ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — A World Wrestling
Entertainment (WWE) event held earlier this year had a $47
million impact on the city of St. Petersburg.
Visit St. Pete/Clearwater (VSPC) broke down the numbers to
the Pinellas County Tourism Development Council on
Wednesday.
The announcement comes after the live event body-slammed
Tropicana Field’s attendance record, drawing in a crowd of
over 48,000. Tickets were sold to people in all 50 states
and 40 countries.
Caleb Peterson, Senior Business Development Manager for
VSPC, announced that Rumble had a positive impact outside
the Trop and boosted profits for nearby businesses.
Ferg’s Sports Bar reported seeing seven times their usual
business on Saturday.
Green Bench Brewing Company reported a 10%-15% increase over
a typical Saturday.
Imagine Museum staff said they saw a 25% increase in
attendance on Sunday.
The Sun Runner also saw a whopping 95% spike in ridership
the day of the Royal Rumble.
“I don’t know if some of you guys were down there, but
downtown St. Pete was just electric,” Peterson said. “What
we heard from a lot of different people is that weekend is
typically pretty quiet on our side of the bay because of
Gasparilla going on over in Tampa. It was a home run for
them.”
Peterson said the process for courting WWE to choose St.
Pete for one of its most iconic events was competitive.
VPSC, who kicked in $500,000 for the effort, teamed up with
the Tampa Bay Rays, the City of St. Petersburg and the Tampa
Sports Commission to make it a reality. St. Pete was chosen
over Orlando and Seattle to host the event.
“You could tell downtown was on fire,” Council Member Copley
Gerdes said.
17,811 booked hotel nights helped the Royal Rumble generate
$28 million in direct spending and an overall economic
impact of $47 million. It brought in nearly $3 million in
tax dollars.
Peterson highlighted the “legacy” that WWE left behind in
Tampa Bay.
“On that Friday and Saturday leading up to the event, they
visited four charities and they interacted with the kids,
the youth of our communities and they donated $15,000 to
each of these charities,” Peterson said. “Not only did they
bring the impact during the event, but they’re going to
leave a lasting impact with our youth and then that $15,000
will go to support those organizations as they look to move
forward.”
WWE donated to the following organizations:
ARC Tampa Bay
Miracle by the Bay
Boys & Girls Club of St. Petersburg
Pinellas Education Foundation
“I wish we could do this with more of our events,” Peterson
said.
