WWE Thunderdome Financial Details Revealed

New details regarding WWE’s deal with Orlando’s Amway Center have been revealed. WWE’s agreement with the venue extends until the end of October.

Orlando-based reporter for Spectrum News 13, Greg Angel, obtained a copy of the full contract between WWE and the city of Orlando. WWE is paying $12.5K for events on Sundays and $10K for RAW and Smackdown events.

WWE also will pay $7.5K for any days they work inside the venue and $2,500 for days where they are not working inside the venue. The deal runs through October 31st, but can be extended.

Orlando-based reporter Jon Alba has speculated that the reason the deal is not for longer is because of the prospect of the NBA’s Orlando Magic returning to the venue later this year.

“A thought on the #WWE and Amway Center situation: Perhaps a reason the City of Orlando has not commented on WWE potentially extending its lease at the arena could be the uncertainty of the next #NBA season. The #Magic are the primary tenants and would get priority,” Alba Tweeted.

“The #NBA has reportedly targeted beginning next season as early as December. The current #WWE lease at Amway Center for the #ThunderDome runs through October.”

Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline commented on how much money WWE is saving through the deal with Orlando’s Amway Center. The breakdown is staggering.

“They are paying a whopping $450 thousand dollars to run this Thunderdome from now until the end of October,” Alvarez said. “The cost to run a live RAW before the pandemic was over a million dollars an episode.”

WWE’s has a 10-week residency at the Amway Center that spans from late August through the end of October.

“Granted, there is the cost of sending it up to the satellite uplink and everything like that but the point of this is, they’re saving a lot of money right now,” Alvarez added.

Of course, there are some drawbacks to WWE’s ThunderDome setup. During the first week in operation, several “inappropriate” images appeared on WWE television. The company issued a statement on Tuesday thoroughly denouncing some of the objectionable content.