Miami-Dade County has won the bid to host World Wrestling Entertainment’s super bowl WrestleMania 28 in the spring of 2012 at Sun Life Stadium, a week-long event which attracts fans from around the world.
In the three-year process, the area won the bid over other cities under consideration, such as Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York and Toronto.
At a Wednesday press conference in South Florida, officials will detail the weeklong list of activities planned culminating with the WWE WrestleMania 28 pay-per-view at Sun Life Stadium, home to the Miami Dolphins and five NFL Super Bowls. The stadium can seat more than 75,000.
Grammy Award Winner Emilio Estefan and other dignitaries are expected to be present during the press conference, as well as several poiiticians.
It will be the second WrestleMania in Florida and the third outdoors. In 2008, WrestleMania 24 was held at the outdoors Citrus Bowl in Orlando. That event set an attendance record for the stadium with 74,635 fans.
Last year, WrestleMania 26 set a University of Phoenix Stadium indoor attendance record, beating a U2 concert from 2009 by more than 20,000. Mania’s attendance was 72,219 with fans from 50 states and 26 countries - a common occurrence. The show grossed $5.8 million as well, becoming the highest grossing entertainment event ever at the stadium.
WrestleMania 26 also generated $45.1 million in economic impact for the greater Glendale/Phoenix area, according to a study conducted by the Enigma Research Corporation. The study said the show also garnered almost $5 million in local, state and county taxes. The economic impact derived from WrestleMania Week equated to the creation of 510 full-time jobs.
Those kinds of numbers are consistent to the host venue and area as WrestleMania Week is a financial gold mine, which is why many cities in North America bid annually for the extravaganza.
Miami had failed to lure the 2011 spectacular to South Florida, losing out to Atlanta. But WWE officials said the city was still on their radar when selecting the 2012 site because of its international ties, facilities, airports and experience hosting hundreds of other mega events.
Sun Life Stadium, home to the Miami Dolphins and five NFL Super Bowls, can seat more than 75,000; attendance records have been broken for venues servicing WrestleMania, a major international event televised to more than 100 countries.
