Ring of Honor to run MSG in 2019, SBG executive says there are no plans to sell ROH

By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

Ring of Honor is planning to run Madison Square Garden in New York City in 2019. Chris Ripley, the CEO of ROH parent company Sinclair Broadcast Group, confirmed the news to BizJournals.com. Ripley also stated in the interview that SBG has no plans to sell ROH. “We are typically buyers, not sellers,” Ripley said. “That said, I would never say no to someone who wants to pay a stupid price.”

Powell’s POV: While noting that ROH events are starting to take place in larger venues, the story adds that “a show set to take place this year in Chicago sold out 10,000 seats in less than an hour.” The “All In” event has been labeled an independent event, though clearly ROH is involved to some degree. It remains to be seen whether the MSG show will end up being another “All In” event or if it will be promoted as an ROH event. Either way, it’s a big move for the company to run in what was considered to be WWE’s home arena for decades. WWE has been running Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York more often in recent years, and the belief is that MSG officials are not happy that Barclays is getting WrestleMania 35 related events while MSG is not expected to host anything related to WWE’s signature show. Ripley also touched on ROH television being nearly exclusive to SBG stations because they don’t feel the production quality “is not quite there yet.”