Why did WCW never run the Georgia Dome for a PPV?

[Jindrak Mark]

If they could get over 40,000 for a random Nitro (most of which were sold before they even announced Hogan/Goldberg) imagine the money they could have made with more expensive tickets holding a Starrcade or other major PPV there. At their peak I see no reason they couldn't sell 50-60,000 tickets with a few months of hype. They would easily have blown their all-time PPV attendance records out the water:

1. Slamboree 1999 (DDP v Nash) - 20,516

2. Spring Stampede 1999 (Flair v Hogan v Sting v DDP) - 17,690

3. World War 3 1998 (DDP v Bret) - 17,670

4. Starrcade 1997 (Hogan v Sting) - 17,500

5. World War 3 1997 (60 man battle royal) - 17,128

6. Starrcade 1998 (Goldberg v Nash) - 16,066

7. Uncensored 1999 (Hogan v Flair) - 15,930

8. Superbrawl 1999 (Hogan v Flair) - 15,880

9. Souled Out 2000 (Sid v Benoit) - 14,132

10. Bash at the Beach 1994 (Hogan v Flair) - 14,000


I'm actually a little surprised that DDP technically main evented the 3 most attended WCW PPVs ever. I never would have guessed Slamboree 99 being number one. I thought business was on the downswing by then but Feb-Apr of that year have 4 of the top 10.

[Feyrhausen]

Because beating Raw for a week in the ratings was more important to Erics ego than the millions a PPV brings in.

Eric blew millions because Turner didnt care. Once Turner was out and whoever ran WCW had to answer for the excesses it was sunk.

Can you imagine Vince giving up PPV ticket money just so he could go to a biker rally?

[Lizuka #BLM]

WCW was pretty much never good at, like, business.

[Aceorton]

The WWF, in one of its more difficult periods ever, had 60,000+ (heavy on comps, but still) at the Alamodome for the 1997 Royal Rumble. This was at a time when WCW was absolutely on fire. There's really no reason why Bischoff couldn't have held multiple PPV stadium shows with 50,000-plus people in 1997-98.

[Jindrak Mark]

Jan 6, 2022 14:30:19 GMT -5 Aceorton said:

The WWF, in one of its more difficult periods ever, had 60,000+ (heavy on comps, but still) at the Alamodome for the 1997 Royal Rumble. This was at a time when WCW was absolutely on fire. There's really no reason why Bischoff couldn't have held multiple PPV stadium shows with 50,000-plus people in 1997-98.

Like WWE right now isn't exactly on fire but this year alone they're going to have multiple PPVs with higher attendance than WCW's biggest ever. In a few weeks the Royal Rumble will have around 30,000 people. Both nights of Wrestlemania will probably have at least 50,000 each. Money in the Bank and Summerslam are both in stadiums. The Saudi shows. There's rumors of a stadium show in the UK too later in the year. That's tens of millions of dollars in revenue from just 6-8 shows.

I think it really does have to simply be a case of them caring a lot more about TV than PPV because they made some truly baffling decisions. Souled Out 98 for instance took place in a tiny arena in Ohio with less than 5 and a half thousand people yet it was coming off their biggest show ever the previous months and had big matches like Bret's first WCW match v Flair and Nash v Giant after months of hype. Then there's Halloween Havoc later that year. One of the most stacked cards in wrestling history (Goldberg v DDP, Hogan v Warrior, Bret v Sting, Nash v Hall, Steiner v Steiner) and they only got a little over 10,000 into the MGM Grand. WWE and AEW would probably do more than that for a regular PPV these days.

[Vice honcho room temperature]

I will say if you can get a ticket for 10 in a dome you won't be paying 30 on PPV

[salz4life]

It's funny.... Conrad and Schiavone did the 1/4/99 Nitro and I was thinking about this. I think the others hit the nail on the head. Bischoff seemed to care more about the TV ratings than PPV.

[evilone]

Bigger attendance meant bigger Hogan pay right?

[James Fabiano]

Let's say it .

Because WCW

[David-Arquette was in WCW 2000]

Because Eric never gave a shit about PPV.

[Mozenrath]

A lot of it was twisted priorities, as others have said, but some of it was also that WCW, even before Bischoff's reign, was constantly chasing Chicago and other more "cosmopolitan" cities and seemed embarrassed of its Southern base at times, which did not go entirely unnoticed, biting them in the ass sometimes.

Hell, it was one of the key factors in the formation of Smokey Mountain Wrestling, Cornette noticing WCW leaving money on the table, trying to chase Northern or West Coast audiences.

[The Thread Barbi]

Jan 6, 2022 14:14:08 GMT -5 Feyrhausen said:

Because beating Raw for a week in the ratings was more important to Erics ego than the millions a PPV brings in.

Eric blew millions because Turner didnt care. Once Turner was out and whoever ran WCW had to answer for the excesses it was sunk.

Can you imagine Vince giving up PPV ticket money just so he could go to a biker rally?

I'll try and dig it up but Jim Ross clarified on his podcast this was absolutely not Eric's decision. The business model was not PPV based with TV thrown in like WWE's at the time.

The masters at Turner wanted the rating as they had modelled a TV show in the form of wrestling.

JR says Tony Khan and AEW have the same decree from TNT, so clearly sees why WCW did what they did in prioritising TV over PPV.

[ianriccaboni]

I think there's an even simpler starting point: the Georgia Dome was occupied most Saturdays and Sundays in the fall for football when their bigger slate of PPVs (Fall Brawl, Havoc, WWIII, and Starrcade) were.

[Feyrhausen]

Jan 7, 2022 7:49:24 GMT -5 The Thread Barbi said:

Jan 6, 2022 14:14:08 GMT -5 Feyrhausen said:

Because beating Raw for a week in the ratings was more important to Erics ego than the millions a PPV brings in.

Eric blew millions because Turner didnt care. Once Turner was out and whoever ran WCW had to answer for the excesses it was sunk.

Can you imagine Vince giving up PPV ticket money just so he could go to a biker rally?

I'll try and dig it up but Jim Ross clarified on his podcast this was absolutely not Eric's decision. The business model was not PPV based with TV thrown in like WWE's at the time.

The masters at Turner wanted the rating as they had modelled a TV show in the form of wrestling.

JR says Tony Khan and AEW have the same decree from TNT, so clearly sees why WCW did what they did in prioritising TV over PPV.

That excuses things like giving away Hogan and Goldberg on free TV. It does not excuse things like Road Wild. If you are shelling out the cash to do a show why would.you ever give away the live gate money? Oh so you can go to a biker rally on the companies dime.

They could have still made PPVs a profitable part of the company while still prioritizing TV. When AOL cancelled them their ratings were still respectable. If their company had been in better financial shape another network may have taken a chance on them.

[tafkaga]

Jan 7, 2022 7:49:24 GMT -5 The Thread Barbi said:

Jan 6, 2022 14:14:08 GMT -5 Feyrhausen said:

Because beating Raw for a week in the ratings was more important to Erics ego than the millions a PPV brings in.

Eric blew millions because Turner didnt care. Once Turner was out and whoever ran WCW had to answer for the excesses it was sunk.

Can you imagine Vince giving up PPV ticket money just so he could go to a biker rally?

I'll try and dig it up but Jim Ross clarified on his podcast this was absolutely not Eric's decision. The business model was not PPV based with TV thrown in like WWE's at the time.

The masters at Turner wanted the rating as they had modelled a TV show in the form of wrestling.

JR says Tony Khan and AEW have the same decree from TNT, so clearly sees why WCW did what they did in prioritising TV over PPV.

I heard someone other than JR talking about this, but I can't remember who.  They said WCW was basically run like a television program and other considerations were secondary.  

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

I think it just boils down to being difficult to book stadiums on a Sunday. WWF was guilty of this too in the late 90’s, occasionally running TV at stadiums but almost never doing PPV in a stadium.

[The Thread Barbi]

Jan 7, 2022 8:30:21 GMT -5 Feyrhausen said:

Jan 7, 2022 7:49:24 GMT -5 The Thread Barbi said:

I'll try and dig it up but Jim Ross clarified on his podcast this was absolutely not Eric's decision. The business model was not PPV based with TV thrown in like WWE's at the time.

The masters at Turner wanted the rating as they had modelled a TV show in the form of wrestling.

JR says Tony Khan and AEW have the same decree from TNT, so clearly sees why WCW did what they did in prioritising TV over PPV.

That excuses things like giving away Hogan and Goldberg on free TV. It does not excuse things like Road Wild. If you are shelling out the cash to do a show why would.you ever give away the live gate money? Oh so you can go to a biker rally on the companies dime.

They could have still made PPVs a profitable part of the company while still prioritizing TV. When AOL cancelled them their ratings were still respectable. If their company had been in better financial shape another network may have taken a chance on them.

Oh absolutely. Easy E needed to be reigned in early on by Turner execs but...

[Rumble McSkirmish]

There was also the factor that some of WCW's more marquee PPV's were locked into multi year contacts with certain venues: For example Halloween Havoc was at the MGM Grand arena in Las Vegas from 1996 to 2000 (Before that it spent 94-95 at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena) and Starrcade was held at the MCI Center in Washington DC from 1997 to 2000 (And before that it was held at the Nashville Auditorium from 1994 to 1996)

According to Tony Schiavone on his podcast they were able to secure slightly cheaper rental fees for doing this.

[cjh]

Regarding the Hog/Road Wild PPVs, while the tickets were free, those shows had motorcycle companies paying to advertise their brand, sponsorships WCW would not have been able to get for their regular PPVs.

[madness50]

Jan 7, 2022 8:24:22 GMT -5 ianriccaboni said:

I think there's an even simpler starting point: the Georgia Dome was occupied most Saturdays and Sundays in the fall for football when their bigger slate of PPVs (Fall Brawl, Havoc, WWIII, and Starrcade) were.

That’s a good point. The Georgia Dome would have been busy in late 1998 early 1999 with the Falcons and their run to the Super Bowl.