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1M Tickets Sold: Wembley Stadium’s Historic Summer
Wembley Stadium turns 100 years old this year. More than one million people visited the iconic building this summer, which culminated in the largest paid-attendance professional wrestling show in Europe ever.
81,035 people attended All Elite Wrestling’s “All In London” event on Aug. 27, surpassing the previous record of 80,00 people set at WWE’s SummerSlam event in 1992 – the last time Wembley Stadium hosted professional wrestling.
In addition, according to a press release from All Elite Wrestling, “‘AEW: All In London’ became AEW’s highest grossing event ever and one of the largest pro wrestling gates of all time, generating more than $10 million.”
It marked the first collaboration between AEW and Live Nation, who promoted the event.
Following the success of this collab, “AEW: All In London” will return in 2024 for another show.
Tony Khan, CEO, GM and Head of Creative of AEW, commented, “‘AEW: All In London’ marked a monumental achievement, and showed the world that AEW is not only here to stay, but also a formidable force worldwide. This success wouldn’t have been possible without our incredible roster and talented staff, as well as our colleagues at WBD, who passionately believe in the AEW brand as much as I do, and our amazing partners at Wembley Stadium, Live Nation UK and ITV who worked tirelessly to make this dream a reality.
“Most importantly, we thank AEW’s incredibly loyal fans, many of whom travelled to London from around the world to be part of the event, and have been with us from the beginning. We celebrate this long-awaited moment with all of you and look forward to our return to Wembley Stadium in 2024, where we will once again make history.”
Live Nation was also responsible for another record at Wembley this summer, when The Weeknd brought his “After Hours Till Dawn” tour to London, Aug. 18, attracting 87,000 fans – a record for ticket sales at Wembley Stadium with a traditional stage set-up.
See: The Weeknd Sets An End-Stage Wembley Stadium Attendance Record
Sports history was also made at Wembley Stadium this summer, when the building hosted two rugby finals, the women’s and men’s Challenge Cup, in a double header. St Helen’s women were victors, beating Leeds Rhinos women 22-8. In the men’s final, Leigh Leopards claimed their first final victory in more than 50 years.
Other notable Wembley moments between June and August include Manchester City winning the Emirates FA Cup Final on their way to the treble, and Kylie Minogue making a guest appearance at the Capital Summertime Ball.
Harry Styles played four consecutive nights to his biggest UK audience yet, June 13-17, selling out 335,394 tickets for a whooping $37,341,665 gross, according to Pollstar Boxoffice. Wembley Stadium director Liam Boylan said, “The screams at the Harry Styles’ concerts were some of the loudest I have ever heard, and we are still finding pink feathers in every nook and cranny of the stadium!”
Q’s With Wembley Stadium GM Liam Boylan: ‘We Know What Promoters Want’
Blur performed two huge comeback gigs after seven years away, July 8-9, and according to Boylan, both shows were “epic. It was like the summer of Britpop all over again and those gigs will live long in the memory of everyone who saw them.”
Boylan, a VenuesNow 2021 Impact International honoree, added: “It’s been a hugely successful summer that has offered something for fans of music, sport, and entertainment. We have had some of the biggest stars of pop, rock, indie and new wave all perform here, and it’s been wonderful seeing such a diverse range of audiences.”
The next event to be held at the stadium in October is an NFL fixture between Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons. Said Boylan, “If you look back at Wembley’s history you will see that it has always hosted a diverse range of sports including greyhound races, Gaelic football, hockey and even ski-jumping. So, it is rather fitting in our 100th anniversary year we have continued that trend. As the national stadium it is important, we put on events that appeal to a wide range of people, not just football fans.”
Next year, Wembley Stadium will host the UEFA Champions’ League Final for a record eight time. It will also be home to six nights of Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour,” which took the top spot on Pollstar’s Mid-Year Top 100 Worldwide Tours, and is on track to become the highest grossing world tour ever.
Mid-Year Top Tours: No. 1 Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’
Wembley Stadium’s summer in numbers (June 1- August 31):
13 events
1 million tickets sold
Two new pitches installed
75,000 bottles of wine consumed
137,000 cans of beer downed
186,000 ice cold pints sank
34,000 cocktails sipped
33,300 hot dogs scoffed
14,000 nachos nibbled
58,000 chicken & chips devoured