In an unusual pay-per-view arrangement, the World Wrestling
Federation will offer 12 live hours for its April 2 WrestleMania 2000 event.
Beginning at noon, the WWF will offer eight hours of PPV
programming leading up to the actual four-hour live WrestleMania event, Team
Services president Bonnie Werth said. Team is handling the WWF's event marketing and
promotion.
The preshow will feature highlights of each prior WrestleMania
event, interspersed with live interviews of wrestlers and performers appearing in WrestleMania
2000. The actual event will run from 8 p.m. through 11 p.m., followed by a one-hour
live postshow telecast ending at midnight.
The WWF is pricing the 12-hour block at a suggested retail
cost of $49.95, Werth said. Consumers, though, have the option of purchasing just the 8
p.m. through midnight WrestleMania event for $34.95.
Werth said the WWF is expecting between 20 percent to 25
percent of its PPV WrestleMania buys to come from the 12-hour block.
"This is about giving the WWF fan base something
extraordinary on the eve of the new millenium WrestleMania," she said. "I
think [the all-day offer] will attract not only current WWF fans, but also those who
haven't watch the WWF recently. There's a lot of nostalgia with the past WrestleMania
highlights."
To entice buys for the event, the WWF will offer an
added-value promotion to consumers. Subscribers purchasing the full 12-hour WrestleMania
block will receive an exclusive videocassette summarizing the first 15 WrestleMania
shows, Werth said.
She added that the company is finalizing negotiations with
In Demand for distribution of the event.
The WWF has been on a roll with its WrestleMania
franchise. Its last two events generated some of the organization's highest buy-rates
ever.
In 1998, WrestleMania XIV, featuring Mike Tyson,
generated a then-record 700,000 buys. Last year's event set an all-time wrestling
record with more than 850,000 buys and over $30 million in PPV revenue.
