Let’s not let the Mardi Gras fervor diminish the fact that New Orleans just scored another huge tourism win.
WrestleMania might seem like an unserious event to some. But regardless of where you stand, it brings major economic opportunity for the city.
I spoke with Jay Cicero today, President/CEO of Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, and he was teeming with excitement for his organization's upcoming partnership with the WWE to roll out WrestleMania 42.
“People don't realize how big it is until they see,” Cicero explained. “Tens of thousands of fans walking through the French Quarter wearing belts, who are all in costume and excited about going to the Superdome.”
What you can expect is a jam-packed three-day event that fills New Orleans's largest arenas to the brim. And we’re no stranger to the event. We hosted WrestleMania in 2018 and then again in 2014, but it's continued growing in size over the past eight years, so we can expect to this one to be the busiest yet.
“There are people from 36 countries who attended in 2018 and sold out events all weekend," said Cicero. "It’s an incredible event and a lot of fun. That's what's different about this event, though, it's less intense than the Super Bowl. Nothing's is as intense as a Super Bowl, but it's so much fun to produce and serve as the host committee.”
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How will it all shake down in terms of economic development?
Ever since Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson announced on Friday Night SmackDown that the event would be hosted here, in our fair city, it immediately generated a media surge. And with New Orleans fresh off a resounding host-victory from Super Bowl LIX, you can expect WrestleMania to draw major tourism interest.
“There’ll be up to 75,000 people each night for their for the Caesars Superdome here coming in 2026,” says Cicero. “So they've increased the economic impact, they've increased the number of people and the merchandise sales and all the other economies because of the extra day. Plus, there’s television exposure and social media exposure associated with this event is like no other. It is off the charts. I heard the Rock say when he made the announcement Friday night that he had half a billion social media followers himself."