1989 Observer issue says WM III paid crowd was over 90,000

[cjh]

blogofdoom.com/index.php/2016/03/05/wrestling-observer-flashback01-23-89/

For years, it's been said that Dave Meltzer reported WM III's actual attendance was 75,000 paid and 78,000 total, but apparently, the January 23, 1989 issue of the Observer reported the paid attendance of WM III was 90,817.

Just thought it was interesting as I had never heard the 90,817 number until now.

[Milkman Norm]

That's because at the time that's what was told. In the past he'd been given the real attendance number, the worked attendance number and the real gate. That year he was given the real gate and told the attendance number was real as well. Later Zane Breslof who promoted the show told him the real number was closer to 78K then 93K. He talks about it in the Lapsed Fan Wrestlemania III podcast.

[cjh]

Mar 7, 2016 23:02:54 GMT -5 Milkman Norm said:

That's because at the time that's what was told. In the past he'd been given the real attendance number, the worked attendance number and the real gate. That year he was given the real gate and told the attendance number was real as well. Later Zane Breslof who promoted the show told him the real number was closer to 78K then 93K. He talks about it in the Lapsed Fan Wrestlemania III podcast.

I know.  I had just never heard a paid attendance (90,817) vs. comps (2,356) number for the 93,173 figure.

And is there such a thing as a gate that isn't real?  The gate is how much money was made from ticket sales, not the number of tickets sold.  I've heard of attendance being exaggerated but not revenue.  Is the standard different for a private company vs. a public one (like WWE is now).

[Milkman Norm]

No. The gate number is always real. It has to be, especially now. The attendance number can be whatever because it's not tied to anything.

[thegame415]

We all know the attendance was around 20 million.

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Mar 8, 2016 13:19:44 GMT -5 thegame415 said:

We all know the attendance was around 20 million.

Why Kevin Nash wasn't wrestling

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

We all know that 70,000 souls powered Hulk Hogan to slay the smelly giant.

[Deleted]

I have a question about this and this years mania in fact. If 3s number is a lie why would Vince do that when it can be disputed? I was listening to a podcast and the guys were laughing saying Vince will make up some huge number after this years mania that's not true. Again why when (more easily now) people can find the true number? And what did/does the wwf/wwe base these figures on? Like how did they come up with 93,000 for 3?

[4TheGlory]

Just wait until they announce the attendance as 129,000 for this year's Mania

[Deleted]

The thing that always struck me as odd about the 78,000 number is that the arena itself had about 82,000 regular tiered seating. Add the fact there were probably easily about 6,000 people on the floor it means that there would have had to have been been 10,000 empty seats in the stands in order for that number to work - and there patently wasn't.

It might not have been 93,000 but I don't see how it could have possibly been 78,000 unless there were huge sections of the arena tarped off - and I think it's patently obvious they weren't.

[Scott]

The Pope drew 93,600+ later that year and the setup was probably similar.

[berlynwright]

Mar 8, 2016 13:19:44 GMT -5 thegame415 said:

We all know the attendance was around 20 million.

You're underestimating the power of the screaming hulkamaniacs brother

[A Platypus Rave]

[Shark]

Mar 10, 2016 2:53:15 GMT -5 @thehairydrunk said:

The thing that always struck me as odd about the 78,000 number is that the arena itself had about 82,000 regular tiered seating. Add the fact there were probably easily about 6,000 people on the floor it means that there would have had to have been been 10,000 empty seats in the stands in order for that number to work - and there patently wasn't.

It might not have been 93,000 but I don't see how it could have possibly been 78,000 unless there were huge sections of the arena tarped off - and I think it's patently obvious they weren't.

That's why I've never bought the story that it was only 78,000. Just based on the eye test, and I believe there are similar photos from the arenas during the Pope's visit and Mania and they look identical. Just based off the eye test, there's more evidence for it being 93,000, or close to it, than 78,000. The only one I have heard say it was 78,000 is Zane Bresloff and I've never heard what the actual proof of that number is. 

[ICBM]

6k on the floor? I dunno man. Our arena here can stuff 5k and laid out flat I don't think that is what was down there. Maybe so but I dunno

[BRV]

I've never believed Dave Meltzer's figure of 78,000 total for a second. While I might not believe 93,173 either, that figure is more realistic and reasonable than 78,000.

The Pontiac Silverdome's capacity was 82,000. That means that the stands would have had at least 4,000 empty seats and that's before we factor in the floor seats. I don't know about you, but I didn't see large gulfs of empty bleachers during the crowd shots of WrestleMania III.

Mar 8, 2016 15:04:55 GMT -5 4TheGlory said:

Just wait until they announce the attendance as 129,000 for this year's Mania

WWE's announced attendance figures always have repeat numbers to make the totals easily memorable. 72,744. 71,617. 78,363. 80,676. 76,976.

Knowing that, I bet WrestleMania 32's announced attendance will be something like 109,901.

[Deleted]

He wasn't told until the early 90s by Zane Bresloff (who was the man responsible for the promotions of the live event for the WWF at the time) that the legitimate paid attendance was south of 80,000. It should come as no surprise to anyone that pro wrestling companies inflate their attendance numbers for better publicity.

[Deleted]

Mar 8, 2016 13:23:30 GMT -5 Vice honcho room temperature said:

Mar 8, 2016 13:19:44 GMT -5 thegame415 said:

We all know the attendance was around 20 million.

Why Kevin Nash wasn't wrestling

If he was it would of been 40 million

[Deleted]

Meltzer's post on Wrestling Classics in 2005:

When the pope was at the Silverdome--at the time, the crowd was said to have been 88,000. They were more jammed in. For years, the WWF claimed the all-time attendance record in the building. In fact, the 93,173 figure was decided upon by Basil DeVito ahead of time so it could never be broken. I believe in 2002, some 15 years after the event , the Silverdome web site changed the Pope number from 88,000 to more than 93,000 because it was the legtimate record, and they had been listing Wrestlemania III's worked number all that time.

The WWE's own company internal computerized records don't even have the worked figure. In 2001, when I was doing a story on Wrestlemania 17 and WWE was cooperative with my record keeping completely, I got the real attendances and gates for all the big stadium shows in company history, Sky dome, Exhibition Stadium, Milwaukee County Stadium, Wembley. All announced figures at the time were way different from real numbers, all lower, in the case of Mania & the 86 Hogan-Orndorff match, by more than 10,000 people, others by less.

wrestlingclassics.com/.ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=9;t=057260;p=1#000002

Probably the best reply in that thread, to sum up the debate, was this one:

My true belief is that WWF, the pope, and the Silverdome are ALL working us. I don't think WrestleMania got 93,000, I don't think the pope got 88,000 and I don't think the Silverdome holds 80,000 for football.

Maybe that's just my years of being a worked wrestling-fan, though.

[madness50]

I don't believe that Mania III really had 93,173 people in attendance, but I do believe that they did have over 80,000 people though. The Silverdome was huge and there was no huge stage out there for Mania blocking up seats.