WrestleMania won’t go head-to-head with the Final Four anymore

WWE’s annual WrestleMania extravaganza is the company’s most prominent show. It’s been on the calendar in early April for dozens of years. Nothing lasts forever, though, and it sounds like fans might want to prepare for imminent change.

President Nick Khan and Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque spoke at Tuesday’s Sports Business Journal‘s World Congress of Sport event. While they discussed various topics, their discussion around the premier Premium Live Event emerged as the hottest topic.

According to longtime reporter Arash Markazi, Khan said two WrestleMania changes are coming. You likely won’t see it at an outdoor location out East anymore like this year, and they will no longer go head-to-head with the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four.

WWE president Nick Khan wasn’t ready to announce the location of WrestleMania in 2025 just yet but he said you can assume it won’t be in an outdoor East coast stadium again and it won’t go head-to-head with the Final Four again. Las Vegas is one of the cities under consideration.

— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) April 17, 2024

Markazi’s additional note that Las Vegas is “under consideration” has been a rumor in wrestling circles over the past few months. Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium is also reportedly under heavy consideration. While it surely gets colder in Minnesota than in Southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S. Bank Stadium does have a retractable roof to prevent that sort of thing from being a major inconvenience.

WWE is undergoing many cosmetic changes. Many of them are good and represent a beyond-necessary shift to modernize. There’s certainly a horde of venues where the company could host WrestleMania that have also hosted Super Bowls or Final Fours. They haven’t even nudged some of them (Hello, Atlanta).

Choosing not to compete against the Final Four is probably a smart move. April is a crowded sports month, but you set yourself up for it by having your first night compete against the Final Four semifinals and having the post-Mania Raw compete with the National Championship Game on Monday. Freeing themselves from that spot may prove an interesting decision, but time will tell to see if it benefits.

[Arash Markazi]