IHFP Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Didn't Meltzer say they were looking to get what NASCAR got? I'm pretty sure that's well into the billions.. no way they get it They are following Cano/JayZ strategy, start off really ridiculous and hope you settle for regular ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Here's the Meltzer version of the WWE TV negotiations: the story noted WWE wanting its perception changed from soap opera to sport...because...$$$$$$$blablah And another turn in the cycle. Ten years ago did anyone think Meltzer would be writing this? I know people hoped...but it seemed like the "it's a sport" era was dead and gone. If this leads to a decade of old-timey photographer cameras next to the ring, streamers, NFL films style docs., and taking single matches seriously as something other than chances for plot twists, then I finally have something to thank ESPN's insane fees for. I think part of it also has to do with soap operas dying off in the past 10 years as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirSmUgly Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 ... I wonder how much closer. Certainly not the billion/multi-billion dollar range of the NFL/NBA/MLB contracts. I know NBC paid 250M for Premier League rights in the U.S. If WWE got that much from someone, I would be impressed. That would also be a significant increase. If I had to guess, I think they will max out around 150M for TV rights. The stigma about the intelligence and income level of wrestling fans still probably exists to advertisers no matter how much WWE pushes that they are marketing to middle-income families. They made $168.4M in 2013 (source:http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2013/12/10/can-we-predict-wwe-tv-rights-fees-for-2015/), so $250M is more likely considering they get better ratings than Premier League does. Great link, man. Thanks for the info. I guess 250M is a nice target for WWE, then. I would love to be in the room when Vince McMahon starts out by asking NBC/Universal or Viacom for a billion dollars in TV rights, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Saturday Night Smackdown, airing at 6:05 Eastern on the Superstation. Making Smackdown live and putting it on a new night has it's limits since you're either moving it to midweek, or moving it to Saturday where it'd have to exist in a way that wouldn't get pre-empted by sports, which means it probably stays on SyFy. But making Smackdown live on a Friday/Saturday would be good news for the travel schedules, since they could just go to a Smackdown-house-house-Raw Friday-Monday schedule instead of house-house-house-Raw-Smackdown Friday-Tuesday schedule. So people who are getting essentially 1 1/2 days off a week since they work Raw/Smackdown could get 2 1/2 days off at least Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranesi Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Didn't Meltzer say they were looking to get what NASCAR got? I'm pretty sure that's well into the billions.. no way they get it Thing is, if you invest that much in something, it has to become a flagship of a network. Even EPL got huge PR push from the new NBCSN as there big thing to start off with. They were proud of it and wouldn't stop talking about it. And we are not yet anywhere near where any of the major players want to make Pro Wrestling a centerpiece of their identity yet. That was a problem 10 years ago, and it's still a problem today. I think the PG era has made it less automatically distasteful, and WWE has become such an "always there" thing that it shows up now more often as a thing worth talking about. But, dropping a billion and branding yourself the "home of wrestling" still seems like a laughable idea. It's still a USA network-level product in most people's minds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 yeah, what's the WWE's best network deal of the last 15 years anyways? their move to TNN? I seem to recall they didn't get as much from their return to USA as they were hoping from the start. They couldn't get WCW a timeslot in 2001. Not sure if they had a new deal with SyFy to get Smackdown or if they just moved Smackdown there after MyNetworkTV cancelled it. Superstars got whacked quickly by WGN. Although if that chart is any indicator, they should try seeing what the History Channel could offer them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Well, that's the thing. One reason NASCAR is getting so much fucking money is because content. These new sports networks that are trying to challenge ESPN (FS1, NBCSN, etc) need to have a ton of live content and they are willing to grossly overpay for it. UFC probably got a sweet deal too (unless it hasn't come up yet, I haven't read about it). Who is desperate for WWE? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raziel Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 The WWE's problem is that a lot of networks still look down their nose at Wrestling, even though USA isn't having any issues, since RAW's regularlly sitting at the top of cable ratings every week. Only thing that beats out RAW normally is Football. Smackdown isn't as high, but is still regularly in the top 10 of the night, and ahead of just about everything running at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valcourt Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I would be pretty happy if WWE went more serious. Pure Sports builds can be very cool. WWE surely has the talent for great video packages to make everything look more legit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranesi Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 What is more important to WWE, $$$$ upfront for RAW (potentially an extra hundreds of millions?????) or eyeballs to sell their PPV and WWE network stuff? Because if rights money is No.1, then they might get more from a lesser new sports net as Niners pointed out, desperate for live content to compete with ESPN and fill their air. But, looking at that chart, how far down it do you think FoxSports1 or NBCSN is? Waaaaay down there. Less $$$$ from USA but more eyeballs, seeing RAW as essentially an infomercial has always been their strategy. Doing different would be a major change, no? Does that, along with giving PPVs to WWE network subs signal the beginning of an end in sight to the PPV/House-show business model? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.K.o.S. Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 You can date Billy Kidman. You can date an Uso. And of course I'm hearing this in the "Vince McMahon announces the Royal Rumble participants" voice. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranesi Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Who is desperate for WWE? Funny thing about this new Sports-net surge is that they are all desperate...but none of them want to admit that they're desperate. And giving big dollars to WWE would be admitting you are desperate...branding yourself as the bottom of the sports nets...at least I imagine that's what any exec. pitching this idea would get thrown back at him...just before he was fired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Spanish Waiter Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 The only pure sports build I will tolerate is the one that has Mark Henry squashing everyone. That's also my qualifier for a return to the attitude era. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonteCarl Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 If they move to another network, could that mean the end of these horribly long 3 hour RAWs, since it was USA who was pushing for that anyway?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Lord Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I got a good laugh out of the notion the WWE sent out feelers to A&E. I mean there are some arts types that absolutley hate that Duck Dynasty is the highest rated show on that network. They would probably take a running leap out of the A & E building if they signed a rasslin show. Looking at those other options, they would be crazy to leave USA again. There is no way they would ever get real sport money. I mean it's not impossible for them to change from a soap opera into a "sport". They would need to change into the same kind of presentation that UFC does to build up fights. I think under Triple H's rule, they would move that way. The problem is the WWE would never move to a big match system. Everything has to be on a weekly basis. The deal Brock Lesnar has would be interesting for some of the other top guys, but they would never do it for anyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 yeah, the last time they left USA, they coincidentally saw a downturn in ratings, right? I await the bidding war between A&E and AMC for the WWE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 If they move to another network, could that mean the end of these horribly long 3 hour RAWs, since it was USA who was pushing for that anyway?? See, my hope from this last Raw is that they're realize that rather than putting another hour of angles and skits featuring wrestlers increasingly low on the card, they realize they can fill that extra hour with, oh hey, LONGER MATCHES! Did you notice that almost every match last night had a commercial break in it? And that in terms of stuffing instead of potatoes, it was one of the best shows of the year? If this is what 3-hour Raw is like going forward, sign me the fuck up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I would not want to be an executive for one of these new sports networks. Sure it might be fun for a while but in the end they will all be crushed by Disney. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Spanish Waiter Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I find it funny that in an era where nobody watches anything any more, a show that consistently gets 5 million viewers isn't attractive because they're the wrong viewers. The whole tv system is fucked. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 If they move to another network, could that mean the end of these horribly long 3 hour RAWs, since it was USA who was pushing for that anyway?? I feel like we wouldn't have the sheer amount of high-end matches we've gotten this year without the 3 hour raw. It's pretty much the entire impetus for the extended tag team division and all the six-mans. I usually catch it on youtube a few days after and skip liberally. It's the only way to watch the show. Last night's Raw was a chore though because there were too many matches I wanted to see. That's the sort of problem I'm kind of glad to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muhammedboehm Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Shouldn't there be a note put on the NASCAR getting a billion dollars in rights, is that that billion is split between three networks who share the cost? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I'm surprised WWE can't get more companies like a Coke or McDonalds as advertising dollars. Even Walmart. I mean this whole idea that wrestling appeals to poor rednecks, don't rednecks love that stuff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Spanish Waiter Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I'm surprised WWE can't get more companies like a Coke or McDonalds as advertising dollars. Even Walmart. I mean this whole idea that wrestling appeals to poor rednecks, don't rednecks love that stuff? Poor people don't need it advertising. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skelemania Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I'm definitely more excited for Wrestle Kingdom than I am for Royal Rumble. The Rumble used to be my favorite PPV but I've just really grown apathetic toward WWE. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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