During a recent conference call Sinclair Broadcast Group President and CEO Chris Ripley characterized ROH as an ‘unpolished gem,’ noted that ROH sold out Madison Square Garden in 11 minutes, and pointed to ROH’s overall potential:
So, look I think saying that we’ve invested a lot of money is maybe a slight mis-characterization. Beyond Tennis, we really haven’t spent significant dollars on content and Ring of Honor, I think, we bought for a couple hundred thousand dollars. And it’s, we think that’s an unpolished gem that ultimately should be something in the same light as WWE. We actually sold out Madison Square Gardens for an event next year in 11 minutes. So, we know that that that brand has potential. It just – it hasn’t, we haven’t quite found the right dials to turn yet, but we keep increasing the grass roots support on it and it has just a very, very loyal and avid fan base which is what you really need to explode a brand.
And on the syndicated side, we have we’ve been smart about investments there, using our leverage to not only reduce our costs there but also get equity positions in various – or equity like positions in various programs with little-to-no capital. So that’s been a very profitable endeavor for us. And then on Tennis, which we did spend a decent chunk of change buying, it was a net price of $285 million and further investments in Tennis.com and Tennis magazine and you probably just saw that we signed up the WTA for a five-year deal and we’ve also expanded other rights in other categories, like the French Open where we put more premium matches on our air and then also revamped our OTT app.
So, it’s been an investment period for Tennis and Tennis is setting up exceptionally well for future growth with 2020 will be the breakout year for Tennis in a big way. And that’ll be the year where we sit back and look and say, wow, we really – all this work and investment that we put in has paid off in spades as 2020 looks to be a huge year for Tennis.
So, I guess, the overall question to your answer is when I look across what we’ve done in content, we’re in varying stages of development, but we’ve always had a good return on everything we’ve done, but I wouldn’t say that we’ve spent all that much risk capital when you consider the scale of the company overall.
PW Insider’s Mike Johnson reached out to ROH COO Joe Koff about the recent praise and Koff issued the following statement:
Sinclair has been nothing short of incredible in their support and enthusiasm for our product. In just a few years, they have invested significant time and energy in expanding the scope and reach of Ring of Honor to a global audience. What makes Ring of Honor unique is our investment into our fans to help grow the massive grassroots support that has been the backbone of Ring of Honor since the very beginning. We are focused on continuing to improve our product by creating better programming and content– through exciting live events and our over-the-top distribution network HonorClub– for our fans, and providing a platform where our male and female athletes can showcase their talents and thrive within this industry.
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