5 Reasons You Shouldn't Ignore WrestleMania's Bay Area Debut
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - There is no middle ground when it comes to professional wrestling. Either you're all the way in, ready to jump of the top rung wearing your replica title belt or, well, you just don't get it. Even if you're part of the latter group, you need to pay attention as wrestling's biggest event comes to Silicon Valley this Sunday. Here's why:
1) It's a first. This may be the 31st incarnation of the spectacle, but it's the first time the Bay Area has played host, EVER. That may not seem like a big deal, but don't we like to think we're as important as New York, Chicago, Boston and Philly? Yes we do. That means hosting big, big events, and they've all hosted this one.
2) Big Business. Some 125,000 wrestling fans are expected to take part in the weekend fun. That includes folks from all 50 states and 40 different countries, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. They've got to eat and sleep somewhere, and are expected to spend somewhere near $100 million. That's good news for us, as long as you can avoid...
3) The traffic. Tickets to this event are hovering around $100-a-pop on the secondary market, and that is for the cheap seats. At those prices, don't expect a ton of no-shows. Traffic around Levi's on an NFL Sunday can be rough. It won't be anything different when 70,000 wrestling fans come pouring onto the streets of Santa Clara at the same time Sunday evening.
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4) We love to say "Yes!" Remember when Hunter Pence fired up the Giants for a third title run with his "Yes! Yes! Yes!" mantra last year? Fans adopted it and editors stole it for their headlines after the World Series win. But where did Pence get it? He took it from WWE star Daniel Bryan, who plans on "stealing the show." This weekend.
Hey, if Hunter Pence thinks it's entertaining, who are we to disagree?
5) It's the Super Bowl of WWE. Don't believe me? Check out the fan excitement:
Whether you like wrestling or not, you can't deny that this is going to be our best gauge of how ready we are to host Super Bowl 50 next February. If problems pop up, we still have about 10 months to iron out the kinks.