Notes on AEW’s Business Relationship with City of Arlington for ‘Path to All In’ Residency

Wrestlenomics has details on the business relationship between AEW and the city of Arlington, TX for AEW’s upcoming residency there. The company is holding a series of live events, called the ‘Path to All In’ series, in July and August at Esports Stadium. It includes five Collision tapings (four of which will be live) and ROH Death Before Dishonor, as well as “additional Ring of Honor dates” that haven’t been announced yet. AEW sent a schedule to city staff in an April 29 email that listed two unannounced ROH dates on July 28 (Sunday) and August 16 (Friday). It is possible those could change, however.

According to public business records obtained by Wrestlenomics, AEW is paying a 50% discounted rate to the Arlington Expo Center and Esports Venues for the residency. This is a rate of $232,000. A term sheet implies that the local tourism organization may give AEW money or incentives to offset costs. It also mentions that the events are “note-worthy” due to “the selection of Arlington” and “the hospitality impacts that the six AEW events potentially bring.”

It also mentions a separate agreement with AEW, the Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Arlington Sports Commission that will “seek rental offset from the Arlington Tourism Public Improvement District,” but more details were not provided. The venue contract shows that the Arlington Expo Center gets $112,000 of the total cost. The term sheet says that AEW will pay ESports Venues another $120,000, or $15,000 per event, to use their broadcast suite and equipment.

One paragraph in the contract was claimed by AEW to be a trade secret, so it was redacted. A footnote read: “AEW claims this paragraph as a Trade Secret, and therefore, requests the paragraph be redacted unless and until the Texas AG’s office provides a conflicting opinion.”

A letter was sent from the City of Arlington to the Texas AG’s office asking for approval to redact the information, similar to other records requests for WWE events there.

The contract states that AEW will “move-in” and “move-out” at different times, when they aren’t running events. This will happen five times. AEW’s production rig will stay at the venue the entire time, helping lower costs. This will also let the company avoid leasing a production truck.

In one note, Collision will air early on August 3 due to WWE Summerslam airing in primetime, which is why it will be taped on Thursday that week. The venue will be scaled for 1,290 seats, with an average price of $45.02. The maximum gate for one event that could be earned is $58,080. If AEW sold 5,000 tickets for $45 for the whole residency, that would cover the costs. That would be around 650 tickets sold across eight events. Half of the venue fee, $56,000, is due on June 19. The second half is due July 15.

AEW spoke with government staff in a series of emails. At one point, AEW asked about possibly subletting the space to NJPW or CMLL during the days AEW didn’t use the venue. A member of staff spoke with AEW VP of Global Touring Ryan Seddon about it on May 14. It’s unknown if things progressed or not. Another email record noted that the Dallas Morning News had a 15-minute exclusive time period to report the news and AEW staff were asked to say it was “first reported” by them on social media.

Seddon wrote: “As of right now – we’ve been focusing on getting AEW’s ‘ducks in a row’. Once we have our plans and production 100% finalized – we could have those conversations. But right now – none have taken place.“