Does size matter?

By Scott Keith on December 19, 2018

Hey Scott,

I live in the midwest. We have four area arenas. The bigger arena seats 18,000, two smaller arenas seat 8,000 & 7,000 each and when we've had nxt, they run the 4,000 seat arena.

When wwe runs the biggest location in the city, all of the upper deck is off limits. They're lucky, as of the last few years, to max out the lower bowl.

Any idea why they hesitate or refuse to run a smaller, maybe more intimate setting of a 7/8 thousand seat venue instead of struggling to fill half of an 18,000 seat joint? Is it the rates they get are too good to switch? Embarrassed to have live tv on such a small venue? Appreciate any feedback or light you can shine on the subject.

Thanks,

The arenas have to be booked months and months in advance most of the time, so typically they'll designate certain cities as "A" cities that run the biggest arenas and get multiple shows per year, and some as "B" cities and so on. They likely get a better rate for running the bigger building, plus TV tapings can easily sell out closer to the show if there's a hot attraction and it's better to have the option to sell 18,000 tickets available and not use it. WCW used to err on the side of being too conservative and you'd get these 5000 seat sellouts when they could have sold 3x or more tickets, and then TV would look kind of embarrassing even though the building was legit packed. Even with a half-full arena, there's easy ways to make it look full for TV.

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