Why WWE Are Losing Money On House Shows

Per the Chairman on WWE's Q3 conference call, the company plan on "re-imagining" their live events (h/t: Brandon Howard of Fightful):-

"We know what’s wrong with our live events, and it’s somewhat of a-- I don’t necessarily want to call it [an] antiquated presentation, but we know to fix things. If something’s wrong and you don’t know how to fix things, you’re in trouble. We know how to fix that, and we’ll be re-imagining those live events very, very shortly. We’ll see a pretty good turnaround I think in short order."

What McMahon actually means by this is anyone's guess. He offered no further clarification, so we'll just have to wait to see what, if anything, his promotion will do the stop the rot.

Live event attendances declined by an average of 8.2% domestically and 17.6% abroad. It's too early to call it a crisis, but the company's old tactic of increasing their number of live events to boost revenue in the face of declining attendances isn't working anymore. "Re-imagining" is a necessity, and if Vince does indeed see such events as a performance barometer, it'll now become a priority.

By all accounts, his wrestlers enjoy the house show experience. Though the schedule is gruelling, and the travel punishing, they let performers score a nice, simple payday without the pressure of over-exerting themselves for television. They can cruise through these shows in second gear, preserving their bodies for bigger, more important events, while soaking in the buildings' light-hearted vibes, knowing the crowd just want to see them play the hits.

Unfortunately, this laid-back atmosphere could be part of the problem, and with this aspect of his business barely breaking even in Q3, McMahon may already be enacting changes to that effect.

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