Thought of the Day: TNA Possibly Going Back To Orlando/Some Other Home City
Is best for business.The current word on the street is that TNA is moving back to a home city, most likely Orlando again, to hold most of their TV tapings. A few major shows could be taped on the road. This is without a doubt the right move for TNA for one reason: they can’t afford to stay on the road.
Look at TNA’s business lately. They’ve cut away their PPVs, they’re cutting house shows, they air specials on TV which get slightly higher ratings/audiences than usual, and they’re spending way more money on TV tapings. Translation: spend more, bring in less. For a company like TNA which doesn’t have a ton of sponsors and doesn’t draw huge crowds (see: Glory, Bound For), going on the road this often isn’t a viable plan. People often compare TNA to WCW, but it’s really more like ECW. Think about this for a second.
ECW did most of its shows from one area/city
They never came close to being #1 or #2 (TNA is firmly #2 but only because there isn’t a third major company)
Their TV show is the #1 show on its network, but it doesn’t ever draw many people outside of its core audience
Only after several years of being an underground hit did it start regularly holding TV tapings outside of its base
ECW lasted about a year taping on the road before going back to house shows and syndication where it lasted abut six more months. Now before you ask, no I’m not saying TNA has six months left and no I’m not saying they’re in the same kind of shape as ECW was in 1999/2000. What I’m saying is right now, TNA flat out cannot maintain their status quo or grow nearly at all while doing TV on the road.
In short, they can stay in Orlando/whatever single city they pick and survive at a stable level or they can have a hotter crowd once in awhile and barely be able to afford anything outside of TV. This isn’t a complicated problem.
This is smart by TNA. It needs to happen and truth be told going on the road wasn’t a smart idea to begin with. There was never enough demand to sustain their business in doing so.
It wouldn’t have done so much harm if they booked venues they knew they could fill.
I’m really hoping that new Impact Zone they apparently nabbed holds more than the originals lousy 1,100.
Agreed. The home base taping method isn’t inherently bad, but if it’s a tiny audience of the same people every week, it’ll be the same problems all over again.