Posted on Sep 8, 2004                         <<BACK TO NEWSBOARD By Anthony DeBlasi                                              <<BACK TO 3e6r.net

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WWE Up $3.4 Million, Down $45 Million (Our Analysis); Brooke Hogan On Monday Night Football; Randy Orton Article      GOOD NEWS / BAD NEWS TODAY FOR WWE FINANCE First the good news. WWE issued a press release earlier announcing that their "Return of the Deadman Tour" in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, Australia, at the end of August broke box office records while grossing more than $3.4 million (US) in three sold out events. Now the bad news. Within 2 business days, WWE stock is down 8%. It doesn't sound like much. But if you remember Vince receiving $4.1 million for the .06 cent dividend issued. With the stock down close to .65, well do the math. He has lost close to $45 million in 2 days. Here's what I found which may lead to why the drop. This past Friday, WWE released financial comparisons of business from First Quarter of 2003 to 2004. And some of what I found is interesting. And remember, this is just our analysis of these financial facts released by WWE. We are not professional analysts and don't pretend to be: WWE generated $200,000 less in revenue for Live Events Revenue for period ending July 30, 2004 compared to July 30, 2003. And that is despite that they had 5 more events in 2004 and ticket prices actually increased in 2004 ($45 compared to $40). Average attendance dropped an average of 800 per show even with the overseas shows. Here's one scary example. If ticket prices didn't increase in 2004, you would take away $5.12 for every paid ticket. Since WWE had 89 events averaging 4400 per show, that comes out to 381, 600 paid fans. Multiply $5.12 by 384,600 and WWE would be down close to $20 Million. Here are some additional points. - Advertising revenue was down almost 35% - Ratings for Raw & Smackdown were down 5% & 6%. - The average ticket price for an overseas WWE event was $72 - The average ticket price for a US WWE event was $37. WWE had four PPV's for period ending July 30, 2004. However, they only had two for the same fiscal period ending in 2003. The total PPV revenue for 2004 was $16.9 Million, 2003 was $13.8 Million. However, for 2004 that averages to $4.25 Million per PPV, compared to $6.9 Million for 2003. Merchandise was up by primarily due to home video releases, which was $5.7 Million in 2004 compared to $2.5 Million in 2003. However, Wrestlemania XX was included in this quarter for 2004. Other items included was the Chris Benoit DVD & Backlash 2004. There are many other financials notes which can be made. Just one example is the number of Main Event superstars no longer in WWE compared to last year (Austin, Goldberg, Lesnar, even Foley, Rock, etc). I just wanted to post what caught my eye especially. With ticket prices not expected to increase in the future,  it is very easy for WWE to take a substantial drop in revenue. BROOKE HOGAN SINGING ON MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL Brooke Hogan will be singing the national anthem at the 11/1 Monday Night Football game between the New York Jets vs. Miami Dolphins. And with Brooke singing the anthem, father Hulk may make a TV appearance as well.   St Louis Post Dispatch printed a very good read on Randy Orton. Besides going into Orton, his family, and promising future, there are some interesting comments from him as well as Jim Ross. Here's a portion of the article: St. Louis' "Legend Killer" is King of Pro Wrestling World Wrestling Entertainment champion Randy Orton applies a headlock to challenger Chris Benoit in Orton's first title defense on Aug. 16. The St. Charles resident successfully defended the belt a day after winning it at SummerSlam, a pay-per-view event. At age 24, St. Charles resident Randy Orton has reached the pinnacle of the professional wrestling world. Orton, a World Wrestling Entertainment superstar, became the WWE's youngest-ever heavyweight champion when he defeated Chris Benoit at SummerSlam last month. When he's introduced as heavyweight king, the announcer reminds the world that the "Legend Killer" is "from St. Louis, Missouri." The graduate of Hazelwood Central High School was born in Knoxville, Tenn., but has lived in the St. Louis area since he was in the first grade. "I represent St. Louis," Orton said. "I'm proud to live here. I say where I'm from all the time." Orton combines exceptional athletic ability, technical wrestling skills, charisma and a great "look," to create one of the most complete packages in professional wrestling. Jim Ross, the WWE's senior vice president of talent relations, considers signing Orton at age 19 one of his finest accomplishments. "Randy's future is potentially as viable as any athlete we have ever had in the WWE," said Ross. "Time will tell, but if Randy can avoid the injury bug and continue to make the right choices outside the ring, he could end up as the most prolific superstar in the long history of the WWE." There are countless benefits to being young, rich and increasingly famous. Since becoming champion, Orton said, he is recognized more often in public. He expects to appear on the Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel TV talk shows as well as Comedy Central's "The Man Show." He will headline the WWE's next pay-per-view event, "Unforgiven," on Sunday. Alhough Orton's ring character is arrogant and perhaps a bit smug, he's not like that in real life. He is surprised that so much has happened so fast in his 4 1/2 years of wrestling. "I accept it," he said, "but I'll never be used to it. It bewilders me that people want my autograph." CLICK HERE to read the rest of the article.   Thanks for reading. Anthony DeBlasi 3e6r.net Webmaster