MR. TITO: Will WWE’s Rising Ticket Prices Have Harmful Effects on its Loyal Fanbase?
Here’s a conspiracy theory from me: The 2025 Royal Rumble in Indianapolis, IN on February 1st, 2025 may be the LAST Royal Rumble PLE that is hosted on North American soil. With the name “Royal” in it and it being a major WWE property, I just don’t believe that Saudi Arabia is just “renting” it for a year. Remember, their very first PLE was called the “Greatest Royal Rumble”, so their obsession with the name “Royal Rumble” has led them to this point to make a major financial investment to host arguably the #2 or #3 WWE event. I just don’t think that the Rumble will be a one-time thing for Saudi Arabia and then the event goes back to being a North American thing after that. Nope, I believe they’ll own it for the near future.
And that would be a shame simply because North American fans MADE that event popular and they deserve the right to see it live. Secondly, when the event is in Saudi Arabia, there’s a major travel cost to having at least 30 men and 30 women, precisely, there. Furthermore, there would be a lack of surprises at that event when it’s further away. Might be harder for an older or part-time celebrity to travel to Saudi, though WWE has used private jets to transport people like Brock Lesnar. On top of all of that, are you ready for the FEMALE Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia? That could get awkward with each female having to wear full body suits. Look, if you’re going to purchase events from a country that promotes freedom, then let them present their events as-is. Yeah, we know why…
With that in mind, I began to wonder if I’d ever see the Royal Rumble PLE live in my life… A few years ago, I had a chance to see the Rumble when it was in Pittsburgh, but something came up and I just wasn’t available to go. I’m kicking myself because that’s the year they excluded Daniel Bryan and booed the entire Rumble out of the building but also the last WWE appearance by CM Punk before he quit the next night. Since then, the Rumble has been far away but this year’s event in Indianapolis, IN is a reasonable driving distance away for me.
So I logged into Ticketmaster.com…
*THROWS UP*
By the way, the 2025 Royal Rumble in Indianapolis has NOT sold out. There are plenty of tickets available, actually. We keep hearing how the WWE is soooooo popular (well, I say that too), but yet why hasn’t that event fully sold out yet?
Well, look at the prices.
Want to get a floor ticket? Be prepared to pay $2,000 to $4,600.
Lowest level bowl of the arena? Between $1,000 to $2,000
Mid level bowl of the arena? Between $400 and $1,000
Nose bleeds? Between $260 and $400
According to WrestleTix, there’s about 5,000 unsold tickets still available for the event with about 50,000 already sold.
OK, I tricked you… The WWE sold 50,000 tickets with these absurdly high prices in place. That says all you need to know about how very successful that the WWE currently is right now.
So why are WWE event attendees (using that term loosely because of loyal fans versus casual ones) willing to pay so much for WWE events YET as seen by 2024 numbers, tickets for concert events WENT DOWN because 1 specific lady (Taylor Swift)?
Because after all, the Law of Demand from economic theory states that “Price and Quantity demanded have an inverse relationship”. In other words, they should move in opposite directions. For example, raising the prices should discourage quantity demanded because the prices are too high. Conversely, lowering prices would induce quantity demanded to be higher because of the better value now seen.
So why are WWE events drawing well with higher prices? The RAW on Netflix event in Los Angeles, CA sold out and the WWE bragged about it being the BIGGEST ARENA GATE OF ALL TIME.
Well, it’s that other part of your Micro or Macroeconomics course that further explained Demand. In addition to the “Law of Demand”, there are various factors at play that can offset this very law and boost the willingness of a consumer to buy or not buy goods/services. These factors range from:
• Income
• Tastes & Preferences
• Prices of related goods (price of peanut butter goes up, less jelly bought)
• Expectations of the Economy
Let’s tackle each, shall we?
I know that we just had an election, but facts are facts… The unemployment rate is at 4.1%, historically low, and we haven’t seen negative amounts of jobs added to the economy since 2020. Incomes and wages are also up, though some inflation erosion. There are pockets of the economy that are really doing well, but there still exists the ongoing problems of outsourcing, low wage entry-level jobs, high costs of college, and employers replacing employees with automation or artificial intelligence. In other words, 2/3 of the country are doing well, 1/3 is not. But that 2/3 can pay and afford absurdly high Royal Rumble tickets whereas 5 years ago, they wouldn’t have with unemployment and markets tanking under a recession.
Tastes & Preferences… Well, the WWE has markedly improved for the past 4 years, especially the last 2 years with Triple H now in charge and creating a better culture for many performers. They finally got Roman Reigns right with the Bloodline angle and said Bloodline angle was a massive draw for WWE. Now, WWE has a whole host of superstars that have risen up to complement the Bloodline angle to make for fuller cards. Then, you add the freakin’ Rock to the picture and it’s pouring gasoline over a growing fire (couldn’t think of a better analogy, my heart is with the fine folks of the Los Angeles area right now).
I can’t think of any “Prices of Related Goods” examples, though Indianapolis will likely charge through the nose on parking and hotel rates will go up for this event. Yet, WWE fans will still pay.
Expectations of the economy… Again, you’re not going to pay $1,000 or more for WWE tickets plus travel, food, merchandise, etc. if you didn’t feel good about your job or the economy. Again, lots of Social Media hype about how terrible things are, but many people are doing really well right now. For those who aren’t, that needs to be a policy focus hopefully of the next 4-8 years.
Thus, when WWE raises prices on their tickets, wrestling fans are willing to pay it. Why? Incomes are higher, WWE is producing quality events that fans want to attend, and fans are also feeling pretty good about their jobs and the economy.
I also think that WWE has grown because of CASUAL FANS. There is a serious “bandwagon effect” going on, with many non-WWE fans hopping aboard because liking the WWE is cool again, whereas it wasn’t 5 years ago. Same thing happened during the late 1990s when the NWO and DX were cool during the Monday Night Wars. Thus, WWE is benefitting from the momentum that they’ve caused by improving their product and now WWE stuff is being more injected into overall pop culture. Hence why Netflix is willing to pay $500 million per year for them. THEY KNOW.
WWE is seeing something similar to what Taylor Swift is seeing… She had loyal fans before her recent boom, but in social circles at school or on Social Media, it’s a “status symbol” to show off the expensive tickets that you have for a Taylor Swift concert. I personally don’t believe the “Swifties” are a large population, but it’s just bragging rights among teenage girls at the moment. Once Taylor loses steam, and that recent TURD of an album will do that, then they’ll move on to the next fad. All of these casual fans joining Taylor’s concerts are boosting prices, just as they are WWE’s.
CONVERSELY – Consider All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Their tickets are mostly cheap right now, by comparison, and yet they are only making 3,000 seats available in most arenas.
Take the AEW All In event in Texas, which is in Globe Life Field with a capacity of 40,000. However, as WrestleTix reported, the event has only been set up for 18,000 and of that, about 9,000 has sold so far for AEW’s event.
What are the ticket prices for that event
Floor seats – The “VIP Package” will cost you between $1,056 and $1,356, but the remaining floor seats available are between $200 to $510.
Inner bowl is about $100 to $200
Rest of the place is less than $100, as low as $31.
In theory, if the quality was there for AEW, this show SHOULD sell-out instantly with these very cheap prices for AEW’s top event. YET, they have approximately 8,000 unsold tickets and an abundance of cheaper tickets left.
If Law of Demand isn’t the answer (lower price = higher quantity demanded) and if Income is statistically higher, then that leaves TASTES AND PREFERENCES as the answer why AEW has a serious attendance issue right now.
While WWE consistently draws 10,000 with HIGHER prices, AEW struggles to obtain 3,000 with LOWER prices.
Do you see the problem, yet?
AEW not only struggles to gain casual fans, but they’ve actually lost LOYAL AEW fans as well. The promotion went from easily getting 5,000 per televised show and pushing 10,000 for their PPVs, to now this. Attendance is lower, viewership is lower, merchandise sales are lower, and Pay Per View buys are also dropping. Cannot blame the economy or income, as those are factors fueling people to buy higher WWE tickets.
Thus, TASTES AND PREFERENCES have changes negatively for AEW and fewer wrestling fans want to see their product in its current state. That’s why massive improvements are needed to creative, the talent roster, presentation, and brand. Across the board!
But what about the WWE? Can they keep up this momentum on charging higher prices for WWE events? And will their fans, loyal and casual be able to sustain it?
Well, right now I worry about the economy, actually. Years of higher prices have caused savings to be eroded and credit card debt to go up (with higher interest rates hurting that last point). There’s a real threat that inflation may return if a tariff plan is placed on Canada, Mexico, and China and retaliation tariffs by those countries could harm our exports to them.
As I said in yesterday’s column, I worry that WWE could be veteran-dependent without having a good crop of younger talent being introduced to eventually replace the aging veterans. Once Roman Reigns defeats the Rock, he literally has nothing else to do or accomplish unless Stone Cold Steve Austin comes out of retirement for a match for Roman. Last year, following Wrestlemania 41, the WWE cooled off a tad when the Rock and Roman Reigns disappeared for the rest of Spring and most of the Summer. That left Cody Rhodes trying to pack houses with an older AJ Styles as his opponent.
Wrestlers like Jacob Fatu and Bron Breakker, among others, excite me but are they ready to become full-blown Main Eventers yet?
If they prices go up and the casual fans start falling off, what is expected of your LOYAL WWE fanbase who kept paying for tickets and merchandise even during those hard 2010s years? And it’s hard to just drop prices on things when you’ve got TKO shareholders to please with financials. Those revenues suddenly don’t look good year-to-year when ticket prices were slashed because of lower attendance.
WWE is playing a dangerous game with these higher ticket prices… Yes, they’re winning now because TASTES & PREFERENCES combined with strong incomes want to pay for it and can afford it now… But what about tomorrow?
Pro wrestling is VERY cyclical… Usually, it has good years fueled by younger fans, but then those younger fans move on. Happened during Hulkamania era and then they got tired of Hogan following 1990 and weren’t into the Warrior after he won the title. Happened to WCW when the NWO angle got old. Happened to WWE after 1999, especially after Austin had neck surgery. Younger fans hopped off the WWE train following 2014 when John Cena left. What’s left is your loyal fanbase who refuse to remove the IV from their veins, but even they have their limits.
This cannot be said enough… The CHEAP $9.99 WWE Network literally saved the WWE and kept their loyal fanbase happy during those bad 2010s. If you look at PPV sales numbers through 2013, the WWE struggled mightily to convince people to buy. Then, the WWE Network was introduced and fans were on-board with this CHEAP solution.
What if, after 2025, that TKO decides to eradicate the WWE Network for good (currently on Peacock) and go back to $50 Pay Per Views (if not more)? OK, loyal WWE fans, how do you think about that? After spending 10 years paying $10-15 per month, are you ready to begin paying $50 or more per month? You gotta hope that it goes to Netflix, but that will cause Netflix rates to go up and will likely discourage other subscribers from remaining and could kill that streaming service.
Other sports leagues have suffered from pushing out “Joe Fan” with higher prices… But of course, they don’t care because the Television Deals are so rich.
And WWE now has a rich TV Deal…
True story… I attended WWE Smackdown in Pittsburgh during March or April of 2018 or 2019 and purchased floor tickets that were around $180 at the time. Recently, I looked at the same exact seat for a WWE Houseshow in Pittsburgh during December 2024 and it would have cost me $380. F’n seriously!
So I didn’t go…
But damn it, if my conspiracy theory is correct and this is the LAST WWE Royal Rumble on North American soil (at least for a while)… Maybe spending $260 at the cheapest to attend this in Indiana is worth it?
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