In an interview this week with the Hartford Courant, WWE Chief Financial Officer George Barrios gave no new news about the planned WWE Network even though Vince McMahon promised during the last conference call that they will have some concrete announcements in the next quarter earnings call, scheduled in two weeks time.
Barrios repeated the options that WWE have – a traditional network, a pay TV channel, or a normal channel.
Apparently the big hold up at the moment is the State of Connecticut. Connecticut is offering the “Next Five” program which offers millions of dollars in state aid for company expansions and WWE has applied for it.
The program requires that companies add 200 jobs and invest at least $25 million in the state – something that WWE already did or in process of doing. Over the past two years, WWE went from 585 employees to over 700 and more are expected to be hired for the Network.
To accommodate the Network, WWE leased additional space in Stamford and expanded their headquarters and Barrios clearly stated that state aid would be a factor in decisions as to where the Network will go.
“We try to look at the right business decisions we want to make. Where do I want to do all this? To what extent can I do it? Would it be based in Stamford? Where things will go ultimately will be decided as we move forward,” he said.
