David Bixenpan at Cageside Seats has a report on Sinclair’s stock tanking after their investors learned about their purchase of Ring of Honor. I wanted to make some notes for posterity, comparison, and to possibly shed some light on why Sinclair made this move. 

First off: 

… the purchase price was under $10 million.

You’d hope so. Vince McMahon purchased WCW, ECW, and the last 50 years’ worth of tape libraries from almost every major territory for far less than $10 million. 

Based on our conversations, investors are not comfortable with an acquisition outside of SBGI’s (or any TV company’s) ‘core business’ but we actually view ROH as a unique opportunity that could benefit SBGI’s primary operations (i.e. advertising)

Wrestling is still considered a deadzone of culture, less than garbage to typical advertisers and family-friendly companies. Sinclair’s major advertisers don’t particularly look kindly on it. But I don’t think Sinclair purchased ROH in order to promote professional wrestling. I doubt there are five people at the company who give a damn about the art form.

Wrestling tends to attract the hard-to-reach young male demographic, which is already a cornerstone of SBGI’s Fox, CW and MY Network stations.  SBGI is now a content owner, effectively controlling its own destiny and potentially generating additional revenue by syndicating this content to other distributors.

There we go. 

I don’t know any of this for a fact, but I’d bet there’s someone in Sinclair’s acquisition department who paid attention to Spike TV’s growth based on UFC. But how did Spike TV get UFC? Well, before a major rebranding, Spike was known as TNN, the channel that aired WWE Raw for the first part of the 21st century. Before they aired Raw, TNN aired this little program called ECW. It took TNN a while, but through clever deals, branding choices, and timing, they are now the major provider for one of the most exciting new sports. I wouldn’t be too surprised to find out that Sinclair is looking to test the waters for something like UFC (or, in a few years, UFC itself). They would essentially be using ROH in the same way TNN used ECW. 

What’s more plausible? A major media conglomerate airs a wrestling show in the hopes of attracting a demographic that appeals to star advertisers, which would lead to better shows, better demographics, and better advertising profits? Or a major media conglomerate purchases a wrestling company because their owner is a lifelong wrestling fan and he wants a show on his network? 

On second thought, I suppose both things have happened. 

It’s unlikely, but this may be history repeating itself in either the way ECW lived and died (quickly, painfully) on TNN, or the way WCW lived, thrived, and crashed and burned for Ted Turner. Most likely, this is something else entirely. Unlike Ted Turner, there doesn’t appear to be one person at the head of this decision. Unlike TNN, Sinclair doesn’t appear to be changing business models. 

So why did Sinclair purchase ROH? 

K Sawyer Paul is an author and publisher living in Toronto. He tweets and tumbls. In the wrestling world he is known for This is Sports Entertainment and Aggressive Art.

Edited by TH