Future of historic wrestling venue in question

[Deleted]

Per WrestleZone

Ring of Honor will likely not be returning to the Manhattan Center or the Hammerstein Ballroom any time soon, as the legendary NYC complex just raised the prices for live events again. At the current rate, ROH would actually lose money even with a sold-out crowd, and even if they aired on iPPV it’s not likely the buyrate would fully compensate the wrestlers, ring crew, backstage staff to the extent that practically any of their other national venues would.

Most recently, Ring of Honor ran the second of their two New Japan Pro Wrestling co-sponsored shows at the Hammerstein, selling out tickets in record time – even without any announced matches at the time.

The Impact Wrestling shows from New York will start airing tomorrow night, and run for the next month. Following that, TNA still has another 3-day run of tapings scheduled for the Manhattan Center between August 5-7th. Whether or not they can manage to turn a decent profit given the live event prices and the amount of advertising they do in the area, remains to be seen.

This is a huge loss for ROH. They've run Final Battle at the Manhattan Center every year since 2006 and Hammerstein hosted that show in 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Now what do they do? Try to rebuild Philly as the top market? Chicago? Toronto?

[maddog1981]

That's a severe blow to them as a company. That was their most reliable draw and I don't know where they go from here. I don't even know how they go about building another city into a top market.

[guiltyparty]

Losing the Manhattan Center, though certainly a blow, does not take them out of the New York market. The next ROH show in New York is at MCU Park in Brooklyn, for example. There are a ton of spaces in New York that they can move to.

[maddog1981]

I think this is the start of a growing problem for them though. If venues keep upping the prices it's going to drive companies like Ring of Honor and other indies under.

[toasterboy]

So glad CHWF get our venue for a really great price. The owner loves our group so much he does a ton of local advertising for us and even bought a billboard downtown for the love shows. All Indy Feds should be so lucky to have a guy like this.

[MT]

Jul 17, 2014 18:11:32 GMT -4 maddog1981 said:

I think this is the start of a growing problem for them though. If venues keep upping the prices it's going to drive companies like Ring of Honor and other indies under.

I'll let this story play out before too much speculation, but I don't see if as some sort of catastrophe for ROH. It's not even a real big problem.


ROH is not an "indie" in the strictest sense anymore; they're a television wrestling company. They don't even have television in the New York market. Furthermore, that's one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world and I am fairly certain there are more than a few buildings of that size and nature adequate to run a wrestling show.


It is a problem----for those buildings if they want to continue to maintain a steady stream of bookings.

[maddog1981]

It could always be as simple as a higher up at the venue got a bug up their ass and didn't want wrestling there anymore. That's happened plenty of places.

[MT]

Jul 17, 2014 19:09:43 GMT -4 maddog1981 said:

It could always be as simple as a higher up at the venue got a bug up their ass and didn't want wrestling there anymore. That's happened plenty of places.

Or TNA grossly overpaid and set a new expectation for what a wrestling company will pay. Could have even signed a deal with them that they'd pay "x" dollars but no other company could run there for less. Again, I hate to speculate and I have none of the details but I put nothing shady past that company. In fact I've come to expect it of them.

[guiltyparty]

Jul 17, 2014 19:06:51 GMT -4 MT said:

They don't even have television in the New York market..

This right here, this is ROH's biggest problem. Say what you will about TNA, but they are on basic cable and have a true national footprint. ROH is only in two of the top twenty media markets, and have no means to expand their tv on their own.

[Deleted]

Jul 17, 2014 19:18:14 GMT -4 MT said:

Jul 17, 2014 19:09:43 GMT -4 maddog1981 said:

It could always be as simple as a higher up at the venue got a bug up their ass and didn't want wrestling there anymore. That's happened plenty of places.

Or TNA grossly overpaid and set a new expectation for what a wrestling company will pay. Could have even signed a deal with them that they'd pay "x" dollars but no other company could run there for less. Again, I hate to speculate and I have none of the details but I put nothing shady past that company. In fact I've come to expect it of them.

I read that Eminem's group paid a shit ton for Hammerstein to run a rap battle PPV there last weekend. Maybe that's part of the problem.