Royal Rumble expected to bring more than 40,000 people to Tropicana Field
Pinellas County will host the Royal Rumble.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Wrestling will soon take over Tropicana Field.
WWE superstars Omos and Natalya joined Pinellas County leaders Thursday at TradeWinds Island Grand Beach Resort in St. Pete Beach to promote one of WWE’s biggest shows, the Royal Rumble.
"I'm the attraction of the show," Omos said. "They don't call me the Nigerian Giant for nothing, right? Look at me. I'm seven foot three, 410 pounds. I am the largest human being most people have ever seen in their entire lives."
They’re expecting more than 40,000 people to attend the show at Tropicana Field on Jan. 27. It will be one of the biggest crowds the event, and the Trop, have ever seen.
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"The exposure, the marketing benefits and the visitation that we're going to get from this is astronomical," Brian Lowack, Visit St. Pete Clearwater’s President and CEO, said.
People have already purchased presale tickets in all 50 states and in 15 countries so far.
"I've attended World Series games at the Trop, but I think this does very well, may break attendance records at Tropicana Field, which will be very exciting," Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Latvala said. "This is history making for not just Pinellas County, but the Tampa Bay Area," he said.
This is the biggest event coming to Tropicana Field since the 90s.
According to Visit St. Pete Clearwater, the Royal Rumble is the biggest event to come to the Trop since the NHL Playoffs in 1996, and the NCAA Final Four in 1999.
"All those visitors are going to come here to stay in beautiful resorts such as this on our beaches, and then we can take those monies that we collect from those visitors in their overnight stays and reinvest them in capital projects here, which will increase visitation," Lowack said.
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"Any time we can bring tourists here it helps things like beach nourishment," Latvala said. "I'm sure you're aware of a proposal by our hometown baseball team that will definitely benefit from this exposure as well because it will bring people to St. Petersburg and it will showcase their wonderful stadium and local attractions around there."
Latvala said he’s personally excited to go to the event.
"I’ve attended wrestling and WWE events in St. Petersburg since I was a little kid, and so seeing Royal Rumble this year is definitely exciting. I will be there yelling for our stars of today like Natalya and Omos and John Cena and the rest of them," Latvala shared.
Some of the WWE stars say attending this event is like coming home.
For Omos, who played basketball at USF, and Natalya, who lives in Tampa, they said it’s like coming home.
"It’s a really nice homecoming, and of course, it's just another way to give back to the community," Natalya said. "This Royal Rumble will be the biggest Royal Rumble in WWE history, and it's going to break records worldwide, not just in the city of Tampa, but all around the world," she said.
This isn’t WWE’s first time at the Trop. It filmed its shows there during the pandemic.
Tickets for the Royal Rumble go on sale on Friday at 10 a.m.