Felix Upton on October 20, 2023
WWE’s Royal Rumble event is always a huge show. Next year’s show will jumpstart the road to WrestleMania 40, and Tropicana Field will be packed. That being said, WWE may have been able to do better when it comes to a venue.
The 2024 Royal Rumble event will take place on Saturday, January 27th, 2024, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. It will be the second Royal Rumble to be held at the stadium after the 2021 event, though the first with live fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic that year.
Sports Illustrated dropped a list this year ranking the top Major League Baseball stadiums in America. The Tampa Bay Rays’ Tropicana Field found itself on the bottom of that list.
“The Trop is so bad that, even though the Rays have reached the playoffs in four consecutive years, attendance is steadily declining. Tampa Bay attracted 1.51 million fans in 2013 but just 1.13 million last year. That’s 13,927 per game, third worst in the majors.“
Ranked below every other team’s stadium across North America, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg faced big time criticism. The publication’s introductory remarks labeled the Tropicana Field venue as lackluster, to say the least, attributing the team’s declining attendance figures as the primary reason for its unfavorable ranking.
The report also noted, “Before any fans get too upset about these rankings, let’s make one thing clear: MLB has two lousy stadiums, five or so excellent ones and a whole bunch in between that are more or less equal. Ranking them all is harder than you think.” It seems that Tropicana Field is one of the “lousy” venues.
Interestingly, even in the description for the 29th-ranked Oakland Coliseum, St. Petersburg’s domed facility didn’t escape critique. The report characterizes the beleaguered Coliseum, which, much like the Rays’ situation with their stadium, the A’s have sought to replace for years, as equally lacking in charm as Tropicana Field. However, it concedes that at least the Coliseum enjoys better weather and convenient proximity to public transportation.
We will have to see how WWE fares in Tropicana Field. They brought the ThunderDome to the venue, but packing it with fans will be a totally different story. After all, they already crashed the MLB box office website with pre-sale ticket sales alone.
What’s your take on the 2024 Royal Rumble in Tropicana Field? Let us know what you think about things in the comments section!
October 20, 2023 11:04 am
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