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Local tourism officials are optimistic that Saturday’s Royal Rumble wrestling event will draw a record-breaking crowd to Lucas Oil Stadium. Less than a week before the event, tickets are becoming sparse.
The first major event in an eight-year deal between Indiana Sports Corp. and World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., the Royal Rumble is expected to draw as many as 65,000 spectators to Indianapolis, many coming from outside of central Indiana.
An IBJ search on Ticketmaster found just more than 3,100 tickets remain available for purchase through the WWE and third-party resellers, as of Sunday afternoon. Prices range from $160 per ticket for a seat in the upper sections of the stadium to $3,000 for a third-row floor seat, before fees. Lucas Oil Stadium’s approximate capacity for this year’s Royal Rumble is 65,000.
“We’re feeling really good, and the WWE is ecstatic about the ticket sales number and I am, too,” said Patrick Talty, president of the Indiana Sports Corp. “It’s going to be a big crowd—exactly what we thought. There are going to be a lot of people from out of town, which we knew would happen. And I’ve talked to a lot of hoteliers who are [expecting to see] a busy weekend.”
The only time Royal Rumble has drawn more than 60,000 was 1997 in San Antonio, when the Alamodome hosted a crowd of 60,447.
Talty, a former WWE executive who has led the nonprofit sports tourism group since 2022, said Indianapolis hopes to continue to elevate the Royal Rumble event, and by pairing the event with a slate of other activities throughout the weekend—including a Friday Smackdown event at Gainbridge Fieldhouse—wrestling fans will have more opportunities than ever to get in on the fun.
“When I worked there, Royal Rumble used to be an arena event; it wasn’t a big weekend and we didn’t make a big deal of it, [but] was a great pay-per-view,” he said. “Now … it’s one of the four tentpoles, and I think we have elevated it in our hosting. I think the WWE universe (fans) will have a blast when they’re here and they see all the stuff that we put in place for them to participate in.”
An Indiana Sports Corp. official said numerous artists, restaurants and businesses will be involved in welcoming out-of-town visitors for Royal Rumble, with events throughout the weekend. Additionally, signage is set to be installed at various locations downtown, the Indianapolis International Airport and the Fountain Fletcher District.
The arrangement between the Indiana Sports Corp. and Stamford, Connecticut-based WWE is the first of its kind that the entertainment company has reached with a U.S. sports commission. In addition to Royal Rumble—an event Indianapolis has never hosted—the deal includes future turns hosting WrestleMania and SummerSlam, which the city last hosted in 1992 and 2008, respectively. The deal is expected to generate about $350 million in economic impact.
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Not gonna waste my time or money on a fake wrestling event. The Royal Rumble is named for the event’s signature match in which a new participant approaches the ring every two minutes until 30 wrestlers have entered. The last person standing after 29 others have been thrown over the top rope is the winner. And yes, it’s all scripted.
And yet… the economic impact is large.
This may not for you, and frankly it’s not for me, but to be dismissive of the event just because of your own personal taste is not a great take.
Indianapolis does a great job hosting huge events and conferences. This is another big event we can prove we do well promoting and managing.
What Ryan said.
Whether it’s the WWE or Taylor Swift or GenCon or the Indy 500 … they’re all events, and this city long ago decided the business model for downtown was hosting events well.
Hope everyone’s happy and it works well. Yes, I also could care less. There will be no Mensa meetings affiliated with this event. China laughs and now leads the world with AI as new administrations in Indiana and DC dumb down Americans and water down funding and the value of higher education. Wow I really went off the rails here but I fear we continue to be fascinated by mindless and dollars while we miss the bigger picture.
Mindless “distractions”