A new pay-per-view wrestling organization is suing two industry veterans for
allegedly breaching their contracts regarding the marketing of its weekly
PPV-wrestling series.
J. Sports & Entertainment LLC, which produces the NWA-TNA PPV series,
filed suit in Davidson County (Tenn.) Circuit Court Tuesday alleging that former
PPV-programming executive Jay Hassman and PPV-marketing veteran Len Sabal --
both of whom were retained to handle marketing for the new PPV venture --
defrauded the company by misrepresenting PPV-distribution penetration and the
performance of NWA-TNA shows, which launched last month.
The suit also named Hassman's group, BTP Consulting, as well as K-4 LLC, a
joint venture between Hassman and Sabal.
The suit alleged that Hassman and Sabal 'knowingly' boosted both
event-distribution and PPV-performance numbers and failed to provide agreed-upon
system-marketing initiatives in an effort to 'sabotage the plaintiff's venture
... by causing the plaintiff to devote additional capital following the first
show in reliance upon false data.'
The suit also alleged that Hassman breached his agreement by failing to
disclose his affiliation with PPV-consulting company Team Services, which
handles marketing for the competing World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.
outfit.
According to the suit, Hassman, in signing the J. Sports marketing deal, said
he did not have any connection with WWE or any other entity that would be in
conflict with the NWA venture.
Neither Hassman nor Sabal could be reached for comment at press time.
In Demand L.L.C., which is offering the weekly PPV-wrestling series
exclusively to cable operators, declined to comment.
