For the second time in 9 years, the city of Orlando is getting WrestleMania as WWE officially announced that the biggest sports-entertainment event of the year will return to the state of Florida next year for WrestleMania 33.
The news was broken by the Orlando Sentinel newspaper and WWE will hold a press conference this morning at the Citrus Bowl with Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer, Florida Governor Rick Scott, Orange County mayor Teresa Jacobs and WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon all present.
“It’s huge,” the Orlando mayor said. “We’re a place that handles big, special events, and I think a lot of people don’t really realize the enormity of having WrestleMania.”
The Citrus Bowl recently underwent a multi-million dollar renovation, an important factor in what swayed WWE to select Orlando again over other cities. “All of us were very favorably impressed by all of the improvements made to the Citrus Bowl,” said John Saboor, WWE’s Executive Vice President of Special Events. WWE still holds a record at the Citrus Bowl for WrestleMania 24 with 74,635 fans attending.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and a team from Orlando traveled to WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, this past December to try and convince WWE to select their city. “They’re very familiar and comfortable with Central Florida because that [performance center] is here, and I’d say that played a pretty big role in giving us an advantage over the other cities,” Dyer said.
While the Citrus Bowl will host WrestleMania, Monday Night Raw and the Hall of Fame will be held at the Amyway Center while Axxess will take place at the Orange County Convention Center. No location was announced for NXT.
