Ethan Miller/Getty Images City officials in Tampa, Florida, announced on Thursday that no decision has been made regarding whether WWE's WrestleMania 36 will be held as scheduled at Raymond James Stadium on April 5 amid concerns about coronavirus.
According to WrestlingInc.com's Marc Middleton, Hillsborough County Commissioner Les Miller said officials will meet again in one week to determine a course of action if WWE doesn't make the call to postpone or cancel WrestleMania by then:
"Right now WrestleMania is out about three weeks. We came to the conclusion that at this point, we don't want to pull that plug. However we wanted to give it at least a week to see what was going to happen, if WWE was going to do anything at all. If they don't, at that point, I will suggest that we do come together for an emergency meeting to discuss what we do at that particular point in time."WrestleMania is one of the few upcoming major sporting events that hasn't yet been postponed or canceled as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. The NBA, NHL and MLS have suspended play, and the NCAA announced the cancellation of all winter and spring championships, including the men's basketball tournament.
Per CNN, coronavirus is a pandemic with over 124,000 confirmed cases and 4,600 deaths worldwide. CNN also reported that the United States has over 1,200 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 38 deaths.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis advised on Thursday that mass gatherings in the state should be postponed for at least 30 days to prevent the further spread of coronavirus. Because of that, it is difficult to envision WrestleMania proceeding as scheduled.
If WrestleMania cannot occur at Raymond James Stadium, which has a capacity of over 65,000, on April 5, there are several other options that could be explored.
They include postponing WrestleManiato a later date, holding Mania on the scheduled date with no fans in attendance at a location such as the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, or canceling the event altogether.
While WWE has yet to make an official announcement, PWInsider (via Middleton) reported on Thursday that the company is planning to move Friday's episode of SmackDown from Little Caesars Arena in Detroit to the Performance Center.
WrestleMania is an institution in the world of professional wrestling and sports entertainment as a whole. If WWE is forced to postpone or cancel The Showcase of the Immortals, it would mark the first time that has ever happened.
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