AEW All In Texas Attendance, State Reimbursement Funding, & More Revealed

As noted before, this past July’s AEW All In Texas event at the Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas has been estimated to have drawn around 28,000 to 29,000 for its attendance and around $3 million for its live gate.

Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that AEW’s event had qualified for public reimbursement dollars through the Texas Event Trust Fund program.

Thurston reported that public records he had recently obtained revealed that the Texas governor’s office had initially approved $1,078,340 in combined state and local funding to help cover expenses for AEW’s event. AEW reportedly will end up getting somewhat less than that amount due to the attendance for their All In Texas event was lower than expected.

This funding approved reportedly was based on an estimated attendance of 33,490, including 32,500 spectators, projected this past February. Thurston reported that AEW’s certified attendance for the event was 23,759, including 21,973 spectators.

Thurston reported that the 21,973 figure is based on the number of tickets scanned for people who actually entered the venue and not the actual amount of tickets sold or distributed for the event. Thurston also reported that the final estimate by WrestleTix for tickets distributed was 27,245.

Thurston also reported that 678 suite tickets were sold but only 274 were scanned for admission at the event.

In regards to AEW’s reduced reimbursement amount, Thurston reported that due to the certified figure is 29% below the estimate that had been expected, AEW will end up receiving around $700,000 in reimbursements from the state of Texas.

In an official statement, Arlington City Manager Trey Yelverton stated that when anticipated attendance is more than 25% lower than the actual attendance, it triggers a proportional reduction in reimbursements received based on current Texas law. Yelverton reportedly also stated that he was pleased that AEW brought its major event to Arlington and was appreciative of how many people it drew from outside the area. Yelverton also stated that AEW has not received any of the reimbursement funding yet due to the payment process can take between six and twelve months to finalize.

Thurston reported that the city’s application listed several associated events that were planned to take place in the Arlington area during All In Texas week but were never announced. This events reportedly were CMLL and New Japan Pro Wrestling events and two music events featuring Chris Jericho & Fozzy and Swerve Strickland that did not make it past the planning stages. Thurston reported that it is currently not known if these unannounced events were affected by ticket sales for All In but he speculated that expectations may have outpaced demand for those events.