Whoops. Double post. sorry.

On the talk of WWE Films, I think they're generally profitable and they did have somewhat of a hit on their hands with "The Call" in 2013. The budget was the usual $10 million or so (wiki says $13) and it ended up doing $68 in box office alone (I'm guessing DVD sales pushed it even higher). I'm not sure but at one point they also had a hand in one or two of The Rock's movies ("Walking Tall" and "The Rundown," I believe) and maybe they're doing the same with Cena now?

 

 

 

As for the XFL, yeah, if they attempt to re-launch, it is going to fail faster than the original. Part of me thinks that Vince was able to put on a smile and laugh off the fact that it was a disaster in the ESPN documentary, but under the skin it bugged the hell out of him and he wants to prove history wrong. Sadly for him, I can't see NBC or any other Network wanting to go 50-50 with him for something that is actually worse than "unproven" - it was a proven flop.

Vince sells shares of WWE stock to fund Alpha Entertainment:

 

http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/21840316/vince-mcmahon-sells-some-wwe-shares-fund-alpha-entertainment-llc

 

Full SEC filing form:

 

http://otp.investis.com/clients/us/wwe/SEC/sec-show.aspx?Type=html&FilingId=12441342&CIK=0001091907&Index=10000

Vince sells shares of WWE stock to fund Alpha Entertainment:

 

http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/21840316/vince-mcmahon-sells-some-wwe-shares-fund-alpha-entertainment-llc

 

Full SEC filing form:

 

http://otp.investis.com/clients/us/wwe/SEC/sec-show.aspx?Type=html&FilingId=12441342&CIK=0001091907&Index=10000

So, I have no idea of business ongoings and such. Yeah, I know, he makes money of it. But does this mean anything for WWE? Has he less power over things or anything like that?

Not really (To my understanding). He still has 82.8% of the Class B voting stock and 41.8% common stock.

On the talk of WWE Films, I think they're generally profitable and they did have somewhat of a hit on their hands with "The Call" in 2013. The budget was the usual $10 million or so (wiki says $13) and it ended up doing $68 in box office alone (I'm guessing DVD sales pushed it even higher). I'm not sure but at one point they also had a hand in one or two of The Rock's movies ("Walking Tall" and "The Rundown," I believe) and maybe they're doing the same with Cena now?

 

 

 

As for the XFL, yeah, if they attempt to re-launch, it is going to fail faster than the original. Part of me thinks that Vince was able to put on a smile and laugh off the fact that it was a disaster in the ESPN documentary, but under the skin it bugged the hell out of him and he wants to prove history wrong. Sadly for him, I can't see NBC or any other Network wanting to go 50-50 with him for something that is actually worse than "unproven" - it was a proven flop.

There's always a place somewhere for live sports. I was watching a dodgeball league on ESPN 2 the other night. (not even ESPN 8 - The Ocho, lol) There's always the WWE Network if they need a place to show it.

Meltzer said it would be terrible for business if they put it on the Network

Sinclair seems like the perfect landing spot for an alt-right football league.

Vince to make "major sports announcement" this afternoon

Sinclair seems like the perfect landing spot for an alt-right football league.

Oddly the timing of when Vince is saying he wants this launched coincides with the possibility of gaining the financial support of a major thorn in the NFLs side since the 1980s suddenly having some free time on his hands.

ABC News and Sports Illustrated are reporting that it will be the return of the XFL (maybe not that name, but a pro-football league).

 

Is it possible that Vince has gotten himself involved in some sort of Brewster's Millions situation where he has to burn through hundreds of millions of dollars in a set amount of time in order to inherit hundreds of billions of dollars? I mean, what else could be behind this?

 

I'm also still really gobsmacked over what Network is interested in partaking in this endeavor. Dick Ebersol is still at NBC and I'd really be shocked if he shared Vince's interest for a relaunch - especially considering that, unlike in the early 00s, NBC isn't as desperate for sports programming.

 

I could see Disney being somewhat interested - especially if there is an eventual push to buy a major stake in the WWE. This would also fit in with the rumors about Vince wanting to potentially move RAW and SD over from the NBC-owned USA Network to somewhere under the ABC/Fox Umbrella (maybe landing them on FX? Live streaming on Hulu? ESPN2?).

 

Even under those circumstances, though, its hard to envision McMahon successfully using the WWE as a carrot to lead Disney into supporting the XFL. As someone noted, there may always be a place for live sports on TV, but the XFL's production costs were massive compared to arena football and I'd probably say the XFL was costlier than the WNBA from a production standpoint. Niche sports like dodgeball, table tennis, and bowling aren't being played in 30,000 seat arenas and being produced as large-scale, rock concert-esque events every week. McMahon went big (and expensive) last time and there's no reason to think he won't do that again.

 

 

I could see Disney being somewhat interested - especially if there is an eventual push to buy a major stake in the WWE. This would also fit in with the rumors about Vince wanting to potentially move RAW and SD over from the NBC-owned USA Network to somewhere under the ABC/Fox Umbrella (maybe landing them on FX? Live streaming on Hulu? ESPN2?).

 

Even under those circumstances, though, its hard to envision McMahon successfully using the WWE as a carrot to lead Disney into supporting the XFL. As someone noted, there may always be a place for live sports on TV, but the XFL's production costs were massive compared to arena football and I'd probably say the XFL was costlier than the WNBA from a production standpoint. Niche sports like dodgeball, table tennis, and bowling aren't being played in 30,000 seat arenas and being produced as large-scale, rock concert-esque events every week. McMahon went big (and expensive) last time and there's no reason to think he won't do that again.

 

Disney won't own the Fox Networks, they'll own the Fox Studios. I actually think this is a big reason why Fox might have interest in WWE - they're going to be the only major network to lack a studio, which means they won't have an interest in the long-term streaming viability of their programming, only the ratings. WWE still gets pretty decent ones.

 

I guess Fox could be interested in the XFL for FS1 and FS2? Spring programming after college basketball is done?

I can't believe they're doing this again, reminds me of the Death of WCW book where they overarching theme was lessons not learned.

 

By judging by the way things were worded with the "no felons in this league" stuff it really does seem like they want this to be MAGA ball.

We all spend some of our disposable income on silly things. Vince can afford to waste bigger sums than the rest of us.

At least now we have something that 10 years ago I would have thought to be even more ridiculous than Donald Trump becoming US president.

Right, but all anyone's going to hear on this is "the silly wrestling man is trying to relaunch his failed football league, let's all laugh". We all joke about the wrestling bubble being strong, but apparently the right wing bubble is even stronger.

Yup, that's it, Vince has lost it. Take WWE from him and send him into a retirement home, where he can spend he rest of his days.

Also he's getting crushed for the line about 3+ hour NFL games being too laborious to sit through when Raw is RIGHT THERE.

As someone not from the USA, 3+ hour long NFL games bore me to death. The sport itself is nice and it has proven to be time and time again something exciting, but on average it tends to be just too... slow paced. On paper it is four 15 minute periods being stretched to ridiculous lenghts.

 

Raw is 3 hours long. What is included on those hours may vary. The last few months were fairly good, with only the 25th Anniversary Raw being a slog.

This may well be Vince's "wall"

The funny part is that for as much as Vince craves being seen as more than just a rasslin' promoter, this might be his most carny move yet.

They have no television deal, no cities selected, no team owners or outside capital, no players signed. So far all Ive seen is one man and his $100 million. Thats a little less than it cost to pay the Cleveland Browns this season.

On my drive to work the Bay Area sports hosts were talking about this, wondering what players they could even get to play in a new XFL. And the hosts showed they have no idea what Vince's political motivations might be by proceeding to talk about how Kaepernick would be the most obvious choice as the first announced player.

 

There is a far far far greater chance of them hiring an actor to play "Colon Krapernick, Bumbling QB Who Shits Pants"

As someone not from the USA, 3+ hour long NFL games bore me to death. The sport itself is nice and it has proven to be time and time again something exciting, but on average it tends to be just too... slow paced. On paper it is four 15 minute periods being stretched to ridiculous lenghts.

 

Raw is 3 hours long. What is included on those hours may vary. The last few months were fairly good, with only the 25th Anniversary Raw being a slog.

 

Raw must have been 4 hours with the preshow and all we got was 5 matches with 4 of them being short.