Earlier today on this blog I questioned why WWE decided to go ahead with its Madison Square Garden live event Sunday night, despite forecasts of a severe blizard and warnings by the Long Island Rail Road that it would suspend service if the weather became too severe.
I heard back from WWE spokesman Adam Hopkins on WWE's decision. Here's what he said:
"WWE tries its best not to let down our fans due to the weather. After weighing several factors and consulting with Madison Square Garden management, The Garden was in favor of us running the event as they have a good track record of doing so during inclement weather, rarely postponing them. Public transportation was running, and this is a show in which a significant amount of ticket holders live in the city. All top WWE Talent had made it in to New York for the event."
Hopkins added that WWE drew about 13,600 people to last night's show, "which was more than those that attended the respective Islanders and Devils games combined last night (according to attendance numbers on the boxscores of the team's official websites)."
Hopkins added that there were "minimal no shows" of ticket-holding fans, but added that WWE will accomodate fans who were unable to use their tickets because of the weather "on an individual basis."
Meanwhile, I've continued getting reports throughout the day of WWE fans stuck in Penn Station since Sunday night. Here are a few of their stories:
Samuel Acevedo, 55, surprised his 11-year-old granddaughter Lilli Agosto and her friend with tickets to the WWE show.
“We were concerned, but we had no problems getting in, and we never anticipated what we got,” Acevedo said. “It is what it is. We've just got to make the best of it. The Long Island Rail Road has been very accommodating. They put us on this nice train. It's nice and warm and we're making the best of it right now… We slept nice."
Kevin Kiefaber, 58 of Greenlawn took his son Sean, 15, to the show as a Christmas gift. Kiefaber said Sean called 6pm to find out if show still on. It was.
"We went to the show. It was only about three-quarters full. We left early anticipating the possibility of a problem," said Kiefaber, who did not leave early enough. "I didn't anticipate it would get bad this early. Maybe one or two o'clock in the morning it would get bad."
He said he blames the LIRR and WWE.
"I'm upset with both," he said. "They should have cancelled.
He said they went to show despite risk because they didn't want to waste the tickets if the show was not postponed. Kiefaber said he saw about 100 people coming from WWE who similarly found themselves stranded.
Sarah Geoghegan, 23, of Manhasset, attended the show with her boyfriend Michael Steinberg, 24.
“We decided to take the risk,” said Geoghegan, who was still in Penn Station Monday morning after attending the event with her boyfriend Sunday night. “It was a good show. But we wish we were home."
Geoghegan said she enjoyed the show, for which she spent $200 on tickets. "We weren't going to waste these tickets that we bought months in advance."
The LIRR has run a few trains since this afternoon to accomodate some of the stranded wrestling fans, some of whom were still lingering around Penn Station early this evening. The LIRR has said it expects to resume some limited service out of Penn Station later this evening, and run limited service tomorrow morning.
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