– The Miami Herald has a new article up looking at what city officials had to do to bring WrestleMania 28 to their city next year.
City officials promised WWE a $250,000 subsidy, along with other perks, and access to Miami-Dade county’s three largest venues – Sun Life Stadium, the Miami Beach Convention Center and the American Airlines Arena.
To get Miami in the mood for ‘Mania, city officials will be hanging WrestleMania banners from light posts along the highways and around 200 volunteers from the city will be recruited to help man the many WWE events during the week.
Said Mike Sophia, head of the Miami-Dade Sports Commission: “This event is as big as it gets. WrestleMania is up there in the league with Super Bowls and Final Fours. To be honest with you, when I got the [WrestleMania] bid book, I looked at it and I put it on the corner of my desk and I said, ‘Nah, this isn’t us'” Sophia said. He then realized that WWE’s WrestleMania “looks exactly like a Super Bowl. It’s exactly something we could and should do. If you want to sit down and split hairs as to whether it strictly fits the definition of a sporting event, I’m not going to have a great argument.”
