The stories I hear from the industry are that the PWBA pissed off ESPN with poor show quality, poor marketing and stubbed its toes on the PBA, trying to get into its time slot and piggyback, to some degree, its marketing.
Also remember that the PWBA was paying ESPN for time in the last contract because the geniuses there thought that would be the way to make money -- they thought they could produce the show and sell adverting and the show better than ESPN. Uh, no.
Could it be that the people running the PWBA were...(gasp) not very good at the sports entertainment business? Here is a show made for TV, limited production costs, big potential audience, limited promotional costs.... Say it isn't so....
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"I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings."