ROH Sold!

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Zer0.MediA

Zer0.MediA

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By Ryan Clark | May 21, 2011 | Comments (83)
ROH sent out the following today…

RING OF HONOR ANNOUNCES SALE TO SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP

BRISTOL, PA. (MAY 21, 2011)--Ring of Honor Wrestling owner, Cary Silkin, announced today the sale of the promotion to Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., one of the largest television broadcasters in the country and which owns and operates, programs, or provides sales services to 58 television stations in 35 markets across the United States.


ROH, currently the third largest wrestling promotion in the country, just celebrated its ninth anniversary, and Mr. Silkin is excited about taking the next step towards increasing the company's visibility and expanding its operations.


"We have been waiting for and working for this opportunity for quite some time", he said, "and of our 9 years in business, there has been no better roster of wrestlers than this one to expose the ROH product to the masses. With Sinclair's resources and many avenues of distribution, we believe many new fans around the world will be as captivated as those who have followed Ring of Honor over the years."


The month of September will see the debut of the new Ring of Honor television program which will be syndicated across the Sinclair network of stations, and with it, ROH will become the only wrestling promotion in the United States with a major, multi-market presence on broadcast TV. But if you don't live in a market with a Sinclair station, fear not, says Mr. Silkin. "Through our revamped website we will be able to make the TV show available to anyone in the world with internet access."


Sinclair officials are enthused about the project as well.


"We are very excited about this acquisition," commented Steve Marks, COO of Sinclair's Television Group. "Television and professional wrestling have a long history of successful partnerships and driving viewership.


Unfortunately, the broadcast networks have not protected that relationship, allowing professional wrestling to migrate to cable network distribution. We believe that the powerful promotional platform that our TV stations provide, coupled with our 22% share of the U.S. TV households, will allow ROH to achieve name brand recognition and grow its share of the wrestling market. When you consider the makeup of our station mix and the number of CW, MYTV and FOX affiliates we operate, this is a perfect fit for our viewer demographics." Mr. Marks also noted, "Longer-term, we can envision syndicating ROH wrestling to broadcasters in markets where Sinclair does not have a presence, and even internationally."


Mr. Silkin assures the ROH fans worldwide that they will be seeing the same exciting, hard-hitting style of pro wrestling that they have become accustomed to. "We have established the name Ring of Honor as synonymous with the best in-ring action in the sport. The only thing that will change is that it will now be easier for fans around the world to follow. Our visibility will increase greatly--our production will be upgraded--but the work ethic of our incredible talent roster and our athletic style of wrestling will remain the same. This is what our fans have told us they want, and we will continue to give it to them."


The current front office staff, including Cary Silkin, Syd Eick, and Ross Abrams, will remain with ROH going forward. Hunter Johnston, a favorite of ROH fans for years as the masked grappler Delirious, will still handle matchmaking, Jim Cornette will remain as executive producer, and other familiar faces like ring announcer Bobby Cruise and senior referee Todd Sinclair will be in place."


(More at http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2011/0521/539832/index-2.shtml)
Click to expand...

This is very interesting news...
 
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heyzel

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This sale scares me, Cary sold ROH out right. I have not read anywhere that he will have control over this deal other then remaining with ROH. This brings back memories of when Jim Crockett Promotions was sold. I hope SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP is in this for the long hall and keeping the core of ROH together is most important. but on the other hand I get to watch roh in baltimore
 
Zer0.MediA

Zer0.MediA

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All I know is that as a person who doesn't follow, and pretty much hasn't seen much of it (though I do understand the following and know it has a very good reputation as far as quality wrestling goes), I'm just looking forward to a new option in wrestling on TV. I'm also happy that they've sold to someone that sees a business opportunity in ROH and wrestling in general, and I'm glad they have a few bucks to put into it.

I don't see how anything bad can come of having three pretty drastically different companies competing for viewers and brand loyalty.

As a matter of fact, I wouldn't doubt it if TNA knew about this beforehand, and changed their name to Impact Wrestling more to establish the "wrestling" brand to compete with ROH rather than WWE.
 
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heyzel

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they're officially no longer indie. Just from skimming wiki, Sinclair seems to be somewhat of a fukked up company. But I'll reserve judgment until we see where this goes.

One thing's for sure though, ROH with a solid budget would be a problem. As long as they have the money to keep their top guys from defecting, they'll be good... but they could also now be in a position to lure back their former stars who left for a better payday (Punk, Dragon, Joe)... there are actually a lot of possibilities here.
 
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heyzel

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Eric Bischoff Discusses Impact Wrestling, Sinclair Purchasing ROH, More

Ring of Honor's sale to Sinclair Broadcasting? Bischoff said he will get a lot of heat for saying this, and he has nothing against Ring of Honor and wishes them the best as it is nice for talent to have different places to work. That being said, he says people are kidding themselves. He said Sinclair is like 20 television stations with 22% market penetration in the United States. 22% means you don't exist from an advertiser's point of view. It means Nielsen doesn't track you as a network. From a pay-per-view standpoint, it won't register on the Richter scale and that is assuming they get clearing in 20 television stations. He says it's good that RoH has something. He said people are getting excited for a lot of nothing. The syndicated television market is not what it was 15-20 years ago. People back then used to migrate to Vegas for an executive convention and tens of millions of dollars were spent by syndicators/producers, with bands from around the world brought in. Now, it takes part in a lobby in a hotel in Vegas. He says while syndication is not dead, it's just not what it was 15-20 years ago.


eric bischoff made some good point about this deal
 
Smitty

Smitty

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http://www.wrestlezone.com/editorials/article/exclusive-inside-the-ring-of-honor-deal-130531

Exclusive: Inside The Ring of Honor Deal
by Kevin Kelly
May 27, 2011

Inside the ROH Deal
By Kevin Kelly

When I shook hands with Joe Koff, I finally knew it was real. And even then, I couldn’t believe it. But there was more…

Now with some time to have it digest… this ROH deal… I still don’t believe it. I can’t believe it. Ring of Honor owner Cary Silken sold the company to Sinclair Broadcast Group and Sinclair is going to air a weekly ROH television show starting this fall. They own 58 stations in 35 markets and the show is going to be available to out-of-market viewers on the internet.

But why would a broadcasting company like Sinclair buy Ring of Honor? What’s in it for them? When I shook hands with Joe Koff, the Chief Operating Officer of ROH, the pieces started to come together and a light went on.

You know the feeling when you meet somebody for the first time but you feel like you’ve known them a long time? That’s how I felt when I first saw Joe Koff. Turns out that I never met him before but I know his work. You see, in 1985, the coolest thing I ever saw was the “Battle for the Belts”, a syndicated wrestling special that not only had my favorite Championship Wrestling from Florida stars but also stars from other promotions all across the country. Joe Koff was the Executive Producer of that special and the two that followed as well.

Joe and I followed similar paths in life. Both born in New York, we grew up watching wresting on TV, moved to Florida, fell in love with the wrestling scene down there and then worked toward making a career in wrestling. No career path ever follows a straight line and the same held true for Joe and me.

One big difference? Joe’s a graduate of the University of Miami while I graduated from Florida State. I won’t hold it against him but I will give him points for this year’s game because “the U” ain’t what it “U”sed to be.

So Joe Koff, a lifelong wrestling fan and successful television executive, now heads up Ring of Honor. What’s the first thing he does? He keeps the same people in place who have been effectively running ROH and let them continue to run the show. Smart man…

What will change? Nothing really. The television show will be a new addition and eventually, live events will be run in those new markets. Internet Pay-per-views continue as will DVD releases. Does this mean ROH will start running major arenas in the next 12 months? Absolutely not. Everyone in leadership with Ring of Honor knows that would be a disaster. But, who knows what can happen down the road? I would say the safe bet is fans will find ROH in a number of mid-sized arenas all over the country over the next few years.

What’s the TV show going to look like? A big change is that I’ll be calling the play-by-play. This go-‘round, ROH is going to have a play-by-play announcer who knows how to call wrestling matches, cares about the product and industry and actually gives a f***. While some fans liked the folksy style of Mike Hogewood, he didn’t give a damn about ROH, sounded half-interested at best because he was heavily produced and only had the job because he was best friends with some suit at HDNet.

That said, the HDNet experience bodes well for immediate ROH TV success. The wrestlers had as much as two years of experience competing on TV and with Hunter Johnston and Jim Cornette at the helm of matchmaking, I feel good about September, when the ROH television show will start.

I am sure there will be growing pains and not everything will be perfect. What adjustments will be made as this year moves into next and beyond? Adversity brings out the best from the strong so we’ll see what happens.

It looks like ROH World Champion Eddie Edwards and his American Wolves tag team partner, Davey Richards are on a heavily-anticipated collision course for the World title. Edwards has proven to be tough and resilient as champion but he said to Davey this past Saturday that he needs to face Richards. He needs to know, said Edwards, who is the better man. Davey, who has been virtually unstoppable since coming up short for the gold last December, has trained harder than ever to prepare himself for another title shot.

But along the way, Eddie Edwards shocked the world with his upset victory over Roderick Strong and if Davey Richards would one day fulfill his title destiny, his road to the gold would intersect with his best friend, brother and tag team partner.

So how will Eddie Edwards vs Davey Richards unfold? Much like the new ownership for ROH, I can’t wait to see how this unfolds.
 
Roz

Roz

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Hell yeah. Good for them... maybe they can get the boost they need to pay the wrestlers better, and for better overall production. I think they have a lot of potential as is, but are just lacking a couple things. This might also spread their brand further around the US, and help push some of the up-and coming wrestlers.
 
Smitty

Smitty

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If you never knew before, Kevin Kelly went to Florida State. That's why the Rock always gave him more shit than even Coach.

Kevin Kelly's been doing a great job as the play by play guy for Ring Of Honor. I enjoyed the nostalgia of Mike Hogewood's announcing sometimes, but ROH needs someone more modern like Kelly. He's a WWE experienced play by play guy, and he loves wrestling. Hogewood only had a job because his buddy was a top dog at HDNet.
 
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Darkshowdown

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non of them gonna be able to fuck with wwe in any kind of way unless they have donald trump or warren buffet put some THAT VINCE MCMAHON STATUS paper behind them. but it will be a war between ROH & TNa
 
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