WrestleMania workers earned $1.4 million, union head says

Workers earned about $1.4 million in gross salaries and benefits from WrestleMania, a union leader said Thursday.

As many as 450 people worked at the Meadowlands Complex in the days leading up to the event, Kevin O'Brien, president of the local chapter of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stagehand employees, said.

Workers came from all over the state and as far as Cleveland, he told the commissioners of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority at a meeting Thursday morning.

"We ran out of people in New Jersey," O'Brien said.

Before the event, workers had to shuttle between MetLife Stadium, where they erected the WrestleMania set, to the Izod Center, where Pink performed in March and where rehearsals were held for a Beyonce performance planned in July, O'Brien said. After the rehearsals, workers prepared the arena for WWE Axxess, a fan event, and then set up for a taping of an episode of Raw.

The event made for one of the most successful WrestleManias ever, Wayne Hasenbalg, president and CEO of the NJSEA said Thursday. Between events at MetLife Stadium, Izod Center and Madison Square Garden, fans bought more than 140,000 tickets.

WrestleMania was the highest-grossing event in MetLife Stadium history, and the WWE told Hasenbalg that the Axxess event was their most highly attended yet.

And "Superstars for Sandy Relief," an online auction held during WrestleMania week to benefit Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, raised $524,000, Hasenbalg said. The money will be split between the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City and the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund.

"All in all, it was an incredible event, and one that we hope will come back again," Hasenbalg said.

source: nj.com