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Battle for the sports entertainment dollar; Australian and international opportunities, threats and unknowns, by Greg Tingle

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Vince McMahon vs Hulk Hogan. WWE WrestleMania 18. King of sports entertainment promoters vs king of professional wrestling.

by Greg Tingle

The world of sports (should say Business of Sports), is an extension of the entertainment and business world, for the most past these days.

Just ask the promoters and management of giants such as the WWE, UFC, AFL, NRL, NBL, Cricket Australia and you get the idea.

Sports betting wasn't invented just for the fun of it. It's designed to make money for the companies and brands associated, hence Australian sports promoters are hoping to retain an element of sports betting in their overall business models, ideally 'live in play', if they can swing it.

Merchandising and sports broadcasting rights are of course a major part of the equation. In recent years the internet platforms have changed the game for sports promoters and presented more opportunities and threats.

The cool kids and their parents are running around with smartphones, hence the whole world can be citizen broadcasters and journalists. The exclusive and precious media elements is all but gone.

The smart operators are standing out from the pack and evolving with the times. WWE's Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H will survive. So will the UFC's Dana White, but a sustainable business model in these volatile times is not guaranteed. Ever hear of Enron (The Smartest Guys In The Room) or PSINet? Some companies were supposed to be to big to fail, but somehow found a way.

Currently Facebook is experiencing a PR disaster, and its a lot more involved the under perming for a few sports entertainment campaigns; ala WWE Mixed Match Challenge via Facebook, which is quite entertaining. Fortunately for the WWE the series is available on a number of platforms including WWE.com, WWE YouTube and the WWE Network. Risk management and cross promotion has proved to be a smart strategy for the sports entertainment giant, and other smart operators should be looking to do the same. You need to reach your sports and entertainment loving audience, no matter where they are.

Sports or The Business Of Sport?

We know the WWE is sports entertainment, and for the most part, match winners are pre determined.

For a number of years some traditional pure sports such as Cricket and Tennis have had their pedigree and pureness questioned and comprised, witness the explosion of sports business and mega sports and media rights. There's so much money involved that some things are happening to sport that shouldn't be.

Let's not even get started on FIFA or the Olympic Games should we? There's books on it, because many things have occurred which move sport into the sports business spectrum.

What does sport need to do to survive?

Live crowd attendance, ticket sales, media and sponsorship rights, and to stay relevant for a start.

To be continued...

Mayweather Promotions official website

Floyd 'Money' Mayweather made plenty for himself and his fellow promoters over the decades

Show Boxing (Showtime) official website

FOX Sports Australia

FOX Sports Australia does (or did) have a business arrangement with CrownBet. The sports betting industry continues to evolve and is set for more mergers, acquisitions and general shake ups

John Cena and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. Both are making the transition to movies and entertainment and stepping away from in-ring performances. For most wrestlers 10 to 15 years is the most time they can expect to perform in sports entertainment

Former UFC champion and living legend of MMA, Ken Shamrock. Shamrock has made the transition into public speaking and Podcasting with business manager Des W. Woodruff. See The World's Most Dangerous Podcast. Many American and Canadian wrestlers, martial artists, sports announcers and such have their own podcasts.

WWE superstar Roman Reigns with a TAPOUT promotion. TAPOUT and WWE came to business terms. MMA giant, the UFC, came to terms with Rebook, with a mixed reaction from fighters. Conor McGregor is known to make his own deals, as is WWF - UFC cross over talent Brock Lesnar, who is managed by his long time advocate Paul Heyman.

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman (WrestleMania 31). Lesnar is teasing a switch to UFC after WrestleMania 34 in April 2018. Paul Heyman is the top brass at Heyman Hustle and Looking 4 Larry agency

'Rowdy' Ronda Rousey made made a so far impressive transition into the sports entertainment world via pro wrestling giant, the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). She draws ticket sales, positive media, WWE Network subscribers and excitement. With Rousey you never know what might happen. Ronda Rousey official website. Ronda Rousey - WWE.com profile Got to love her ring entrance 'Bad Reputation' by Joan Jett.

UFC Gym Sydney: BRAVE campaign

UFC New York. New York, USA, has long been a favourite of MMA, boxing and pro wrestling promoters. Ever heard of Madison Square Garden?

Non UFC MMA promotions such as Bellator have had some challenges to attract a bigger audience. Many MMA fighters prefer to work for Bellator, stating that the pay days are more fair. Bellator MMA has also been looking to conquer the Google and Facebook online ranking for MMA which are largely saturated by the UFC.

Madison Square Garden. New York

The WWE is set to do another Global Warming Tour of Australia in October 2018. They are aiming to draw over 80,000 to the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Can Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns and perhaps a special appearance by a Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and maybe Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair get them over the line. Perhaps a special appearance by one or two NRL or AFL celebrities will also generate the buzz and subsequent ticket sales. Hello Beau Ryan and The Footy Show?

WWE's agreement with Nine's 9GO! has been renewed. 9GO! carries a one hour version of WWE RAW and WWE SmackDown. This has helped popularize WWE and pro wrestling in Australia

The pro wrestling industry in Australia is a touch business. Independent promotions such as the AWF continue to have their work cut out for them. Small to medium crowds, no television time and budgets don't allow booking of major venues. Good on them for having a go and sticking with it.

New Japan Pro Wrestling. Home of some of the world's greatest professional wrestlers. They had a mixed experience in Australia with what called be called average crowd attendance. The right media, public relations and communication channels are paramount to success. WWE - New Japan cross over star Chris Jericho helped boost crowed numbers and New Japan Pro Wrestling subscriber numbers considerably. Jericho added 15 to 25,000 extra bums on seats in Japan and at least an extra 15,000 New Japan streaming (New Japan World) buys by all accounts.

Sports in Australia have experimented in making their sport more exciting with entertainment and creative tie ins following the U.S. Cricket Australia 'Best Dressed'. Golden bodypainted models by Human Statue Bodyart

The Human Statue Bodyart 'Best Dressed' models and creating costuming was seen by the Australian sports loving public. Cricket Australia is currently looking to move on from a current scandle involving manipulation of the cricket ball et al

Melbourne Cricket Ground

AFL. Adelaide Oval. Photography and project management on site by Greg Tingle. Creative by Human Statue Bodyart

TMZ and TMZ Sports are getting the lions share of WWE exclusives, which is by design. It's a true win - win by all accounts

Pro wrestling legends such as Terry Funk and Harley Race are a dying breed.

Dusty Rhodes vs Harley Race pre WWE or even before the internet was an idea

AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania on 8 April 2018 should be an instant classic

For the longest time pro boxing great Muhammad Ali knew it was the business of sport. He knew how to talk it up and sell tickets. Pictured with wrestler - martial artist Muhammad Ali. Circa 1976. Japan

Andre The Giant vs Hulk Hogan. WWF WrestleMania 3. Stay tuned for the highly anticipated documentary on the life and times of Andre courtesy of a HBO and WWE collaboration

Arnold Sports Festival Australia Arnold Sports Festival

The Arnold Sports Festival has continued to development and become much more than just a bodybuilding comp. This typifies the business of sports, especially in sports nutrition and supplements. Let's not get into a current sports documentary, but we all remember the classic 'Pumping Iron'.

The Nine Entertainment Co. has enjoyed a stellar run in broadcasting Australian cricket. Is it time for them to move on, or does it make good business sense for them to continue to support the game? (GO! is currently enjoying solid success broadcasting the WWE's RAW and SmackDown programs (Thursday and Friday)

The late, great, Kerry Packer, was instrumental in turning cricket into the business of sport. Enter World Series Cricket circa 1977, which took the television time away from Jim Barnett's World Championship Wrestling. WCW had a good run, but allegedly was run into the ground and Nine needed a new money maker.