I see what you’re saying, but given the circumstances, they definitely made the right call. Who knows what the market would have been post-Covid hitting. You take that money (and more importantly the security & stability) while it’s there to be took. And if you’re as good as you think you are (or will be at the end of the new deal), THEN you ask for that increase.
C’mon Nate. They signed the deal in January. So unless Tony is psychic and foresaw how inept governments around the world would respond (or not in the case of Trump) to Cov-Sars-2 then that didn’t figure into their decision making process.
So accepting that didn’t figure into their decision making process and that they may have wanted some guarantee of revenue stability, why not sign a 1 year extension? If they really had conviction in their product then surely after two years of national tv exposure they would be in a better negotiating position than committing to 4 years?
Actually, I take that back. You didn’t need to be psychic to see the impact Cov-Sars-2 was going to have. The problem was the arrogance and ineptitude of governments around the world to respond to what was patently obvious.
You’re being willingly dense right now. Come on.
They were offered a reported $50M (plus production and ad revenue) for a four year extension. They went from getting production covered to making a profit.
Don’t be so stupid to argue they could negotiate a deal like WWE got. Impact and Anthem tried to play that game and get nowhere.
At the end of the day, you cannot argue the success of this deal so early into their existence. Show me any other company ever that did that?
Again, they are the second most successful promotion in professional wrestling in the world, in the last twenty years, based off that deal alone.
Also, based on three months of TV - perhaps they weren’t in the position to ask for a one year deal.
I get you like to discount or knock AEW whenever you can - but seriously, this is a really weak argument you’re making.
My son turns two tomorrow. If he learns to shoot a basketball tomorrow, I’m not calling him for traveling.
AEW is less than two years old and Dynamite is basically a year old. To focus solely on the flaws (actual or perceived) is willing ignorance.
You are being willingly condescending.
They were offered $175 million over 4 years excluding production costs, which amount to approximately $500 thousand per episode, equating to a net annual value of $19 million.
And again, try actually reading what I wrote. I never said “they could negotiate a deal like WWE got”. Seeing as I need to spell out what I have written, I did say signing a deal that was less than 10% of the value of the deals WWE signed does not reflect confidence in their product.
And saying “they are the second most successful promotion in professional wrestling in the world” is like saying someone is the nicest person in prison. It isn’t a high benchmark.
And I don’t like knocking AEW. I like wrestling and want it to flourish so, unlike the majority of hard cores that inhabit this board, I won’t pretend that the current presentation is good when it is killing the business.
I can only assume you are taking the piss with that analogy.
Wrong. You like wrestling from a specific time period and want it to return to that era. Things evolve, wrestling today is different than the era you enjoyed.
Just because you don’t personally enjoy doesn’t take away from it’s obvious success. It’s hard to disagree with numbers
Why would TNT do that? They were happy with the ratings. It takes two sides to make a deal.
Yet you consistently do.
I was just about to come back & say this!
Given that Covid had been a story overseas since December, and the Khans do a lot of business outside of America, it’s not hard to think that perhaps they figured something could happen like this in America (especially given Trump’s “leadership”). I don’t think anyone thought it would get THIS bad…But there’s a chance that AEW would’ve had to go dark (no pun intended) for months like ROH or NJPW. And if they tried to play hardball or extend negotiations, there’s a chance TNT asks them to take LESS than they ultimately signed for, given that they wouldn’t be producing new content for the network.
So yeah…I’d take the stability of the sure thing vs. the sexiness of theoretical dollars if I were in their shoes
I’m not sure why anyone would consider AEW as doing bad. They were literally nothing 2 years ago, and today they have a network deal in both Canada and the US, and they have a show in prime time that averages around 750K (or close to that a week). Considering where they started, I’d say that’s pretty damn impressive.
@Bdubz Can I ask, I get that some of the AEW fans can be very very very over the top when it comes to their ridiculously biased assessment of AEW and their claims to how successful it is. Is your knock on AEW a counter to the ridiculous claims made by some? Or do you truly believe that AEW is not successful and those that think it is simply have low standards and expectations?
Lastly, let me ask you this. For a startup promotion, what types of numbers would say they would need to hit in year 2 to be deemed a success?
Question for you @Bdubz, before Dynamite launched, what were your expectations for what the ratings would be?
When I retracted that statement, it wasn’t intended to support that view. Daddy donating $1,000,000.00 to Trump’s inauguration committee doesn’t suggest any concerns about Trump’s ability to lead!
Yes, my point was the attempt to compare the AEW vs NXT skirmish to the Monday night wars feels rather silly given the numbers and complete lack of interest in wrestling compared to that period and is an attempt to generate excitement where none exists. Wrestling found a significant place in “pop culture” such was its popularity at that time. Those days are long gone.
I’m not going to say AEW haven’t been successful, as they have managed to get a national tv deal, but I truly believe that if they are happy to have not only failed to grow their audience, but to have lost a significant portion of the audience that showed they were willing to give them a chance, then it shows where expectations are as far as modern wrestling goes. And that is a sad state of affairs.
As for what types of numbers would I say they would need to hit in year 2 to be deemed a success? This is just my opinion, but over the number that tuned in the first two weeks. So around 1.4-1.5 million.
I didn’t have any expectations at all. Like many others who I would classify as lapsed fans who prefer a less campy and more adult (i.e. realistic) presentation of wrestling and who have virtually no interest in WWE, I was interested enough to tune in in the hope it was wrestling I could enjoy. So (in my opinion), those who tuned in the first few weeks is the minimum potential audience.
LOL
Ridiculous statement. Just so you get a better understanding of the numbers, here are all the cable networks averages from 2019. This is including the plus 7’s (DVR) numbers.
The fact that Dynamite, a brand new show, can maintain or exceed TNT’s average in year one is a great accomplishment. Keep in mind that the usual numbers we get every week do not include the plus 7s. So Dynamites total number of viewers and demo probably goes up even more.
And these numbers include “competition” from the established leader who were so worried that they sacrificed their popular developmental brand to slow AEW’s growth. Imagine if NXT originally went to Tuesday’s like USA wanted.
Point is, Dynamite is a big success. Your expectations are nowhere near what the network wanted so they really don’t matter
LOL.
You still haven’t grasped what my point was so try reading my original statement. What TNT’s expectations were/are are irrelevant to what I said.
And stop getting so upset about criticism of AEW and being so aggressive in your posts. I’m not insulting your sister, mum, etc.
Before you made yourself look silly saying they should have maintained the debut number, your point was modern wrestling isn’t popular.
Dynamite is consistently a top 10 show, not sure how that’s not considered popular. No other way to judge the show than by what it does compared to its competition today.
You really are dense. I’m done interacting with you.