TNA announced that its October 12 Bound For Glory event in Lowell, Mass., had an attendance of 7,794, which the company said marked a new North American record.
Documents released to Wrestlenomics by the University of Massachusetts Lowell, which owns the Tsongas Center, show different numbers. A report from the venue operator, Oak View Group, lists 5,554 tickets sold. The turnstile count — or number of tickets recorded as used — was 6,137. The same report called the event a “great success” and noted that food and beverage sales ranked among the highest in the arena’s history.
In response to our questions, TNA spokesperson Ross Forman said the announced crowd “was verified by the venue management team at the Tsongas Center.” He told us the attendance was a venue record, too, and that it surpassed the previous North American record set by Slammiversary in July.
Oak View Group’s District General Manager Keith Vaske also stated to us that Bound For Glory set a venue record.
“We do consider it to be a record for a ticketed sporting event at the Tsongas Center,” he said.
Vaske told us that 243 additional premium seats, not accounted for in the report we obtained, brought the ticketed seating capacity to 7,484, more than the 7,241 setup capacity listed. He said, as the venue operator, they provided ticket reports and capacities to TNA. He explained that TNA, like most promoters, made the final decision on the attendance that was announced.
“This is a general practice we have with most promoters for events as it is ultimately their event to send out messaging,” Vaske said in comments relayed to us by email via UMass Lowell personnel.
When asked how the announced attendance of 7,794 was calculated, Forman said the type of report we obtained from the Tsongas Center doesn’t show the full picture.
In addition to the 7,484 capacity, Forman said additional standing room was also used. “Beyond our ticketed attendees we also had many seats and standing room only occupied by TNA credentialed guests, media, staff, VIPs, and other groups that brought the total attendance to 7,794,” he said.
Forman added that while TNA staff and guests were included, the venue’s more than 225 workers that night were not counted in the announced attendance.
It’s possible some fans entered without having their tickets counted. Even if the 6,137 turnstile count excluded 243 premium attendees and a few hundred standing room spectators, the total number present may have been well over 6,000 but under 7,000
For the previously announced North American record, TNA claimed 7,623 in attendance for Slammiversary, held on July 20 at UBS Arena on Long Island. WrestleTix, which analyzes seating maps to estimate tickets distributed (sales plus comps), put Slammiversary at 7,042 and Bound For Glory slightly lower at 7,018. WrestleTix provides an independent measurement, but it’s worth emphasizing those are estimates only.
Ticket sales, without comps, would be the most meaningful measure of economic success and fan interest, which is presumably the spirit of any attendance announcement. We asked TNA whether Bound For Glory sold more tickets than Slammiversary, but the company didn’t specifically address that question.
After Bound For Glory, TNA wrestler Moose publicly defended the company, rejecting online chatter suggesting that large portions of the crowd were comped. The report obtained here suggests a strong majority of spectators in the building paid for tickets, as 77% of the venue’s general seating capacity (7,241) was sold (5,554). We don’t know how many comps were handed out or used. That wasn’t a detail provided in the records we obtained. The difference between turnstile count (6,137) and tickets sold (5,554) — 583 — reflects at least that many complimentary tickets, but we don’t know how many more there might have been.
What’s clear enough is that Bound For Glory was among the most lucrative events in TNA’s history. The 5,554 tickets sold generated a $390,348 gate, with an average ticket price of $70. Tsongas Center charged TNA a $45,000 rental fee. While concession revenue likely went to the venue, fans spent another $122,156 on food and beverage.
We looked for data to check on the claim about whether Bound For Glory set an attendance record for the Tsongas Center. At least among pro wrestling events, it’s definitely on the high end. The Tsongas Center hosted a WWF Raw taping on September 1, 1998 that thehistoryofwwe.com lists as having a round-number attendance of 10,000. Even if that’s an estimate or slightly off, it seems to put that event, amid one of the hottest runs in WWE history, above the attendance for Bound For Glory 2025. For more recent comparisons, the TNA show easily outperformed past events at the arena like NXT Battleground 2023 (3,482 estimated tickets distributed) and ROH Death Before Dishonor in 2022 (around 2,900).It’s worth mentioning we do have one Pollstar data point for a WWE house show at the venue on June 16, 2012 (featuring John Cena in a handicap match, CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan and a Kane vs. Sheamus cage match), which is listed by the live event tracker as having sold 4,664 tickets. That WWE house show generated a gate of $189,294, equal to about $268,000 in today’s money, which Bound For Glory’s gate of $390,348 from at least 5,554 ticket sales is well ahead of.
Brandon Thurston has written about wrestling business since 2015. He operates and owns Wrestlenomics.