WWE: Wrestlemania makes it to Forbes top 40 valuable sports list

Bengaluru, October 26: The efforts of WWE trying to make Wrestlemania more of a mainstream product has paid off as the event has made it to the latest list released by Forbes Magazine of top 40 sports events in the world. The showcase of the immortals event was ranked 6th on this year’s chart.

Wrestlemania received a value of $195 million which is up by 8.3% from last year. The top 5 sports events in the list are NFL Super Bowl which tops the list with $663 million, followed by the The Summer Olympics, Winter Olympics, FIFA World Cup and NCAA Final Four.

#5 NCAA Final Four

#4 FIFA World Cup

#3 The Winter Olympics

#2 The Summer Olympics

#1 NFL Super Bowl

This is another feather added to the hat of the biggest pro-wrestling promotion of the world as they eye to expand their TV-friendly programme to countries other than the USA. As a reflection of their effort, Wrestlemania has continued to grow bigger every single year. Check out the official update provided on WWE.com about this accolade:

“WrestleMania has once again ranked on Forbes' Fab 40. The Showcase of the Immortals, which just celebrated its 33rd edition this past April in Orlando, ranked at No. 6 on the magazine's long-running list of the world's most valuable sports brands, above institutions such as the UEFA Champions League and the Daytona 500.

This year's WrestleMania broke the Orlando Citrus Bowl's attendance record with 75,245 WWE Universe members from all 50 states and 62 different countries. The previous Orlando Citrus Bowl attendance record – 74,635 – had been set by WrestleMania XXIV in 2008.

WrestleMania also ranked on Forbes list in 2014, 2015 and 2016.”

In 2016, Wrestlemania set a record for attendance over 1 million people at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas which was declared as the biggest event of all-time. Even, this year, it garnered huge mainstream attention with John Cena's proposal to Nikki Bella and The Undertaker possibily retiring from the WWE.

The 34th edition of Wrestlemania will be hosted at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana next year and this will be the second time that the biggest event of sports entertainment returns to the party city in a span of four years.

WWE has already started promoting the event with the catchphrase of “let the good times roll.” The tickets and travel packages for the global event will be made available from November 17th onwards. It will include week-long events including Wrestlemania Axxess, Hall of Fame ceremony, NXT Takeover, Raw and Smackdown Live.