [Jeff] Williams and Mayor Butts for their grace and flexibility in what was a collaborative effort to bring the next three WrestleManias to these iconic stadiums in their world-class cities, “said Vince McMahon, President and CEO of WWE .