The Unknown Poster

Kimbo couldnt fight. He needed to get in UFC waaaaay before he did back when it was a battle of one discipline versus another, not the cross-train era. WWE PPV Buys are moot now. Winnipeg is always listed among the top PPV buyers in North America for UFC and has been for years. One of my greatest regrets is the time I presented an idea to start a Winnipeg-based Canadian "UFC" (long before anyone else in Winnipeg) and I let others convince me thatt focusing on wrestling was the way to go. Doh!

Yeah UFC isn't very old at all. Nor is it cyclical. Kimbo Slice was not part of the Gracie/Shamrock days either

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Jacquie" data-cid="48772" data-time="1399314767"><p><p>Yup. And the city and province wanted that federal money. They could have built it in Sammy's front yard of they were willing to forgo the federal cash.

You'll never see a headline in Winnipeg that reads "Project Successful. No Issues Reported". Because its just not news. And unfortunately we do have media that love a bad news story. Like whatshisname who was happily, almosty gleefully, re-tweeting every negative tweet about Bombers fans trying to leave the campus but ignored every single tweet that indicated many people had no issues. When I asked him why he was so unbalanced he essentially said well there are issues. Well that might be true but his intent was to make the issues seem even worse to shine a light on them. I also pointed out how the original stadium had "traffic issues" when it opened and he said yeah and so-and-so did a story on that...the point being this reporter in question was not mentioning it because one of hios colleagues already did. Mentionin it would dilute his message, which was that the Stadium was a disaster. Which it wasnt. But he didnt want anything that took away from his Bombers Bashing. Quite frankly, we have to decide what we want here. If we want nice things, they cost money. When you factor in politics, it gets goofy. But the politicans wanted the Stadium at U of M and they got it there. Now we have to pay up. For the 10-12 times a year we use the Stadium, who cares.

Me personally, I have 86 points to lead my Pool. Second place has 67 points. I only have 7 out of 15 players left but I am hoping my big first round sustains me through the rest.

They are preaching the right message though. Patience is key. Anything can happen in the NHL and a lot of young teams need that experience of the Playoffs (and being ousted) to fully understand what its all about. If the Jets can add key veterans at the right time, depending on who they meet, you never know. They might be able to push a first series to 6 or 7 games.

Five Year Plan is a media invention. The Jets have never said that. They want to win. Reality being what it is, building a team for the long haul takes time. Five years is a reasonable time to take a bad team and build it into a playoff team. I think thats why it gets bandied about, and five years is a reasonable time for a GM to produce or else. Its a reasonable time to be patient. it takes time to draft an 18 year old and have him producing at a high level. We drafted Scheif in Year One and arguably he will be our number one centre in Year Four. So, the timeline makes sense. Different markets have different expectations. Edmonton seems to be on a ten year plan. Buffalo was on a One Year Plan a few years ago and I bet that fan base wiishes they had a Five Year Plan back then. In Vancouver, there is no appetite for a development plan at all in my opinion. Nor should there be really. They need to re-load, not re-build. Unless Linden wants to completely change the team and trades the Sedins.

I guess I've more or less been on the "Sisters" backs throughout their careers too but there's no denying their talent. Though I have certainly noticed when doing regular season pools, they are easy first/second round selections but farther down when we do Playoff pools. Joe is always taken high in both cases. Im very intrigued by the Sharks' situation. On one hand, they are a proto-typical franchise - they built a very talented and successful team that wins year after year, always makes the playoffs etc. There has been "excuses" in the past where they ran into a hot team or narrowly lost a tough series or whatever but the bottom line is, they just dont win in the playoffs. At some point, they are going to have to adjust their team to win in the post season. Does that mean trading Joe? Maybe...

UFC isn't moving to a network model anytime soon. Trust me. Their buys are too big. The deal with ppv companies is you can't market the content yourself and undercut them. So it's an all or none proposition. Wwe felt the gamble was worth it. It's not worth it for UFC yet.

I wouldn't trade Kane for joe either. But joe would look damn good in a jets jersey. He's be perfect on a team where he wasn't the top star.

They have enough talent where they can reload rather than rebuild. But certainly they cut their own throats with their goalies. Trading Schneider was a mistake. But if they want to trade lack I'd consider giving them Pavs.

That's how ppv work. Ppv company gets 50-60 per cent. Wwe went to war with one of he big PPV providers a few years ago fighting to get a 50-50 split. Wwe lost. UFC won't switch to a network model like wwe for many years. But they certainly are watching this with great interest. Ring of honor is actually giving traditional ppv a try with the idea the ppv companies are mlre interested in content now that wwe is gone and that fans are mlre willing to pay now that they don't have wwe ppv's to buy.

I love how a thread about the damage being repaired turns into speculation that the west night collapse and kill thousands of fans. Good grief.

Not interested but its awesome for Winnipeg. im seriously considering the Country gig at IGF though. I had Taylor Swift tickets last year and ended up giving them to my sister. Kicking myself for that one.

It wont surprise me when Tortz gets hired to Head Coach another NHL team but I will still shake my head and the stupidity of it. Its like when people kept hiring Mike Keenan. Why? As an aside, Keenan just coach to the KHL championship. Russia can keep him.

Sorry if this is already posted - I didnt see it anywhere: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/football/bombers/Province-giving-stadium-15M-for-upgrades-257552351.html The province has kicked in another $1.5 million to cover the cost of some additional pavement work and improvements to the concessions areas at the Investors Group Field, raising the final cost of the new stadium to $210 million. BBB Stadium Inc., the group that managed construction of the new home for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, said today it has closed a deal with builder Stuart Olson Dominion Construction Ltd. on the final price tag. The group also said water damage sustained by the spring melt in the stadium’s interior suites has been repaired at a cost of approximately $450,000, and "the stadium is ready for the first event." BBB Stadium Inc. will have to pay a $50,000 deductible on its insurance policy to cover the damage. The stadium hosts a friendly match between Canada’s national women’s soccer team and the U.S. women’s team on May. 8. ***$450,000 is a lot of damage. Im curious as to what consession improvements were made.

Wrestling went from being a live event business in the 70's and early 80's to a PPV business in the late 80's and early 90's to a PPV and TV business in the late 90's to now. When WCW was blowing up the way the business was run in late 90's, they actually barely ran live events. It was all PPV and TV revenue. The popularity of the TV led to increased live event business. WWE stock was up slightly yesterday after their first quarter financials were released show a smaller than expected loss. WWE will absorb losses this year with the intent of changing the business to a different model by mid to late 2015. It will be significantly profitable by then (or better be at least) on the back of a drastically increased TV package and the Network. Personally, my issue with the network is the confusion over what it is. I dont think WWE did a very good job of explaining it. And considering the people they hired to set up The Network, thats pretty mind blowing but it speaks to the "bubble" that some people live in. In wrestling we refer to living in the bubble in terms of people (like Vince) being so "in" the business that he doesnt understand what the average fan wants. It seems too that corporate people are in a bubble. To them, what The network is is obvious. That wasnt the case. Finally, in the last week or two, WWE simply went for broke and started tagging The Network as "Netflix for wrestling". I think the hardcore fans found it and got it. Even though The Network is only available in the US, the hardcore fans in Canada and Europe etc found it too. But I think there are casual fans who hear "Network" and assume its a traditional channel that isnt available in their area. I think there are some people who havent embraced the technology and I think there are older fans that havent heard enough about it to try it. All those things will change. Internet-based delivery is the future of television and entertainment. WWE also didnt explain that The Network was available on gaming systems very well. And its not yet available on smart devices (TV's, blu-ray players), which is a huge thing. If they are smart, they read the book Netflixed. By this Christmas, if Im WWE, Im including a "coupon" in every single Smart TV and Blu Ray player sold (if they can make those deals with manufacturers) for a free trial. Netflix did that and it was actually a big loss leader in they had trouble keeping up with demand but its what blew them up as a big time "network". WWE simply needs to reach the masses. I think the Network is something every wrestling fan who watches RAW and has at least mild interest in the PPVs would buy. Every fan who loved wrestling in the 80's or the Attitude era would buy. Every fan of ECW or WCW that turned away when those companies went out of business would buy. And even if you're a casual fan who buys the network, you likely keep it since the price isn't something that makes you turn it off. Much like Netflix, there are months I dont watch any Netflix content, but it's $8 or whatever so who cares? Those months where I watch 5 movies and 10 TV shows more than makes up for it.

Honestly, I think this is much ado about nothing. There was a false increase in season tickets last year due to the new Stadium at a time when the team sucked and everyone knew it. I think the people declining to buy this year fall into some key categories: those that bought just to be in the new stadium and are "over" it, a few who found attending the games to be a hassle (many who likely also fall into the first category) and a few who have lost some enthuesiasm for the team. There is far more reason for optimism this year than last in my opinion so I cant see the lack of success chasing too many people away. Personally, I love the experience of watching a game at the Stadium on a beautiful summer day. But the best seat in the house is the one in my basement in front of the big screen TV.

San Jose doesnt need to blow it up but they likely do need to make some changes. They are somewhat in transition with key older players and good young players. Goaltending is an issue. I could see a Thornton trade bringing back a couple of key pieces including goalie.

Whether Asper like Rabb or not doesnt change the fact that the representative of the CoW should be connected to the CoW. I guess I understand the "how dare these successful businessmen with all their wealth continue to be successful" mentality. Actually I dont.

Oh please. Thats why they have now built in term limits, because they are an old boys club who are protecting their own interests. Give me a break.

Wouldnt a drop be expected just from the fact the new stadium likely generated a "false" increase? They will have a big increase for Grey Cup and NHL year...

Well. Avs lose. Doesn't that suck? And the Sharks complete the epic collapse. How do they keep Big Joe after that? Great talent, never won a thing.

Well, as of 2013 PPV was the number two revenue generator for WWE. Live events was number three. The Network doesnt so much indicate that PPV revenue is less valuable so much as its a gamble that would never have a chance to succeed without the inclusion of PPV events being included for the base monthly price. Over-all PPV buys seem down in compared to years past. Its really cyclical in a way. Live events were the bread and butter of wrestling up until the late 90's. The Monday Night War made TV ratings far more important. WWE expects to double or triple their yearly TV contract revenue which is extremely important to their bottom line. The reason their stock price has gone from $7-ish to $30-ish is due to that belief plus inflated enthuesiasm in The Network. The Network number (around 700,000 subscribers) came in around average. Its actually "good" for conservative estimates but there was big time enthuesiasm that they would do even better. WWE is leveraging the inclusion of PPV's to get over 1 million Network subscribers by the end of 2014 and 2 million + next year. Its going to be a tough battle. There has been talk of keeping Wrestlemania as a traditional PPV and off the Network but I dont think that will fly. The next big tests are: August when the initial six month commitment of most of the Network subscribers comes up (will they opt to unsubscribe either for good or until Wrestlemania season next year) and when the Network becomes available Internationally (how many people who *want* the Network already have it, as its not difficult to get it outside of the US, including in Canada right now). If The Network is successful, then the gamble was worth it as it's a higher profit margin to WWE and something they more easily and efficiently control. If they top out at 1 million subscribers (or less) while canibalizing their PPV market, they have essentially shot themselves in the head.

Fake Kane was also Drew Hankinson/