WWE Off-Season
I was just reading through some wrestling sites and came across what I thought was a very bad article such that I wanted to comment. I don't want this whole thing to become too negative, so I won't mention where or who this is from, but just deal with the ideas. The basic proposal is for a WWE off-season. This is an idea I hear floated from time to time, mainly by people who haven't been following wrestling very long.
The idea can be dismissed really quickly. WWE has contracts that guarantee TV rights to UPN and USA, and they would violate those contracts by not providing television programming. Moreover, the loss of PPV, house show and TV revenue would be the difference between the company barely being in the black and being heavily in the red. Fiscally, it makes absolutely no sense and would threaten the financial stability of the company. But okay, let's assume that's not the case. You can violate the contracts without legal recourse, and you won't lose tens of millions of dollars. Then presumably there are some positives to be gained?
Well, the author doesn't really get into what those are, just mentioning Eddie Guerrero and the dangers of keeping wrestlers active. Of course, if the interest is the health of the wrestlers, this wouldn't pass a "narrow tailoring" test. The way to reduce the grind of wrestlers from 24 hour days/7 day weeks is to balance rest throughout the year. Then you don't lose any of the TV or PPVs, and you can give the wrestlers breaks periodically so they can recharge their batteries regularly, rather than kill themselves 10 months and then do nothing.
On top of that, I don’t think wrestlers would even want an offseason under the current pay system. Wrestlers have a downside and then make more the more they work. If the wrestlers all work less, then you either pay them all more and exacerbate the financial peril created by two months of less revenue, or you force them to take less pay “for their own good.” But okay, let’s assume that isn’t a problem, either. Even if you want to give wrestlers extended breaks regardless of the fiscal consequences, you can still fulfill that goal without an offseason. Give wrestlers breaks, and spread those out throughout the year. That would freshen up the card throughout the year, and would allow you to keep a full schedule. There is little harmful impact at any given point. There is more nonsense from there, but bottom line: WWE off-season is a stupid idea.
The idea can be dismissed really quickly. WWE has contracts that guarantee TV rights to UPN and USA, and they would violate those contracts by not providing television programming. Moreover, the loss of PPV, house show and TV revenue would be the difference between the company barely being in the black and being heavily in the red. Fiscally, it makes absolutely no sense and would threaten the financial stability of the company. But okay, let's assume that's not the case. You can violate the contracts without legal recourse, and you won't lose tens of millions of dollars. Then presumably there are some positives to be gained?
Well, the author doesn't really get into what those are, just mentioning Eddie Guerrero and the dangers of keeping wrestlers active. Of course, if the interest is the health of the wrestlers, this wouldn't pass a "narrow tailoring" test. The way to reduce the grind of wrestlers from 24 hour days/7 day weeks is to balance rest throughout the year. Then you don't lose any of the TV or PPVs, and you can give the wrestlers breaks periodically so they can recharge their batteries regularly, rather than kill themselves 10 months and then do nothing.
On top of that, I don’t think wrestlers would even want an offseason under the current pay system. Wrestlers have a downside and then make more the more they work. If the wrestlers all work less, then you either pay them all more and exacerbate the financial peril created by two months of less revenue, or you force them to take less pay “for their own good.” But okay, let’s assume that isn’t a problem, either. Even if you want to give wrestlers extended breaks regardless of the fiscal consequences, you can still fulfill that goal without an offseason. Give wrestlers breaks, and spread those out throughout the year. That would freshen up the card throughout the year, and would allow you to keep a full schedule. There is little harmful impact at any given point. There is more nonsense from there, but bottom line: WWE off-season is a stupid idea.
posted by Todd Martin at 6:30 PM
5 Comments:
Todd,solid post.....while an off season IS impossible,maybe a two team rotation for each brand can work. Fact is the WWE has far too many workers and not enough TV time for them all.
Why not rotate them....if Smackdown has 70 workers,why not have 35 do shows for 3 months and then take 3 months off? It might make it a bit hard on the writers but at least the wrestlers get a chance to heal and rest..
Michael
www.thehereandthere.net
Just wanted you to know that I religiously (i.e., like 30 times a day) visit wrestlingobserver.com and am pleased that you've started a blog (way to sell out like the rest of us)! It's reassuring to know that there are halfway intelligent people out there writing about wrestling, and I look forward to reading your future posts. Also, as a grad student, I welcome reading any rants about school -- Lord knows I empathize. :)
Take care~
Jackie
Man, they'll just let anyone have a blog nowadays, won't they?
Good stuff. Why do you want to waste all this ability on law and not on becoming a writer? The WWE could use one. :)
I agree with you about the WWE off season idea. It's just not practical. It should be interesting to see how the drug policy affects the roster. I read your RAW report on WO all the time. I usually write about joshi puroresu and have started a blog as well.
http://frankp316.blogspot.com/
Welcome to the blogosphere, Todd. I've been waiting for some more wrestling pundits to start blogging - in fact, I've decided to do more of it myself in the wake of Eddie's death.
The offseason shouldn't even be mentioned as rational. I guess they think these are the 50s and 60s, where wrestlers could play football while they aren't wrestling. Right.
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