AEW Revolution, on March 3 at the Greensboro Coliseum, drew just over $1 million in ticket sales for Sting’s retirement match, according to records provided by the City of Greensboro to Wrestlenomics in response to a public records request.
The settlement between AEW and the venue, which details various revenues and expenses, shows the event generated $1,025,829.50 in ticket sales. That figure includes $64,865.10 in sales tax and $9,547.23 toward Ticketmaster’s 5% fee. After taxes and fees, the net revenue was $951,417.17.
This verifies comments made a few days after the event by the venue’s deputy director, Scott Johnson, that the event drew $1 million in gross ticket sales.
The settlement also shows the event sold 15,837 tickets, putting the average ticket sold price at $65. That calculation includes tickets sold at high “platinum” prices. Just 281 tickets were comped, for a total of 16,118 tickets distributed.
And, yes, a dreaded turnstile count was obtained as part of the response to our request. The number of tickets scanned for use (a.k.a “drop count”, a.ka. “scan count”, a.k.a. “turnstile count”) was 13,950, according to a spreadsheet Greensboro personnel provided to AEW via email. The percentage of tickets used (13,950) compared to tickets sold (15,837) was 88%.
For posterity, AEW’s announced number of tickets sold for All In 2023 in London was 81,035. A turnstile count of 72,265, 89% of the announced tickets sold, was later obtained from the local government. When we reported the All In turnstile count, we were told by multiple AEW sources that it was typical for the number of tickets scanned to be between 80% and 90% of the number of tickets sold.
That the number of tickets scanned for Revolution (13,950) was 88% of its number of tickets sold (15,837) could be interpreted as supportive of AEW’s All In claim. Percentages for both Revolution and All In are between 80% and 90%, and the percentages themselves, 89% (for All In) and 88% (for Revolution), are similar.
Breaking the $1 million live gate mark makes Sting’s retirement show among the highest gates in company history. All In by far holds the high mark, with a claimed gate of $10 million. Other AEW events that reached $1 million in ticket sales include Forbidden Door 2023 in Toronto, Double or Nothing 2022 in Las Vegas, Full Gear 2022 in Newark, All Out 2022 outside Chicago, and AEW Grand Slam 2022 in New York.
The settlement for Revolution includes a few other factoids. AEW owed the Greensboro Coliseum a total of $192,471.94 for various expenses: $55,000 for rental of the venue; $79,099.47 for IATSE-member stage hands; $42,028,25 for event staffing; and a $500 fee to clean up the confetti that was sprayed to celebrate Sting’s retirement, among other charges.
The Box Office Statement for AEW Revolution 2024, included in the settlement for the event, breaking down the ticket sales revenue.
The ticket scan count breakdown for AEW Revolution 2024, from an Excel spreadsheet sent from City of Greensboro personnel to AEW personnel.
The event settlement for AEW Revolution 2024, detailing expenses charged to AEW and net revenues from ticket sales.
Brandon Thurston has written about wrestling business since 2015. He operates and owns Wrestlenomics.