Impact's top priority is to leave the IMPACT Zone and tape on the road permanently

[Pepe Silvia]

CRegal23 Chris Regal
@TNADixie How soon can we expect Impact to go on the road permanently and/or go live? Is it even being discussed as an option?

It is our top priority to take the show on the road on a permanent basis. Hopefully we will announce more live event Impact taping dates soon.

http://www.impactwrestling.com/news...-Dixie-Carter-Answers-Questions-From-The-Fans

You pretty much don't have to read the rest of the interview to learn anything else, the only semi-notable piece of information is this

IAmF7 F7
@TNADixie What is Bruce Prichard's role in regards to the creative direction of the product?

Bruce is Sr VP of Programming and Talent Relations. He oversees the creative of Impact and reports directly to me.

 

[hatehabsforever]

I think that should actually be iMPACT's second priority, as leaving the iMPACT zone and venturing into new arenas has been proven to be very important and has breathed new life into the shows which have been filmed on the road.

I think their top priority has to be going live on a permanent basis. Granted, as Dixie mentions, that's expensive and frankly I don't think they can afford it at this time. But iMPACT Wrestling will never move to the next level as long as it is prerecorded and ultimately spoiled. How great would recent episodes have been if Storm winning the belt against Angle, then later dropping it to a heel turning Roode, have been had they not been spoiled? You can talk all you want about avoiding spoilers, but that's not realistic. And as long as they exist, they will detract from TNA.

 

[Gelgarin]

Going live would be the stupidest thing TNA could ever consider doing at the moment.

 

[hatehabsforever]

Going live would be the stupidest thing TNA could ever consider doing at the moment.

Apart from the financial implications of such a thing, which I conceded in my post and Dixie addresses in her responses, why would going live be so stupid? Granted, it's a hypothetical wish which likely will never happen, but I don't think leaving the iMPACT zone on a permanent basis is particularly affordable at the moment, and so by these standards, would be equally stupid to suggest. Live programming beats pre taped, it's as simple as that. I know they can't afford it, but this was purely a hypothetical.

 

[Gelgarin]

Because they can't afford it... that's the start and the end of the discussion.

Smackdown, the show that draws a considerably higher rating, larger live crowds and is backed up by the financial behemoth of the WWE can't afford to consider going live, and couldn't afford to consider doing so even when it was performing far in excess of its current standards. Live TV is extremely expensive to produce, and the likelihood of Impact being in a financial position to start doing so in the next half decade is extremely low. Priorities are supposed to be realistic, not stupid whims of poorly thought out fantasy.

Personally I'm not in favour of leaving the Impact zone, but the fact that TNA are starting to do so more and more frequently shows pretty clearly that it is financially viable for them to do so. Going live on a nightly basis in contrast is just dumb.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Where is the additional cost of a live event compared to a taped event?

 

[Gelgarin]

No idea; but it's significant enough to keep Smackdown running a pre-taped model according the JR.

 

[The Man They Call WMD]

Because they can't afford it... that's the start and the end of the discussion.

How do you know that they can't afford it?

 

[Gelgarin]

Because I possess these remarkable talents known as the ability to read and think.

Dixie Carter: I would love Impact to be live each week, but it's a matter of economics.

Jim Ross: I don't ever see Friday Night Smackdown going live, full time IE weekly. It might happen occasionally but it isn't cost effective.

It's not hard.

 

[Remix]

No idea; but it's significant enough to keep Smackdown running a pre-taped model according the JR.

I think that WWE could afford to take SD live on Tuesdays consistently, but not Fridays. If WWE could negotiate a deal with SyFy that gets them more money (Live SDs have gotten higher ratings than taped ones), they probably will do that in the fairly near future. I believe that a big part of what keeps SD taped would be getting the stuff there on Friday is a hell of a lot more expensive than having it there on Tuesday (since the trucks are already there for Raw and PPVs (if there's one that week).

Of course I'm not exactly privy to the cost of putting on a wrestlign show so I may be completely wrong there.

 

[ABMorales787]

Major crowds should be a far more important thing to deal with than live TV. I think Smackdown can toast to that one. Not to mention how Impact live wasn't anything major last year.

 

[shattered dreams]

I do not understand why people claim it is impossible to avoid spoilers. There are some disadvantages to live shows as well when it comes to production values.

 

[hatehabsforever]

I do not understand why people claim it is impossible to avoid spoilers. There are some disadvantages to live shows as well when it comes to production values.

It is impossible to avoid spoilers because there are always jerks who either come on here and purposefully post stuff without spoiler tags, in titles of threads, or they make comments in other threads referencing events which should not be common knowledge yet.

Look at when Storm beat Angle. Some dude started a thread about it, but he clearly marked it as a spoiler in the title. That thread was avoidable. Meanwhile, 2 or 3 guys started new threads which referred to Storm as the new champ in the title, which people saw before the mods could eliminate the threads. Or people spoke about Storm as the new champ while posting in other threads.

Unless you stayed off the forums altogether, these spoilers were unavoidable.

 

[Coco]

Maybe you should stay off the forums altogether.

 

[hatehabsforever]

Come on, we all know you'd miss me too much