ROH Breaking News: Ring of Honor sold to Sinclair Broadcast Group

ROH has announced that they have been sold to the Sinclair Broadcast Group. As part of the deal, ROH will begin producing a new television show starting in September. The show, which will be syndicated to Sinclair's 58 television stations (located in 35 markets across the U.S.) and will make ROH the only wrestling promotion in the United States with a presence on network television. Fans who live outside of a Sinclair area will be able to see the show via the Internet.

The press release also states that the front office and booking staff will remain the same. Kevin Kelly will assume the duties of play-by-play for the new television show. Gary Juster, who worked extensively with NWA and WCW back in the day, will take over live events. There will be a press conference on June 24 from Baltimore, Maryland, hosted by new COO Joe Koff. Koff has a significant wrestling and television background, producing the Battle for the Belts specials that the old Florida Championship Wrestling put on from 1985-1987.

Shore's Slant: Major win for ROH. My local ABC station is a Sinclair station so it looks like I will get my wish and get to see the new show when it debuts. I think it is a good sign that the person Sinclair put in charge of the promotion has both wrestling and TV experience. It shows that they put some thought into this and have a plan for what they want to do. It's also nice to see that they are keeping the staff almost entirely intact. I'll miss Mike Hogewood, but Kelly is a competent announcer who gets better every time I hear him.

This is also a major shakeup of the "mid-card" of wrestling promotions. Depending on the time slot ROH gets from Sinclair, they have a real opportunity to knock TNA off the number two spot. Sinclair has a 22 percent market penetration and that's nothing to sneeze at. Combine that with what sounds like replays online and TNA better start preparing for September. You can learn more about Sinclair here.