On Monday, October 19th, WWE (NYSE: WWE) and the Texas Lottery announced a partnership around WWE’s pop-culture extravaganza, WrestleMania 32, making a WrestleMania scratch ticket game available starting Monday, November 16th, with revenue supporting Texas public schools. The new game gives fans a chance to instantly win more than $10 million in prizes, including top prizes of $25,000, and the opportunity to enter one of four promotional second-chance drawings with prizes that include trips to WrestleMania, VIP all-access experiences at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, and replica WWE World Heavyweight Championship belts.
“When we found out that WrestleMania 32 is taking place in Dallas, we knew we wanted to be involved,” said Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery. “We are excited about this opportunity and believe this partnership will be an asset in generating revenue for Texas education.”
“The best minds are putting it together,” said McMahon, “and we are going to give you a show that you will never forget.”
One can only imagine what will happen when combining the showmanship minds of WWE and the marketing genius of the Jones family. What we do know is WWE will make full use of its star power and legions of loyal fans to fill up AT&T Stadium. As McMahon and Jones-Anderson pointed out, the WWE record of over 93,000 fans in attendance is squarely in their crosshairs, with the hopes of breaking the all-time attendance record of 93,193 set at WrestleMania 3 in March of 1987.
When asked about the record, Jones-Anderson quickly agreed, “You know we always want to set new records.”
For those not in the know, WrestleMania works much like a week-long celebration of all things WWE related. A Hall of Fame event, which will be held at the American Airlines Center, pays tribute to wrestling’s past heroes (let’s throw the Von Erichs some love, eh) and several events throughout the week give fans a chance to mix, mingle, and selfie with their favorite stars, all ending with a massive, testosterone fueled, chest baring, fireworks enhanced set of matches featuring WWE’s biggest names going for its biggest titles.
This event also includes ways for WWE to show off its community support. As McMahon points out, “There will be a golf tournament, we visit several hospitals, we have our Make-A-Wish Pizza Party.” In between pile drives, elbow drops, and headbutts, these men and women do have a heart.
So, where does the Texas Lottery fit into all of this? Aside from being a major sponsor of the event, lottery officials have agreed to publish 5 versions of a Wrestlemania 32 Scratch-Off ticket with almost $10 million in cash and prizes ($25,000 max). Going on sale November 16th, the ticket will allow non-winning tickets to be placed into a drawing for WWE related prizes, including a trip to WWE’s Florida NXT training facility where the “stars of tomorrow” are trained. These Scratch-Offs will feature WWE’s biggest stars and divas, with a different group pictured on each of the 5 tickets.
WrestleMania 32 can be an event on par with the Super Bowl in terms of economic impact for the area. Because of the subculture surrounding WWE, multiple sanctioned, and unsanctioned, events should spring up around it, further boosting activity and the type of spending which drives big events such as this. Let’s face it, WWE is a world-wide brand and Wrestlemania attracts people from all over the world to its venues each year.
As Jones-Anderson said, “Our (vacation) packages have been selling in the thousands.” These sales happened before the official announcement, which should indicate how popular the event is. Additionally, AT&T Stadium itself becomes a draw as many people are curious to see the stadium and feel the energy of a crowd of 95-100K. Even McMahon admitted to “goose bumps” when she first entered the cavernous field and laid herself down on the mid-field star for a photo.
Grief and the Lottery Commission claim to have raised $1.2 billion for education through the lottery system. If true, adding a popular game like the WWE Scratch Off should boost those totals for the coming year.
Wrestlemania 32 tickets will go on sale to the general public on November 9th. However, North Texas residents will be able to purchase their tickets during a special “pick your seat” event on November 8th. This free event will allow individuals and their families to view various seating positions throughout the stadium, so they can choose the best tickets and the prices they can afford.
