Sinclair Broadcast CEO on Ring of Honor: ‘It’s an Unpolished Gem’

– Sinclair Broadcast Group CEO Chris Ripley commented on Ring of Honor’s status and potential during a stockholder’s call on Wednesday. PWInsider reports that Ripley was asked about the company’s sports investments such as Tennis Channel, college football and profesional wrestling, and asked how they were meeting the company’s initial expectations.

“So, look I think saying that we’ve invested a lot of money is maybe a slight mischaracterization,” Ripley said. “Beyond Tennis, we really haven’t spent significant dollars on content and Ring of Honor, I think, we bought for a couple hundred thousand dollars. And it’s, we think that’s an unpolished gem that ultimately should be something in the same light as WWE. We actually sold out Madison Square Gardens for an event next year in 11 minutes. So, we know that that that brand has potential. It just – it hasn’t, we haven’t quite found the right dials to turn yet, but we keep increasing the grass roots support on it and it has just a very, very loyal and avid fan base which is what you really need to explode a brand.”

After turning his conversation to the Tennis Channel for a bit, Ripley concluded, “So, I guess, the overall question to your answer is when I look across what we’ve done in content, we’re in varying stages of development, but we’ve always had a good return on everything we’ve done, but I wouldn’t say that we’ve spent all that much risk capital when you consider the scale of the company overall.’

SBG purchased Ring of Honor back in June of 2011.