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WWE's Road Trip
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World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) is gearing up for its next WrestleMania event, to be held in Los Angeles in April. The company will launch a promotional tour January 21 that will run for 11 weeks, all the way up to the big day. It will begin in Stamford, Connecticut, and finish up in the host city for 'mania.
"The Road To WrestleMania 21 Tour" features a traveling, convention-like program that will set up shop at 11 malls -- including the Mall of America in Minnesota, the state that used to be under the gubernatorial stewardship of none other than classic star wrestler Jesse Ventura -- and do its best to get fans excited about the prospect of the "super bowl" of sports entertainment. Excited enough, the company hopes, to ensure that each and every patron of the tour will be willing to part with some cash come April for the pay-per-view.
Because that's what this is all about -- pay-per-view buys, one of the lifeblood revenue streams for the company. WWE has to make certain that a maximum marketing effort is in place to give young, disenchanted fans a reason to throw some of their discretionary income Vince McMahon's way, rather than spending it on other things, like Halo 2 for Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox or the latest Grand Theft Auto by Take-Two Interactive Software (Nasdaq: TTWO) for PlayStation 2.
Looking at WWE's plans, I couldn't say that this tour is everything that is needed, but it does represent a good piece of the overall puzzle. Activities include call-a-match sessions, temporary tattooing, and autograph signings. There will also be hall-of-fame setups, video-game kiosks, and video entertainment. Plus, Hillbilly Jim will be the host -- now, come on, who could resist that? That guy's cool.
Seth Jayson covered some of the issues with WWE in an article on the company's last earnings report, which wasn't a win by any stretch of the imagination (if only earnings results could be scripted). WWE has an interesting future, especially considering its vast wrestling archives, which it continues to exploit, and its ambitions for making films. That opportunity has me the most excited about McMahon's empire; I think film production has the potential to be a significant driver.
In the meantime, individual investors willing to get into this ring should definitely be long-term thinkers; it's like an Iron Man match, except instead of running 60 minutes, it lasts for years.
For more articles on World Wrestling Entertainment, see:
Fool contributor Steven Mallas owns none of the companies mentioned.
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