All Florida Stadiums Able To Have Games At Full Capacity, Exclusive WrestleMania In Tampa Notes
As previously reported, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has given clearance to the NFL's Miami Dolphins to go full capacity of 65,000 fans at their home games at Hard Rock Stadium. Radio personality Andy Slater, who first broke the story, noted that DeSantis' spokesperson followed up to confirm that all Florida stadiums are allowed to go to full capacity after the Governor dropped COVID-19 restrictions last month.
DeSantis' communication director tweeted today, "Just to be clear. Sports franchises, like most businesses under phase 3 can do as they see medically and safety wise in their best interests. There is no state clearance or anything of the sort."
It was reported last week that WWE is planning to move WrestleMania 37 in April from the new So-Fi Stadium in Inglewood, California to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. DeSantis had been planning for full stadiums well before WrestleMania, as he stated at the end of September that he plans for the Super Bowl, which is also being held at Raymond James Stadium, to take place in front of a full crowd.
California is not allowing large gatherings for the time being. @Wrestlevotes reported that WWE is in the middle of a battle with the city of Los Angeles over who can legally cancel WrestleMania 37. Wrestling Inc. has learned that WWE feels that it was the City of Los Angeles that pulled the plug on WrestleMania being held there in 2021 and not the other way around. Wrestling Inc. has also learned that the hold up in WWE officially announcing WrestleMania for Tampa is that California is awaiting confirmation from WWE that WrestleMania would take place in Los Angeles the following year in 2022. WWE had planned on making an official announcement with a ticket on-sale date for later this month and no later than the middle of November.
"They want to get tickets on sale before the holidays, so people can make plans to attend," a source noted to us.
As for WrestleMania in Florida, the expectation is that the other events that week, Raw, Smackdown, NXT Takeover and the Hall of Fame, are scheduled to occur with a full capacity crowd at the Amalie Arena in Tampa. It was mentioned that there may be changes to the way Axxess is held as far as meet n' greets and interactive portions of the event go, but everything else would go on as normal.
Both Raymond James Stadium and the Amalie Arena are owned by Hillsborough County and operated by the Tampa Sports Authority.
It was also noted to us that WWE has the complete support and backing of DeSantis to go forward with their plans.