Wrestlenomics has provided details on the commercial partnership between AEW and Arlington, Texas ahead of AEW’s upcoming residency in the region.
The ‘Path to All In’ event series, hosted by AEW will take place in July and August at Esports Stadium. The array of five Collision tapings includes live recordings, as well as the ROH Death Before Dishonor 2024 pay-per-view event along with other Ring of Honor dates.
On April 29, AEW communicated a schedule to city staff which mentioned two undisclosed dates for ROH events slated for July 28th and August 16th, with the potential for changes down the line.
According to public business records received by Wrestlenomics, AEW managed to secure a residence at the Arlington Expo Center and Esports Venues with a discount of 50%, bringing the total to 2,000.
It has been suggested that the local tourism organization may offer monetary assistance to lessen costs, with emphasis put on the importance of these events for Arlington and their potential influence on hospitality. Favorable conditions for AEW are hoped via an agreement between AEW, the Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the Arlington Sports Commission in relation to getting rental offsets from the Arlington Tourism Public Improvement District.
The expenditure for usage of the Arlington Expo Center and ESports Venues is stated to be 2,000 and 0,000 respectively in the agreement. AEW has maintained one section of the agreement to be proprietary, thereby it was obscured. The redaction was requested unless reversed by the Texas AG’s office.
According to the agreement, when events are not on, AEW will relocate their equipment at different timings. Throughout the five events, AEW’s production setup will be housed at the venue, thus leading to reduced costs and no need for a separate production truck.
As WWE SummerSlam 2024 is in primetime, AEW Collision will air at an earlier time on August 3 and will be taped in advance that week, with the venue accommodating 1,290 seats. If each ticket were sold at the average price of .02, each event could generate up to ,080.
The overall costs could be covered by selling a total of 5,000 tickets at each over the residency, which would equate to roughly 650 tickets for each of the eight events. The venue fee, separated into two payments of ,000, is due in two halves on June 19 and July 15.
Furthermore, AEW’s vice president of global touring, Ryan Seddon, shared that discussions happened regarding subletting the venue to NJPW or CMLL during AEW’s off-days, but current progress is unknown. Lastly, it was revealed that Dallas Morning News received an exclusive 15-minute coverage window, where AEW staff were asked to acknowledge them as the first reporters on social media.