WWE Should Hold More Shows/Tapings in Football Arenas.

[lil steroid meat]

Most NFL/College arenas seat between 30k to 100k people, and most WWE shows usually hold 20k+ people, why not?

Why not hold a few Raw's/Smackdown's in football arenas February through August?

It would be a different aesthetic (especially if they rely less on the red and blue lighting for these outdoor shows), maybe even make the show look more legitimate to casual viewers flipping through, and personally, I've always been a fan of outdoor wrestling shows.

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I know NWA territories used to do shows in football stadiums in the 70's and 80's, I remember a really cool shot of Ric Flair coming to the ring in a helicopter from the Rise/Fall of WCW Documentary, too lazy to go find it though.

So why not? Do you think the WWE should hold more shows and tapings in football arenas? If not, why not?

 

[Slbrey]

Nah wrestlemania is a good choice for the open arenas and elaborate stages....truely makes it feel like a magical event.

 

[tvcolosi]

i agree, but even put a spin on it. Citys like LA, Kansas City, New york and a bunch more have MLS (Soccer) stadiums, out door 15-20,000 seats. Even if its a spring break thing like wcw or do 4th of july or something.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

They're not going to sell out a football stadium for an episode of RAW. Theres your answer for why they don't/won't do it.

As far as just being outdoors, I could go along with that, but I'm not really sure what kind of outdoor facilities are conducive to a RAW production. They're not going to do outdoor shows just for the novelty of it, they need to bring in the same amount of paying customers through the gate as a regular show. And not in a stadium that is so big that it makes a decent size crowd look tiny.

 

[shafe_41]

That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard.

Fans wouldn't go. Why would I want to pay the price of a decent ticket to sit halfway across a football field when I can go to an arena, pay the same price, and sit halfway across a basketball court. Raw is confined to give a better experience for the fans. Gets them closer to the action. Raw and Smackdown don't even sell out every arena they're in. And you want to suck the energy out of those shows by showing 50,000 empty seats? Smackdown is lucky they can get 5,000 people at a show anymore.

WWE would never pay the price to rent out a place that big to have 65-70% of it sit empty. They'd lose money. Just a terrible terrible idea. Stick with Mania where you know you'll sell the seats.

 

[TheVolFan52]

Only other show that I'd like to see in a larger venue is SummerSlam and quite frankly it's probably the only show (Except the Rumble) that could sell 50,000 or more tickets. Not a fan of the outdoor Raws and smack downs though. Harder to hear the crowd in larger venues.

 

[#heel420]

They barely sell out normal arenas for tv anymore, no way this would happen.

 

[ajdb]

Whoever said the MLS stadium idea might be on the right track. The largest actual (as in mainly used for MLS) stadium in MLS would the StubHub Center in LA (Carson). I think it seat 23,000. Smallest right now is probably the dump San Jose plays in. I think it holds 10,000.

I think those old NWA shows outdoors are cool and they even did a whole episode of Legends of Wrestling on outdoor wrestling shows so WWE at least pays attention to that.

I think MLS stadiums might work for PPVs, maybe try SummerSlam outdoor first and see if it works.

I'm for trying it, I'm not sure if it'll work, but I'm for new ideas.

 

[boozinjedi]

I remember 92 SummerSlam was at Wembley and I think the 2002? Rumble was at the AlamoDome...
As for a Raw or Smackdown???...nah
But as stated in this thread..a PPV in Stadium/Dome would be a good idea.

 

[The Perfect Max]

Yeah, if they can't sell tickets, they won't. Raw will not sell out a stadium. Perhaps the night after a WrestleMania at a push, but that's it. The stadiums should be saved the greatest events of the calendar, so WrestleMania.

If you're suggesting more fans should come to shows, I do agree. Why the hell WWE allows pay-per-view events to have 8,000 in attendance, I don't know. The big arenas that hold north of 14,000 to 15,000 should hold these pay-per-view events. Save the small venues for house shows.

Other than that, nah, won't happen, unless of course wrestling peaks it's popularity yet again. Well if that's the case, never, haha.

 

[Wald]

Could be a neat idea to use an MLS stadium for special editions of Raw but I wouldn't go to that well too often. You'd really need to promote it heavily to fill out even a 20k outdoor stadium but I could see something like a Spring Break Raw coming live from David Beckham's new Miami club's stadium being a success. WWE would get the rub from Beckham's fame in sports outlets, it could be a lot of fun and Beckham's club get a revenue boost.

Win-win situation if done correctly.

 

[aholeisahole]

This is terrible, this idea.

Even in 2001 WWE only drew 25,000 to the Georgia Dome RAW -- a place that holds 80,000. Even Goldberg's huge win over Hogan on Nitro drew 41,000 to the Georgia Dome -- and that was when interest in wrestling was at its peak. The place was at half capacity!

WWE ran a March 2001 show at the Toronto Skydome that drew 15,000. They did another one in June 2001 that only drew 8000. They drew 68,000 there for WrestleMania X8 in 2002. In other words, if it isn't WrestleMania, it isn't filling a stadium in 2014.

 

[Kool Aid Man]

Does anyone remember when the NWA held events at outdoor stadiums? I can't think of which ones. I do remember Flair flying in on helicopter to wrestle Nikita Koloff. These are cool venues in my opinion, you just have to factor in weather which is unpredictable.

What WCW did, going to Panama City at La Vela, Sturggis, and the Mall of America was extremely cool.

 

[The Warlord]

I believe they had a Monday Night Raw in the Toronto Skydome back in the mid 90's once. You're right, it did give a different feel to the show.

But just like in anything....less is more. You start doing shows like this all the time and it'll take away the big show feel that is Wrestlemania. I wouldn't mind a SummerSlam (Wembley) or Royal Rumble (ie San Antonio 1997) every once in awhile if they have a great card.

Remember, it'll only be great if they can sell out the stadium. A big ppv on a Sunday night is more likely to sell out than a weekly show like Raw on a week day.