Eric Bischoff: Why I Wouldn't Vote In Favour Of A Wrestling Off-Season

Eric Bischoff says he would not be in favour of the concept of a wrestling off-season, saying the secret to professional wrestling is consistency across 52 weeks a year.

During the most recent episode of his podcast, Bischoff was asked about the low ratings for the most recent WWE SmackDown and IMPACT Wrestling and, with those in mind, if wrestling should take some time off every year like professional sports.

Bischoff, however, believes ratings drop-offs around the July 4th weekend should be expected and feels having an off-season would break the connection between the product and its fans.

Speaking during the latest episode of his 83 Weeks podcast (via AdFreeShows), Bischoff said: "First of all, I wouldn't vote for an offseason.

"One of the reasons that wrestling works as consistently as it has since the beginning of television time is because it's 52 weeks a year and it tours. If you take 52 weeks out of the equation and now you take touring out of the equation, you're going to lose 60% of your audience over the course of five or six years.

"Wrestling, and here's the mistake that a lot of television executives make, is they don't understand the audience. The wrestling audience becomes so familiar with these characters. They identify with them. They live vicariously through them. They're kind of, in their own entertainment way, addicted to them. If you take them off the air for three, four, or five months, they find other sh*t to do and other things to be interested in.

"The secret sauce to professional wrestling is that it's 52 weeks a year. If you go down to 26 and you have to start your season over again and you've lost that daily, weekly connection to your audience, and six months later you're going to come back with a new season, good freaking luck."

H/T Fightful