In February of this year, WWE announced that 2021’s WrestleMania 37 will take place at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Now the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions placed on gatherings in order to stop the spread of COVID-19 reportedly have the wrestling company considering an alternative location for its biggest show of the year in 2021.
Construction of Sofi Stadium has continued through the stay-at-home orders in California, even as two construction workers were diagnosed with the virus. However, when the building will open isn’t totally certain. The two Taylor Swift concerts that were supposed to open the venue in late July have been canceled, but so far the Kenny Chesney concert scheduled in the stadium for August 1 is still on. NFL preseason games will most likely still take place in Sofi Stadium as well, though possibly without fans in attendance.
Uncertainty over when California will allow large gatherings again has WWE thinking further in the future, according to WrestleVotes. The wrestling insider Twitter account posted that “WWE has begun researching a ‘plan B’ on an alternative site to host WrestleMania 37 if the state of California is not allowing large gatherings and/or SoFi Stadium is not finished on time.”
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recently stated that L.A. might not allow large events until well into 2021, but Inglewood is in a different jurisdiction.
If all else fails and stay-at-home orders continue across the country for another full year, WWE could always run the Performance Center again next spring, as long as they’re still an essential business.
