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TNA Wrestling President Carlos Silva says the company is in active talks with potential broadcast partners, with the goal of finalizing a new TV rights deal as the promotion rides their momentum into Bound for Glory on October 12 in Lowell, Massachusetts.
When asked by PWInsiderElite.com about our reports that the company has spoken with A&E as well as rumors of the CW Network being a potential home, Silva noted, “I can’t really say anything about the rumors ’cause they’re just rumors, but I do enjoy reading all the rumors, just like you do. And we all do. We’re… talking to everybody. There’s been a lot of great discussions over the last sort of 60 days leading up to Slammiversary. Slammiversary did exactly what you wanted to do, which is to create buzz and… continue to elevate TNA not just for the fans but for these potential partners that we’re all talking to. It’s helped us. It’s helped move things along.”
Silva noted that August is typically a slower month in media circles, but he’s aiming for progress soon.
“I do think we’ll continue to push in August and as we get into September and as we drive to Bound for Glory, hopefully… we’ll be able to at least get a handshake together and… then if we need to dot the I’s and cross the T’s as we get through the year, we’ll do that,” he said. “It’s tough. Every single day… it’s what I worry about and I’m gonna keep doing it until we get that right deal that continues to expand the audience for TNA.”
TNA’s July Slammiversary event drew over 7,600 announced fans to the UBS Arena, the largest North American crowd in company history, and featured AJ Styles’ surprise appearance via TNA’s partnership with WWE.
“We took a day and… enjoyed Slammiversary. But when you’re in the sports and entertainment space, it’s, ‘What are we gonna do next?’ And so now this propels us into Bound for Glory… We’re gonna… hopefully go there and break the record yet again. We set up the arena to do that and just came off of a 48-hour presale that was 25% bigger than any presale we’ve ever done in TNA history,” Silva said.
Silva confirmed that potential partners want more live programming, a goal TNA shares.
“Most would like, and certainly we would like, to be live more. I’m a big live sports guy. I love live. I think the wrestlers love live. I think the wrestlers perform better live,” Silva said. “If we get that deal together and we are going live nearly every week or every week, there would be some sort of hybrid around being in a location as well as touring, so that you can operationally pull it off.”
From Silva’s perspective, pro wrestling’s year-round schedule is a unique selling point.
“There’s no live sporting event that is every single week. Pro wrestling is every single week… there’s a lot of power in pro wrestling because of that,” he said. “The season never ends. And that’s powerful.”
With presales up 25–30% from any prior TNA pay-per-view, Silva has made his goal clear:
“The goal is to break the record. We’ve got the potential to go beyond 7,623… you gotta go to work every day, you gotta work hard, you gotta give the fans a great product. And I know that if we do, the fans are gonna show up and help us break the record.”
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