Paid Members PunkStep Posted February 10, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 10, 2017 When the rights came up last time, it was when BT Sports had just got going and were bidding on absolutely everything. I know Meltzer said Sky paid over the odds to secure the a contract renewal for that reason, but I'm not sure how serious BT were. You'd imagine they'll be a factor again in 2019 though. Bear in mind that BT are paying ridiculous sums to secure sports, so much that their Champions League deal dwarfed Sky's offer, and you get the impression that Sky throw a bit of money to secure what they want usually (hence why they've constantly wrestled things from terrestrial TV). If BT start to sniff around, that might be enough to make sure Sky give WWE a lucrative deal again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Benno Posted February 10, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 10, 2017 There were a couple of interesting notes on the WWE conference call yesterday. Vince when asked about WWEUK mentioned twice that they were still considering the TV show and that it would maybe be a "European thing". He named Italy and Germany specifically. He also admitted that 101,000 Wrestlemania attendance number was bollocks and that it "“included ushers and ticket-takers". Real number was likely 75,000-85,000. They also released updated Network numbers: http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/wwe-2016-financials-network-subs-205-and-uk-tour-updates-229826 NEWTORK SUBS UP; 205 AND UK TOUR UPDATES BY DAVE MELTZER | @DAVEMELTZERWON | FEB 9, 2017 11:01 AM WWE announced its year-end business numbers at a conference call on Thursday morning, as the company finished 2016 with $729.2 million in total revenue at $33.8 million in profits. The numbers were up from the $658.8 million in revenue and $24.1 million in annual profits from last year. Revenue numbers are the highest in company history. Profits are still well below the pre-Network levels, although most projections are they will be at or ahead of those levels in 2017 due to an increase in TV rights fees and lower tax rates. Most of the year was actually somewhat even in profits except that last year in the fourth quarter the company lost $1.2 million and this year's fourth quarter profits were $8.0 million. Total revenue in quarter four was $194.9 million, up from $166.2 million in quarter four of 2015. Wall Street gave a thumbs up to the numbers as the WWE stock at this writing is trading at $20.94 per share, up from $19.28 at its close yesterday. The key takes are that there were 1,403,000 Network subscribers at the end of December, although that has grown to 1.5 million in January due to the season growth for the Royal Rumble. They did not predict a WrestleMania number but will give a number after the show. Last year they increased 237,000 in subscribers over WrestleMania season. If they do that this year they'll be at 1,640,000 subscriptions the day after WrestleMania. U.S. subscriber numbers at year-end were 1,033,000, up from 940,000. However, the Network division overall decreased in profitability for the year from $48.4 million to $36.9 million, due to increases in costs of the Network programming and a major decline in PPV. Virtually all significant profit growth comes from television rights fees. Profits were up on television from $88.0 million in 2015 to $114.8 million in 2016, even though revenue increased by $10.6 million. Some of that is misleading, in the sense that they expense some things to the Network that were formerly expensed to television. In the main take, Vince McMahon spoke of touring the 205 Live wrestlers with their own house shows, similar to NXT, as well as a European outpost with regular touring, stemming from the U.K. special. He didn't give any timetable as to when this would happen. The idea of a U.K. or Europe based satellite group is something that has been talked about a lot, but the idea of doing house show tours with the cruiserweights is something that is new. If all groups are running and there are two NXT shows, that would leave the company with as many as six events every Saturday night. If there was a hidden negative, it's that live event attendance, while up overall due to running more shows, decreased in profitability as well as average attendance. For the main brand shows, the average paid attendance in quarter four was 5,300, down from 6,300 in the same quarter last year. That doesn't factor in NXT events. The total profits for all fourth quarter shows, including NXT events, fell from $7.3 million to $6.2 million in the fourth quarter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon-Carr_92 Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Dave Meltzer was reporting around the 94,000 mark and there had been reports they cracked the 90k barrier in the week leading up to it. Seeing as they'd been wanting to do it there for a while but they weren't able to due to hosting Final Four for example. Combine that with them always inflating attendances slightly in some cases. Should we really be surprised? Did look amazing mind. Still typical of what they normally get in the stadiums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TildeGuy~! Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Eva Marie has removed all WWE mentions from her Twitter account, has she gone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted February 10, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 10, 2017 I'd reckon there'll still be Sports Bars etc that paid for PPVs so they could screen them live. I know it happens a bit round here, and Sky Sports charge through the nose for the channels, so the price of a PPV on an account like that might be considerably more than the £22 quid or whatever they are now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sphinx Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 (edited) Braun Strowman's current Instagram story is clips of him watching a band, they play a cover of Foo Fighters which you can clearly hear Braun singing along too. Just incredible. His name is adamscherr99 on there for anyone interested in this excitement. Just incredible... Edited February 10, 2017 by Sphinx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted February 10, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 10, 2017 205 touring, really? I like the roster, but certainly not enough to pay and see ONLY them. It'd be like paying to see Guido and Paul London on a Velocity tour 12 years or so ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon-Carr_92 Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Eva Marie has removed all WWE mentions from her Twitter account, has she gone?Think Maffew From BotchaMania will have a field day. It's been quite a few years. I mean, how do you manage to have a match that's so bad it gets left out of the SmackDown broadcast? Outdoes Sin Cara 1.0 having to record the same match in one night. Remember her NXT redebut where a decent amount of people hope she would be at least passable with training from Brian Kendrick? There was the match with Carmella that stank the joint out at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn I and that other match where the ref had to stop the 3 count because she didn't get the shoulder up. By the time she challenged Bayley. The crowd drowned her out and Bayley couldn't hear her. I would've loved it if the match was a Dusty finish where the ref misses Bayley's foot on the rope or something just to hear the crowd lose it because as much as you didn't want even the idea of it happening. A small part of you just wants to see Full Sail crowd reaction. After all, Bo Dallas made people turn their backs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted February 10, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 10, 2017 Eva Marie is a fucking bona fide heat magnet and potential genuine star, I really hope she isn't gone. There's loads to be done with her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love-Wilcox Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Eva Marie's match versus Bayley for the title is genuinely one of my favourite NXT TV matches ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted February 10, 2017 Awards Moderator Share Posted February 10, 2017 205 touring, really? I like the roster, but certainly not enough to pay and see ONLY them. It'd be like paying to see Guido and Paul London on a Velocity tour 12 years or so ago. You say that, but I'd have absolutely gone to see a Velocity tour. Better than a lot of mid-2000s SmackDown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Yeah I fucking loved Velocity back then, I'd have invented the fight forever chant for London v Akio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grecian Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Agreed. I love me a bit of Paul London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TildeGuy~! Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Eva Marie's match versus Bayley for the title is genuinely one of my favourite NXT TV matches ever. Not one of my favourites but I too loved that match, had everyone believing she was gonna win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Arch Stanton Posted February 10, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 10, 2017 Eva Marie is a fucking bona fide heat magnet and potential genuine star, I really hope she isn't gone. There's loads to be done with her. +1 for this. I'd be genuinely gutted if she's gone, moreso than just about any other woman on the roster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts