I live in Sacramento, California, and the arena that WWE uses in our city for house shows, live tapings, and Pay-Per-Views is Power Balance Pavilion (Royal Rumble 1993, Judgment Day 2001, The Bash 2009), which can seat up to around about 12,000 people.
A few months ago in October 2011, TNA did their very first house show here in Sacramento. They did it from a small auditorium in our downtown that could possibly seat around 3,000 people, which is primarily used for our local high school and college graduations. This auditorium can by no means, have any form of pyro or special stage setup, as it is way too small. The price of their best seats in the house was $55.00, with all kinds of hidden costs, i.e., $180.00 for a signed Jeff Hardy toy car and the chance to meet him (for like one minute), $25.00 to get a picture in the ring with Jeff Hardy after the show, or $10.00 for an Abyss mask (or no picture with Abyss.) Even though this was the first house show here in Sacramento, they did not even come close to filling the venue. They probably had about 600 fans attending. Their hidden costs were terrible, and the lighting and effects was absolutely horrendous for a company even as big as TNA. This venue was only one step above a high school gymnasium even for a house show. Most of our local Indy Feds use better venues than this one.
Most smart marks know that Sacramento, California (Northern California area) is one of the largest fanbases in the world for Professional Wrestling. A few months after that, I went to a WWE RAW house show at Power Balance Pavilion that had probably about 10-12 times the attendance for the TNA house show with tickets for their best seats right behind the barricade at about $74.00, AND THAT WAS FOR A HOUSE SHOW! That was even considered bad by even WWE's standards
Anyways, my point is that if TNA cannot even fill up small, lowly venue, how could they ever think about filling up an arena that WWE would use for any of their shows? Even when they try smaller, but more prestigious arenas like they did for Bound for Glory 2011, their attendance gate was absolutely terrible. If they know what's best for them, they would stick to the Impact Wrestling Zone for now. J.B. even hinted at doing a TNA Pay-Per-View here in Sacramento in 2012, something he says at every TNA house show. Even at our arena, where WWE generally has their worst house show attendance gate, is about 03-04 times TNA's average house show attendance gate. I heard once that TNA Pay-Per-Views are not really about making profits, but just getting the word out there about TNA. If that is the case, then TNA should either stick to hosting all PPVs from the Florida Impact Wrestling Zone or just do their 3 big PPVs (Lockdown, Slammiversary, and Bound for Glory) from some well-known wrestling venues, like M.S.G., or the Arena.
As far as this year's TNA Slammiversary is concerned, is if they choose to do it from a venue other than the Impact Zone, don't expect a gate that will allow them to turn a profit by any means. Not even their PPV buys are worth taking the show on the road. They could probably make more money by doing a live PPV show from a high school gymnasium in a big city. Please don't take this as a rant against TNA. I love TNA just as much as a lot of fans love WWE and TNA. The idea that doing Slammiversary in another city just seems irrelevant.
Still, I hope for the day when TNA can hold a big PPV from a city like NYC (M.S.G.)
