ktc

Dueling Chair Shots
by Kurt La Mont
column date 09/14/2000

It is assumed by nearly everyone that ECW will move to USA in a couple of weeks when the WWF moves to TNN. The prominent wrestling websites have reported this and we've heard many of the wrestlers in ECW indicate that a move to USA is the most likely scenario, most likely in a late night Saturday time slot.

However, the WWF's move to TNN has been on hold due to the appeal of the WWF/TNN/USA court case which has not been decided at this time. So with two weeks remaining on TNN, ECW has no national TV outlet in place to continue showing a national show. If ECW does not move to USA in a couple of weeks many believe that this will be a fatal blow to ECW.

While losing a national TV presence isn't something that should be at the top of ECW's to do list, it will be a far from devastating event. ECW will still have it's syndicated program in place. They survived up to August of 1999 using only the syndicated program, and now this program is in many more markets than it was before. And not only is it in more markets but it is in all of it's 'hot' markets. If you are in a good ECW city you will still be able to watch ECW on a weekly basis, ECW will still come to your town, and you will still be able to watch the PPVs.

Where not having a national show will hurt ECW is where ECW is trying to establish new markets. If you can't watch ECW it will be hard to become a new fan However, based on the ratings of the TNN show the emergence of new markets over the past year has not materialized like ECW expected. ECW debuted on TNN a year ago with a 1.0 rating. A year later the rating remains at 1.0, so growth over the past year has been minimal (with Canada, based on the reports from the shows last weekend, maybe being the only significant exception, and that is not reflected in the ratings).

Financially, there will be a minimal impact on ECW. Very little revenue is generated from the TNN show to begin with so losing that will hardly have an effect on ECW financially. ECW has to pay to air the syndicated shows which is only offset by the revenues that they can gain from the ads that they run. Additionally, I think, based on rough estimates, ECW probably has as many expenses, if not more, then revenue on nearly every house show they run.

Where the real money is made in ECW is in PPVs. And now ECW has announced an additional PPV this year in December at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan. It also looks like it will be announced shortly that ECW will run monthly PPVs once all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed.

While this may cause a few production and booking headaches, this will be a huge boost to ECW financially. ECW has consistently had PPV buy rates between .20-.25 since they started on PPV with Barely Legal back in 1997.

A 1.0 buy rate is 400,000 buys. So ECW ranges from approximately 80,000 to 100,000 buys each PPV. To order a PPV you have to plunk down $21.95. Of course the PPV company will take it's share of that money. I think a conservative guess at what ECW gets for each person that orders a PPV is $10. If 100,000 people order the PPV ECW will pull in $1 million in revenue. While there are many costs associated with running a PPV that will cut into that $1 million (paying the wrestlers, the building rent, production costs, promotion, etc..) it is clear to me that PPVs are clearly profitable to ECW. Running 12 PPVs will allow ECW to make more money, which in turn, can only help them in other areas.

Be sure to check in next week for more thoughts on the pro and cons of running more PPVs, and assuming there is some finality to the USA/WWF/TNN saga, thoughts on the new TV deal (or lack of one, as it may be).

Send any comments or questions to [email protected].