WWE ThunderDome will continue for the foreseeable future but will move out of Orlando’s Amway Center in the next few weeks due to WWE‘s contract with the venue expiring and the 2020-21 NBA season set to begin in December. But could the ThunderDome be moving to a baseball stadium? According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, a baseball stadium could be the next home of the ThunderDome. If that happens, it will likely be at Tropicana Field in Saint Petersburg, Florida, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays.
“I don’t know where they’re going, believe it or not, Tropicana Field in Saint Petersburg has been talked about, which is a baseball stadium….I don’t know how you run that every week. They’ll have to run that twice a week. I mean it’s good that you’re in central Florida,” Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio as reported by WrestlingNews.Co. “I think everybody wants to run Florida because so many of the guys live there, it’s cheaper, you’re not going to get shutdown, they start shutting things down all over the country, you’re pretty confident Florida because the governor isn’t going to shut anything down, but that’s a big empty building.”
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It was reported late last month that WWE is getting ready to move out of the Amway Center, but some of the areas the company was looking to host the ThunderDome were places in North Carolina, Illinois and Texas. The Twitter account WrestleVotes reported, “A newer arena is preferred as the weight of the ThunderDome won’t work with older buildings. “Also, a major travel hub is needed as talent will be flying in and out each week. Not the easiest combination of things to find.”
The good thing about Tropicana Field is it’s one of the few domed stadiums in baseball. Additionally, WWE has hosted events in baseball stadiums in the past. However, the company prefers basketball arenas like the Amway Center to host smaller events. And for bigger events like WrestleMania, WWE prefers to host in football stadiums since they’re bigger. Back in January, WWE hosted the Royal Rumble at Minute Maid Park, the home of the Houston Astros in 2019, the Royal Rumble took place at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
