Pontiac Silverdome Attendence

[Guest The Mandingo Warrior]

I have read many times that the WWE had inflated the 93,173 fan figure at Wrestlemania 3. Supposedly, the figure was actually 78,000. The following is taken from the Pontiac Silverdome Website:

 

The two highest attended events at the Silverdome were in 1987 when 93,682 people visited the stadium to hear Pope John Paul II conduct mass and 93,173 fans packed the stadium for Wrestlemania III in 1987.

 

My question is this: If the WWE figure is inflated, is the Pope's figure inflated as well? Secondly, has there ever been any proof as to the "inflation"? Personally, I don't buy it. If the stadium's own web site lists the attendence, I can't see it being inflated..

 

Also, check out the pics posted on the site:

 

The pope:

 

 

Wrestlemania 3:

 

 

I find it hard to believe that one is less full than the other by 15,000 fans..obviously, the pics are at totally different angles, but it's pretty obvious that both events were jammed packed, both in the balaconies and on the floor.

 

Is the whole inflation myth an attempt to discredit Vince? How do the people that believe that the 93,000 figure was a work account for the statement on the silverdome website??

 

comments anyone?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

The real number came from the promoter of the event, the late Zane Bresloff. The 93,173 number is pure myth, whose history has been gone into many times before.

[Nighthawk 0]

Apparently he wants you to go into it again. Seemed that was the point.

[cawthon777 0]

From my understanding, Vince wanted to outdraw the Pope and set the indoor atendance record, legitimately or otherwise.

[Guest Hass of Pain]

There's no conclusive proof either way, it's one man's word versus another more or less. I wouldn't be shocked at all if the event did draw 93,000 considering the business it did on pay-per-view and closed circuit broadcasts, but I wouldn't be suprised if WWE inflated the number either.

 

Without actually being there or working at the arena yourself, I don't know how anyone can just take the attendance conspiracy theory as fact. It's he said she said.

[Guest The Mandingo Warrior]

Was the Pope's attendence a myth too? I can't see how (based on the pics) if the pope drew 93000, Wrestlemania 3 did not.. Does anyone have a link documenting the history of the inflated figure? Or a link to a thread discussing it?

 

Thanks

[Guest LooneyTune]

Inflated or not, every seat in the Silverdome was filled, so it's still impressive. The picture for the Pope is pretty bad though, as it's kinda hard to compare when the angle is so low.

[cawthon777 0]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Silverdome itself inflated the Pope's crowd to be bigger than the recorded number for WrestleMania.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Here is a thread that, after a couple of posts, talks in detail the 93,173 myth from Wrestling Classics:

 

93,173 myth

 

If you still want to believe the myth, then more power to you. It's still just a myth.

[Jingus 0]

Meltzer has always maintained that the Silverdome simply can't fit 93,000 people inside it. Having not been there and counted the chairs myself, I'm not certain which version to believe. But Vince coming out during Wrestlemania III and announcing the attendance figures was kinda suspicious, there's no way in hell they counted all the ticket sales that fast.

[strummer 0]

Meltzer has stated in the past that if the Silverdome could have fit 93,173, Hogan and Andre would have done that number. The number is a work. Vince told Meltzer that he worked the number because everything on TV was "in storyline" even the attendance numbers

[Guest fanofcoils]

If the real figure was 78,000 then Summerslam 92 has it beat.

[DMann2003 0]

Myth figure or not, that's still one big ass crowd

[Guest The Mandingo Warrior]

Okay, if Meltzer maintains that the silverdome simply can't fit 93,000 people, how does he (or those that believe him) account for the figures given on the Silverdome Website?? They state normal seating is a little over 80,000 for all events ( I assume this does not include any floor seating?). Can anyone answer this?

 

see:www.silverdome.com

 

I also recall reading in a Guiness book of records from the 80's about the indoor attendence record. I'll see if I can find a source verifying that. If Guiness recognized the figure, I find it hard to believe that it could be a "work".

[Guest The Mandingo Warrior]

Okay, I've found many sites claiming that it was listed in the Guinness Book, but I can't find any site listing previous Guiness Records to verify..

 

That thread discussing the myth doesn't do much good because the people that believe the myth ignore the statements on the silverdome website!! How does that make their case any better?

 

This seems like a big urban legend that the figure was inflated.. There are credible sources (e.g the actual stadium website) that state that it is true, yet Meltzer must be right (say the believers..)

 

What would Meltzer say about the Pope's attendence figure?? That must be wrong as well????? That seems pretty far fetched..wouldn't you agree?

[Guest sek69]

I think the 93,000 is a work but the real total had to be more than 73k, that was about the capacity of the Silverdome for football and there was at least 5-10,000 steats on the floor.

[LessonInMachismo 0]

Okay, this is what the WWE-produced -- and therefore biased -- book Wrestlemania: The Official Insider's Story says:

 

"Tickets went on sale February 14. By March 2 we had sold 50,000 seats. By March 11 we had sold 74,000. And when we went to out production meeting on March 24, we had 90,000 tickets sold! At that point we cut of sales, because there was concern that we might oversell the buidling. By the time the final numbers came in from our remote outlets, the figure was 93, 173. We had done the impossible: we had sold enough tickets to guarantee the largest indoor crowd in history. Bigger than the Rolling Stones concert at the Silverdome. Bigger, even, than the Pope's appearance at the Silverdome several months later, which would draw 88,000. In fairness, it should be pointed out that for the Pope, they probably had to put in kneelers, which do take up a lot of space. Nevertheless, we outsold the Pope. That was nothing short of amazing."

 

Now, I know Meltzer is also biased in his opinion of Vince, but come on, this is VINCENT K. MCMAHON we're talking about. I am more inclined to believe Meltzer on this issue, and there are too many inconsistencies involved to believe WWF/E.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I'm just picturing Vince yelling at some lackey. Add more seats..add more seat damn it. We're gonna kick the Popes Ass.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

If Guiness recognized the figure, I find it hard to believe that it could be a "work".

Guiness also list the wrestler Happy Humphry as being the heaviest wrestler ever, at 802lbs. That number is a work too.

 

When any article or press work is done on wrestling, it rarely does it's homework.

 

When Playboy did a piece on wrestling in the Sable/Chyna issue, they said that wrestling was generating a $1billion a year. That too was a work.

 

When WWF was hot in the 80's, financial publications like the Wall Street Journal said how it was making $500m a year. That too was a work.

 

When Hogan would do press interviews in that time period, he'd go on about WWF generating $1.7b a year, and how their merchandising was doing better than Disney. How many of the papers printing that do you think bothered to point out that those numbers were works ?

 

And if you had properly read the thread I linked to, you'd see some discussion about why the Silverdome webiste maintained the myth. They bought the work, as you have, and it's not going to make them look good if they have to come out and say they got worked by Vince McMahon, hence they go along with it.

 

The 93.173 number is total fiction, and that comes straight from the promoter of the event. He has no reason to lie. The fiction comes straight from Vince, and he does have reason to lie.

[Guest The Mandingo Warrior]

Here is an NFL site stating that the seating is a little over 80,000:

 

http://www.stadiumsofnfl.com/past/Silverdome.htm

 

Look, I find this debate interesting because I really can't see how it can be argued, given that every source in the world lists the stadium seating at over 80,000 (without floor seating).

 

My question is very simple: The silverdome website lists the seating at 80, 325. Are people that believe that the WWE figure is fiction (that it was actually 78,000) denying this fact??

 

Are they honestly denying that the silverdome has 80,000 seats?? Isn't that a bit like denying that 2+2 = 4, because someone said so?

 

I just don't understand how this can be argued.. If people back up their info with credible sources (not hearsay) isn't that good enough?

[cawthon777 0]

I would say that the promoter would be the most credible source as to how many were there.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I would say that the promoter would be the most credible source as to how many were there.

Except to people who want to keep beleving the myth to be fact.

[Guest The Mandingo Warrior]

Okay, lets say that the promoter was correct. Then that begs the question: are there really 80,000 seats in the silverdome (without floor seating)? Or has the 80,00 figure been nothing but propaganda put out by the builders of the stadium for the last 18 years?

 

I guess the whole debate rests on the accuracy of the 80, 325 seat statistic..

 

I guess no one has ever counted all the seats in the silverdome?? Obviously, not a job I would like to take

[cawthon777 0]

If the real figure was 78,000 then Summerslam 92 has it beat.

Well, only if you buy the 80,000+ figure as legit.

 

Meltzer has it down as a 75,000 sell out.

[Guest The Mandingo Warrior]

Could someone fill me in as to why Meltzer's authority is more credible than the builders/owners of these stadiums?? Why is his opinion valid, and the figures given by the stadiums themselves invalid?? Thanks.

[strummer 0]

Did Vince and Zane Bresloff have a falling out over this? I pretty sure Zane helped out Vince with the Rock N' Wrestling Boom in the 80s.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Could someone fill me in as to why Meltzer's authority is more credible than the builders/owners of these stadiums?? Why is his opinion valid, and the figures given by the stadiums themselves invalid?? Thanks.

Meltzer has no reason to lie. If he says the number is really high or really low, it doesn't reflect on him either way. If Meltzer does lie, he comes off looking bad, so he has to tell the truth.

 

If the owners of the building know the number is low, they're highly unlikely to say so, because it will reflect badly on them. It's not a question of one sides opinion being more valid than the other. It's simply that, realistically, when you've got two sides giving two different numbers, chances are the side with no reason to lie is telling the truth.

 

Look, the bottom line is that the promoter of the event himself said the real number was 78,000. And he does have reason to inflate the number, because it will make him look good. Yet he didn't. Why ? Because he wanted to tell the truth. If he wanted to lie, he would have.

[Guest The Mandingo Warrior]

Okay, so are the current owners of the silverdome lying about seating 80,625 on their website to look good?? I'm not sure if one side is lying or not, but the fact is that the silverdome has a finite number of seats when you do not include the floor. Surely whatever this number might be must be recorded (accurately) somewhere. I'm just saying that it is more likely that the number given on the current silverdome website is correct rather than a number given in a statement given 17 years ago. Surely most would agree on this point.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Chances are the seats listed for the Silverdome today aren't the same number of seats that were available back in 1987. Stadium seating changes every so often, so it's likely that the number of seats there has changed a little over the years.

[Guest The Mandingo Warrior]

Chances are the seats listed for the Silverdome today aren't the same number of seats that were available back in 1987. Stadium seating changes every so often, so it's likely that the number of seats there has changed a little over the years.

 

But if the 80,000 figure (not including the floor) is true today, and the 78,000 figure (including the floor) from 1987 is true, wouldn't that mean they would have had to add about 8-10 thousand seats?? That seems a bit much to believe just to validate a low figure from 1987 don't you think?

 

The 78,000 myth is just getting more and more unlikely..At what point do you say that it really was 93,000? It seems like in order to believe the 78,000 figure, you have to accept a lot of unlikely stuff....