Are TNA Throwing Away Money?

[Savior with faith 101]

Ive been thinking, since watching last thursdays TNA Impact that they just seem to waste a huge amount of money seemingly on a weekly basis on several different costs:

Roster size: TNA currently have a roster of 42 active male wrestlers. They have one 2 hour show a week and one 3 hour PPV a month. For the amount of TV time that they actually have this seems to be a very large roster. Now while many of the wrestlers may be on heavily bonused contracts based on appearences, i would imagine that everyone has some kind of basic wage on their contract. This means even if 25 men appear on Impact then you are still paying 17 men to sit backstage and just watch the show.

While i understand you need some people to cover for injuries/people leaving etc, there is still a limit to the amount of people you do need. When you look at the likes of Tommy Dreamer, Brother Devon, Murphy, Okato and Anarquia, they really dont seem to have anything to offer TNA long term and arnt really doing anything worth paying them for now. People like that could just be cut from the roster, no one would really notice and they would save themselves some bucks right there.

Pointless Segments Stings destruction of Mr Andersons car this week was another good example of just throwing away money. Im guessing they wernt given that car for free, its something we have seen a million times before, and really they could have just got the same heat with Sting calling out Anderson to the ring and just cutting out the talk of the car. Wouldve given them a good 5-6minutes extra to showcase some of their wrestling matches. Last week they had the Jarrett/Angle segment where Karen got covered in "crap." All these segments cost money to set up and if they didnt do them seemingly every week then they would be far more effective.

Too many people in charge So theres Hulk, Bischoff, Dixie (who hasnt been on tv for a while) The network and now apparently Sting has the ability to name his own opponents. Now yes the Hogan/Dixie power struggle was fun for a few weeks, but TNA again has used the power struggle far too many times. All that leaves is 4 or 5 people getting paid to do the same job. Yes Dixie will be paid for being President, but im sure she was getting extra while on TV. I cant see Hogan and Bischoff being on small contracts and eventually there will probably be a physical representation of The Network. Have someone win the right to be in control and cut whoever else isnt involved (hopefully Hulk will be first to go)

Now dont get me wrong, i really want TNA to succeed and i am one of the people who genuinly believes they will eventually, they do have alot of good young talent, unfortunatly their being drowned out by an excess of wrestlers fighting for the same spot and certain talents taking up far too much tv time backstage.

So if you were put in financial charge of TNA:

how would you go about solving their apparent financial burdons which have been reported?

and how would you reallocate money to make the company more profitable?

 

[Zeven_Zion]

We don't know anything about TNA's finances. Private company. You can assume a thousand things, and all of them might (and probably will be) wrong. It's so weird to me when FANS start "solving" financial problems for companies. Not only are we bookers, but now we can do TNA's budget without knowing ONE certain thing about their money?

Feel free to assume and stroke yourselves thinking you know something. I'll sit back and refrain from saying anything. How can you have a serious discussion about money and numbers when you don't know the facts?

Throwing money away or not throwing money away, TNA is alive right now and that's a huge thing for TNA to be alive. It's like a deathly ill person, really. Might die tomorrow for all you know, but you'd have the chance to do so many exciting thing if he/she gets better.

 

[93178]

Also remember that a lot of the TNA wrestlers that are not in the Main Events or being paid by SpikeTV are paid per appearance. So if they are not used, TNA is not paying them. Also as Zenen pointed out, we don't know wtf each person on their roster is getting paid or how much money TNA is brining in.

 

[wrestlemaniac]

also...don't forget about house shows..if they're not used on tv, they surely end up getting used at house shows. I know that was the case last year

 

[kobrad]

Okay now that the other guy before me said what i wanted to about the financial part! I will go on to talk about something i think is just as important!

Okay let me paint you a picture here, pretend they had 25 guys under contract total! Okay and lets say that a couple get injured and some are burnt out after performing for that many weeks in a row where do you turn? To the guys in the back that "aren't doing anything". The guys in the back are some of the most important guys in wrestling it is just like being a jobber to me because they have such an important and vital role that they are needed! If you dont have a bigger roster than you cant do things like a Battle Royal unless you put every guy in there and then have them wrestle another match in the night. The idea that TNA needs less guy is not realistic, but i think that a 40+ man roster is needed in any Wrestling company! Look at WWE they have so many guys they hardly use but when it comes Rumble time they need them! It is the same way for TNA yes they only have one show but 40 is a good number!

 

[Savior with faith 101]

Wow guys, chill out, its no different to fantasy football or sitting round trying to work out whose going to be the next big thing in Wrestling. Just trying to start a discussion based on whats reported. If you dont want to discuss it fair enough but take a chill pill.

Yes we dont know exact numbers, but that doesnt mean people cant have an opinion based on common sense. Some people may agree with points, some people may not, but that doesnt mean you should just go out and say "DONT EVER DISCUSS ANYTHING WITHOUT KNOWING EXACT FACTS AND FIGURES!!!" Christ if you did have discussion based on pure facts these forums would probably be empty...

 

[He's Phenomenal]

I would assume TNA are making money. Companies that don't make money are not usually in business. Their house show attendances have gone up over the last year or so and I would assume they make a good bit of money from those? They have some huge stars on their roster now so merchandise sales are probably pretty good? They have a regular TV show and produce monthly PPVs so that would bring them in quite a bit of dough as well. They have International TV deals, something that would also make them money. So all in all, I would assume their finances are pretty good.

Regarding the size of the TNA roster and spending too much money on it: I read an interview with Stevie Richards the other day and judging by what he said, if you’re not being used in TNA, you don’t get paid a penny. As for the ‘easy releases’ you listed, how can you release Anarquia? He only debuted about a month ago and is currently involved in Mexican America. Therefore he’s a semi-important part of the show. And if every guy was released because they didn’t become a bonafied main eventer in their first month with the company, there would be no wrestlers left.

If TNA didn’t spend money on the ‘pointless segments’, it would be plain, boring, flat and just like WWE is these days. What was the point in spending all that money letting Austin soak McMahon with beer? Because it was fun to watch and enhanced the story between the two. Just like Karen Jarrett getting covered in shit was hilarious and set up the chance for Angle to tell Karen she will be in more shit when "Miss Angle" turns up. Without these ‘pointless segments’ there’s no development to a story. Just seeing guys talk trash and wrestle isn’t enough for an intense feud IMO.

Regarding the Hulkster, he has brought more publicity to TNA than any other name in the wrestling World could have. So I would assume TNA officials see that as money well spent.

 

[AntiChristDeicide]

Everything that i was about to say has been said.

1.We don't know the financials of TNA, so we can't assume they are throwing away money.
2. Most of their talents are paid per appearance, so if they are not used on tv they don't get paid but since they can work elsewhere (except WWE) they still can make money.
3. When they do house shows they get the money from ticket and merch sales, so they make money this way.
4. I bet they get money from the people that go to universal studio's theme park (where the Impact Zone is located).

So in closing i wouldn't say TNA is throwing away money, are they making more money that we think they are? Maybe.

 

[Gman35]

You gotta remember. TNA will sign their wrestlers to say a three year deal, but they are usually only guaraunteed to be on T.V. for 1 year. They also sign some guys to only show up on a certain amount of days and if they go over that, they get paid more money. That is just the way TNA is working at the moment

 

[billm75]

Pointless Segments Stings destruction of Mr Andersons car this week was another good example of just throwing away money. Im guessing they wernt given that car for free, its something we have seen a million times before, and really they could have just got the same heat with Sting calling out Anderson to the ring and just cutting out the talk of the car. Wouldve given them a good 5-6minutes extra to showcase some of their wrestling matches. Last week they had the Jarrett/Angle segment where Karen got covered in "crap." All these segments cost money to set up and if they didnt do them seemingly every week then they would be far more effective.

These kinds of things are write offs on their taxes. It's money out of pocket now and they get it back from the Government.

Otherwise, I agree about the roster size, except, I think I heard that they pay per appearance. Which means, if they don't appear, they don't get paid.

 

[Victor1111]

Just like we can't assume they are doing bad all these TNA marks can't assume they are doing good like saying "oh the merchandise at house Shows." & Blah Blah Blah.

The fact is rating have been continually going on a down ward spiral.
There PPV's have incredibly low numbers.
Promotion wise they HELP the WWE more than harm them. In almost every show the try shoot on WWE in every show.

If a big named WWE superstar goes to TNA he wins the World Title in less than a month which in my mind just make the competion look easier there.

For TNA to go back on the right track, they need to learn from there mistakes. I would write more but I feel very lazy.

 

[rondiesel2005]

I think the problem TNA is having right now is what's going on backstage. I can't speak on the financial situation, but I remember there are times when am looking at the roster and saying why he there or why he not being used. For example with Rhino. I am like why isn't he being used and the only way them wrestlers get payed is if they are use in storylines and being on television. Rhino been in TNA for a long time and it took them that long just to release him instead of turning him heel then let him go.

we can say that they spend a lot of money bringing in Hulk Hogan for ratings purposes and to bring in more recognition to the brand and also to bring more fans. Look at the ratings right now, and it was Hogan that said that they were going to bring the ratings up to 3.0 and look what they got when they move to Mondays and look where the ratings are right now. They bring back Scott Steiner for ratings purposes, but still its not helping. We don't know if they are wasting money because if they are, then they would say TNA is broke. If anybody was to ask Hogan or bischoff, I am sure they not going to give you a straight answer

 

[burnout4200]

Most things have already been said so I'll just leave all the roster stuff alone.

Here's one thing you might not realize though. I'd bet money that TNA got PAID to destroy that car. It's considered a well placed advertisement, especially since Mr. Anderson seemed to love it so much. WWE got paid for using Takers bikes back in the day, and they most likely get paid for putting Del Rio's cars on television now. Odds are, advertising that way is significantly cheaper than paying for commercials, and thanks to ratings they know how many people their advertisement will reach.

I doubt a manure company paid TNA to use their shit, but my point still stands lol. Little stuff like that can't cost all that much.

 

[famous]

Every one of you is missing the OP's point, this thread was just an overly convoluted way to say they wish Hulk Hogan wasn't in TNA. That is the hidden agenda of everyone who makes an anti-TNA post, and even a few pro-TNA ones... but the bottom line is that as a private company no one besides Dixie, EB, and the other producers/execs (of which Hogan is not) know the finances, deal with the finances, or for that matter really care about the finances. Talent is there to get paid meaning any of that money getting thrown away that they can get they will take. It's simple really guys.

 

[shattered dreams]

I thought people could not get any dumber or desperate to "prove" TNA was going out of business tomorrow. Apparently I was wrong. This OP may have inspired me to write a research paper on reverse evolution in the IWC. Anyway, in all seriousness how much do you think it costs to pour mud on someone or replace the windows of a car? How the fuck could that be relevant to the bottom line in a company the size of TNA?

 

[Lucid]

Dirt costs a lot guys! and water...and a bucket....and..ok.
I have no idea if TNA is throwing money away, but I am fairly certain a bucket of mud or two isn't putting anyone in the poorhouse.
I think TNA might need to worry about things aside from how many buckets of mud they're slinging.
Still, though, it remains to be seen if certain recent talent hiring practices are actually paying dividends.

 

[neilphipps]

ok I'm gonna take this as fantasy wrestling & I'm running TNA, first thing I'd do to save money is cut the roster down to around 30 male wrestlers.
Guys like Robbie E, Suicide, the green hornet sidekick guy, rob terry, etc.

I'd also cut ppv's down maybe only having 5-6 ppv's a year, I feel like 12 ppv's a year are just killing longterm fueds & storylines. We gotta have good build up in between ppv's to make things heat up.

Focus on the main talent for now getting the core guys in major storylines & main events, AJ, Joe, Daniels, RVD, Anderson, Pope, etc. No disrespect to Sting he's a true icon in pro wrestling & will always be loved but TNA has to find a way to get him out of being an in-ring talent & get him behind the scenes helping the younger guys get ready for their push to the top.

By saving money on roster cuts TNA needs to start taking iMPACT on the road more often when they were in north carolina couple months back it had a totally different feel to it, they gotta get away from orlando, & I feel they are slowly making steps toward that direction.

 

[Rayne]

Threads like this are why I drink.

First off, it is entirely possible to estimate the health of a company without having exact information on their finances. There is an entire professional class devoted to doing this, they are called "business analysts" or "stock analysts" if they specifically examine a company's stock. Companies like Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Goldmann Sachs hire absolute shitloads of business analysts, so they can have an idea (and often a very good one, especially in the case of Goldmann Sachs) of how a given business will perform. So seriously, enough with this "you don't have the exact figures, so how could you know" crap. There are those of us out there with the brains enough to follow the money.

Second, OP, you have absolutely no idea where the major expenses for a professional wrestling company would come from. Busting up a car is a $10,000 proposition if you're lazy, maybe $1,000 if you can get a nice body. The real expenses come from major talent acquisitions (your Hogans and Hardys, who had career options and leverage at the time of their signing), advertising, and production, especially live production (which includes renting arenas, hiring a stage crew, purchasing/renting the trucks to move the equipment you need to buy, etc.) Major income comes from their television deal with Spike, in-show advertising (the cut they get from Spike for out-of-show advertising isn't much, product placement is far more profitable for TNA), and merchandising at live shows, where people are far more likely to make a purchase then they are online.

The reason people can still question TNA's long-term outlook (and I still do) is because I see the major factors for their expenses rising, and I don't see where they're getting any extra income as a result. They haven't moved the ratings, so Spike isn't giving them more money. They aren't touring significantly more, and as merchandise is a factor of ratings (a metric for audience size) multiplied by how many live shows you're doing, they aren't getting significantly more money there.

The people who say that you can't know the exact picture with TNA are right only on a technicality, because it's like that for ANY business. Even a business turning over a massive loss can try to justify it as 'injection funds' (WCW), and they could possibly be right, in the off chance the business in question turns things around. However, there is an entire industry built around risk assessment that, for one reason or another, people here believe doesn't apply to professional wrestling.

 

[Azane]

TNA is throwing away money, but they show amost no signs of being financially poor.
When Hogan, Bischoff, Angle, and other big names start appearing less for financial reasons, you'll know they're cutting back.

Right now TNA isn't managing expenses heavily, so they're probably sitting in the green, they cut alot of corners in production as a rule.

Even if the ratings haven't changed much since Jan 4th, their product has gotten more name value and recognition. Theres no way merchandise hasn't gone up with the names they've signed in the last year, I'm not a huge TNA mark, but they've signed some big names for the Wrasslin' business.

I don't see them managing their budget well, but I also don't see them hurting for cash yet, so assuming someones keeping Dixie in check, they're probably doing fine.

 

[harrythem]

Well pretty much everything's been covered one way or the other to do with the original post so I'm going to say one way that TNA are throwing away the chance to make a bit more money, even though they're making some from it.

To me, apart from the Desmond Wolfe polo shirt from a year or so ago (which was kinda top banana) and the cool style TNA logo shirts, TNA's merchandise is, to me, rather shite. I was watching Impact and saw Anderson wearing his new green t-shirt and I just thought it looked like complete shite....the sort of thing you could get done at your local printing shop with a 4 quid t-shirt from Primark and a fiver on the writing.

I think TNA could really do with someone that could introduce something...cool...to their designs. It seems that they have the same bods who released a job lot of shit T-shirts in WCW.

Merch might be selling but, my god, they could shift a load more with a bit of thought

 

[WZMember####]

Well pretty much everything's been covered one way or the other to do with the original post so I'm going to say one way that TNA are throwing away the chance to make a bit more money, even though they're making some from it.

To me, apart from the Desmond Wolfe polo shirt from a year or so ago (which was kinda top banana) and the cool style TNA logo shirts, TNA's merchandise is, to me, rather shite. I was watching Impact and saw Anderson wearing his new green t-shirt and I just thought it looked like complete shite....the sort of thing you could get done at your local printing shop with a 4 quid t-shirt from Primark and a fiver on the writing.

I think TNA could really do with someone that could introduce something...cool...to their designs. It seems that they have the same bods who released a job lot of shit T-shirts in WCW.

Merch might be selling but, my god, they could shift a load more with a bit of thought

A lot of people seem to like Wolfe's Polo shirt but I for one found that to be a horrible shirt, I would perfer Andersons new shirt over that one. I think thats a case of fans just likeing that style of shirt or maybe what that shirt was suppose to rep (soccer) over the other shirts.

I think TNA's merch is too focused on Jeff Hardy, Sting, RVD and Anderson but in no way do I feel the merch is crappy. I think its awesome that TNA has soo much choice in different styles of shirts and different types of shirts I just wish more people had shirts. But to be fair Mickie James currently has two different TNA shirts. We wouldnt see that in WWE. WWE use to do DIVA shirts with Trish and all but these days not so much. I also thought it was cool when TNA had a Beautiful People shirt in pink for girls and in black for dudes...

*shrugs* And I have brought merch from TNA, WWE, RoH, PWG and other places offline many times and I must say I have got more use out of TNA shirts than I have WWE shirts. The basic TNA logo shirt is pretty cool to just wear anywhere because not many people have a clue what the shirt is.

Anyway, to the subject, I cant say anything not already said obviously but I will say think about where they are. They can do a lot of things in the studios they cant do in normal places and probably do for free or use because someone else is using it in the park.

Also, I believe someone up there talking about cutting the roster like Robbie E...so cut someone just because you hate them? Whatever, but you also said Suicide and Joe's Henchman well now...who is currently playing Suicide? is it Daniels? Kaz? I heard once it was actually the guy who plays the Joes Henchman...sooo...why cut both wrestlers? If they are one in the same? If a guy is playing dual roles and both can be used to further storylines...why would you want to cut?

People complain about TNA not pushing wrestlers all the time but the thing is I think TNA has built this roster to such a point where people are just mad when people dont show up every week. This is the exact reason why WWE started the brand split and people hate the brand split because they think its not needed.

If TNA had a second show the roster of fan faves they have created could be seen more but other wise yes you would have to cut people and then the members of this forum and other forums will be here asking...where is MMG? where is Amazing ReD? Where is Rob Terry? Where is this guy? Where is that guy? Etc etc....

Everyone is a fan of someone you can't just cut them. And remember some of these guys do get used at House Shows that WE NEVER see on TNA TV. And TNA does have a second show where guys like Brian Kendrick, Young and OJ wrestle all the time...but we never see it in america unless you watch online.

I think with every business they are a ton of loopholes that you dont know about as a common fan. Even WWE recently has been running "special thanks to *insert state of blank* or *flim crew of state*" at the bottom during the main event...have you noticed that? Its probably because WWE is using local things to cut cost. TNA most likely does the same thing.

And ofcourse, we have no clue who is TRUELY in charge. Anyone can read a report about oh, a TNA guy said Hogan told him to do this...but a different report said EB told him to do this...and a different report said he was told to do things by Vince Russo...well...in WWE Micheal Hayes, and other Smackdown and Raw writers telling people what to do. Backstage they are a ton of people telling wrestlers what to do, when to do it and how to do it.

 

[whoopin' ass]

yes they are but the bigger question is "are they throwing away too much money?" you have to spend a few dollars to look like an alternative to wwe. compare ring of honor to tna/wwe (or ewc to wwf/wcw) - on first impressions, 2 of those shows look big while one is lacking. and remember, you are seeing a tv show. you can't have the same 12 guys on tv all the time or people will get bored with it real quick. could they spend the money better? sure. are they going to? probably not.

 

[deforty]

Are they spending money? Well since Jan 4th, I would say they are spending a hell of alot of money. Don't know if it's been all that good or not. I do think that they are trying to get things set up for more shows on the road, which means in most cases money being spent. I know the shows are free to the paying customer at Universal studios on show days, neither you or I know the specifics of that contract, but lets just say it could be either one of a few ways that they get compensated for using the Ignorant Zone.

1. On taping days they get 5.00 off of every admission purchased for that day, and $20 off of the tickets purchased 30 minutes before taping starts until taping is over to make sure that they are getting their money. I don't know about the number of people going in and out of Universal Studios (owned by NBC, which airs WWE) but lets use for example purposes 1200 showed up on the first taping day 300 of which are season ticket holders, who knows some of these purchases TNA gets a cut of too we don't know. So we have 900 people that purchased tickets on the spot that day. 800 of which since the park opened which translates into what $4000. 100 at taping time which equals what $2000. Plus you still have the other 300 which we have yet to figure into this picture. So for one day of taping they get what 6K just off of this example, this does not include that they might have built into the contract that they get some money on days that they do not tape as they could have a store their to sell shirts all the time and have a small attraction for people to look at. So they might get an additional $2 per ticket on days that they don't have a show. at 1200 per day admission that would be an additional 2400 per day. They could also get more money when they do a PPV also.

None of us know and my understanding is that their show in other areas of the world does better numbers than WWE so they could and are making money off of that too.

 

[marker]

The old saying goes: "you need to spend money, to make money". So, TNA may seem to spend a lot of money now. They hired big names, they try to go out of impact zone more often, etc. But we really don't know what profit does TNA make. So it is very difficult to speculate about their spendings and earnings. Maybe they spend a lot, but they earn more than they used to.

 

[AntiChristDeicide]

The old saying goes: "you need to spend money, to make money". So, TNA may seem to spend a lot of money now. They hired big names, they try to go out of impact zone more often, etc. But we really don't know what profit does TNA make. So it is very difficult to speculate about their spendings and earnings. Maybe they spend a lot, but they earn more than they used to.

True, since we don't know the particulars of their financial status its hard for us to say if they are spending too much money. I guess the big names they (TNA) signed do not come cheap, but if they are not on tv every week they get paid less so thats not really a problem. They get money from house shows and merch sales so thats good. They get money from PPV buys( we don't know the number of buys but at 50$ i bet they make decent money). As for when they tape at the Impact-Zone, well since they are in Universal Studio's theme park i think they get half the money from ticket sales there and still get money from merch sales there.