Professional wrestling giant World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has expanded its partnership with digital sports platform and e-commerce giant Fanatics with an interactive fan experience based around its flagship WrestleMania event.
The WWE World at WrestleMania event comes via a collaboration between WWE and Fanatic’s new division Fanatics Events, which will see a variety of immersive experiences for fans over five days between April 4 to 8 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
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Tickets will range from $30 to $300 and the event will feature a central main stage to host roundtable discussions with WWE stars, a WWE 2k24 gaming tournament, live podcast recordings, live memorabilia, and autograph sales through Fanatics Live.
The event will also include merchandise, autograph sessions, and meet-and-greets with WWE stars and legends.
Lance Fensterman, chief executive of Fanatics Events, said: “Fanatics Events is thrilled to partner with WWE to host our debut event, WWE World at WrestleMania.”
“Through unique content, Superstar access, and immersive experiences, we look forward to curating a captivating event for all fans who are in Philadelphia for WWE’s marquee event.”
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By GlobalDataFanatics launched its events division last July, with minority ownership given to sports and entertainment heavyweight agency IMG.
At the time, the company said Fanatics Events would initially focus on collectibles, aiming to “put a fresh spin on the biggest card shows and collectible gatherings.”
Its long-term vision is to expand “to celebrations of the shared cultures of sports and entertainment,” with top-tier athletes, celebrity appearances, as well as acts in music and popular culture brands.
Scott Zanghellini, WWE co-head of revenue strategy and development, said: “Fanatics has a phenomenal ability to customize offerings for fans and we’re excited to partner with them on this first-of-its-kind experience for the WWE Universe at WrestleMania XL.”
The event builds on Fanatics’ long-term partnership with WWE struck in March 2022, which sees the two parties work together to find new opportunities in e-commerce, merchandise, trading cards, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
That partnership is being delivered across multiple Fanatics businesses – including merchandise creation and distribution arm Fanatics Commerce, its trading cards and collectibles division Fanatics Collectibles, and digital collectibles company Candy Digital – to create an “enhanced experience” for WWE fans around the world.
Last year, Fanatics added to its partnership with WWE to cover all the promotion’s global event retail and merchandise operations.
That agreement saw Fanatics assume full control of WWE’s global event merchandise business, with the Fanatics Commerce division of the company managing the on-site event retail experience for WWE’s annual calendar of over 300 events.
The company also signed up as WWE’s trading card partner after the promotion terminated its deal with rival Panini for breach of contract with more than two years left.
The company has more than 900 sports partnerships around the world with its portfolio featuring soccer giants Manchester United, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, and Atletico Madrid, The English FA, UEFA, French Football Federation, and motor racing’s Formula 1.
Fanatics also recently agreed its first league-wide European soccer deal with Spain’s top-flight LaLiga.
The partnership expansion comes after Endeavor, the international entertainment and sports giant, completed its deal with WWE to merge the organization with mixed-martial arts promotion UFC under the new publicly listed company TKO Group.
Since then, TKO has combined the commercial teams of the two organizations to provide “brands with access to one of the most formidable sports marketing portfolios in the world.”
Combined, TKO boasts more than one billion fans worldwide, reaching viewers in 180 countries, and producing more than 350 annual live events.
