WWE files complaint to prevent release of 2023 Royal Rumble bidding contract

  • Ian Carey
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WWE doesn’t want its agreement with The City of San Antonio for the 2023 Royal Rumble to be made public.

The company filed a complaint on February 16, 2024, against the Attorney General of Texas to prevent the contract from being released under The Texas Information Act. This follows a year-long back-and-forth concerning whether details in the agreement should be considered a trade secret. 

Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston made a public information request to the City of San Antonio for documents relating to the event in early 2023. However, it was ruled the bidding contract between the city and WWE was exempt, as it contained proprietary information related to WWE and information that “would advantage (WWE’s) competitors if released.” 

The bidding contract would include information on what the city gave WWE in exchange for bringing the Royal Rumble to the Alamodome. 

The Attorney General’s Office revised its ruling on January 17, 2024, writing that WWE failed to provide “specific factual evidence” demonstrating the information should be exempt and that “the city may not withhold the submitting information.”

The revised ruling was likely due to another public information request made in October seeking information on the city’s dealings with WWE dating back to 2015. It was made by a company named Intelligence Options, which specializes in forensic analysis, fraud investigation, and data analysis. It’s not clear who Intelligence Options were working on behalf of, however, and WWE’s recent filing states it was related to another lawsuit that has since been settled. 

The filing on February 16 also includes a sworn declaration from WWE Senior Vice President of Communications Chris Legentil. It reads:

If this information was made publicly available and Brandon Thurston was permitted to publicize our financial information and negotiated terms on Wrestlenomics, WWE would lose our bargaining power in negotiating all of our live events and much of the value of a bidding process for venues.

A Wrestlenomics report from August revealed WWE received nearly $3 million in Welsh government subsidies for Clash at the Castle. The company is believed to have received roughly half that amount for WrestleMania Backlash in Puerto Rico as well.