Sunday night’s Super Bowl LV event had an official attendance of 24,835, but a quick glance at the crowd throughout the game made it look like Raymond James Stadium had a sold-out crowd for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. This was done by filling the stands with cardboard cutouts spread out in-between groups of live fans, giving the illusion of a much larger crowd.
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WWE will host WrestleMania 37 inside the same stadium on April 10-11 and will reportedly have a crowd of similar size due to COVID-19 restrictions. According to WrestleVotes the company didn’t initially intend on having cutouts in the stands, though the higher-ups are reportedly now considering it.
“With the Super Bowl tonight at Raymond James Stadium -home of WrestleMania 37 in 9 weeks- so far, WWE has been against the idea of filling the “empty” seats w/ cutouts as the NFL has done,” the account wrote on Sunday night during the game. “I assume that decision will be discussed again now as the stadium looks great.”
Good news! Text from a source just now saying WWE will 100% discuss having the cutouts again. Says “it’s beyond dumb to not, RJS looked wonderful for what it was” https://t.co/gs59k4ru3k
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) February 8, 2021
Do you think WWE should go with the cutout trick? Let us know in the comments below!
WrestleMania 37 was initially announced for SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, but WWE announced back in mid-January that the show would be moving to Tampa’s football stadium (Florida’s rules about having live fans in attendance for major events has been laxer than California’s). SoFi Stadium will now be the host of WrestleMania 39 in 2023.
“The opportunity for Tampa Bay to host WrestleMania in April is, in true WWE fashion, the perfect comeback story and marks a clear indication that our beautiful city is poised to bounce back stronger than ever. We can’t wait to once again showcase all that team Tampa Bay has to offer,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said when the move was announced.
“On behalf of everyone at WWE, we thank Governor DeSantis, Mayor Castor, Mayor Williams and Mayor Butts for their graciousness and flexibility in what was a collaborative effort to bring the next three WrestleManias to these iconic stadiums in their world-class cities,” Vince McMahon added.
No matches have been officially confirmed for the show, though Edge vs. Roman Reigns and Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks are both expected to be confirmed soon.
