An Economical Approach
to Crime and Punishment


WWF - All Stars Collage
Prompted by the apparent of this particular part of the entertainment industry, I conducted a small investigation of the well-known sports-entertainment companies. I found that by the end of the fiscal third quarter, which came to an end on January 28th 2000, approximately 1.6 million people purchased "pay-per-view" events. In that same period the average number of people attending live events was 12,100, with a $28 price tag per ticket (WWE.COM ).

Due to these preliminary findings, and with the intention of providing a solution that will satisfy the largest number of people possible, I put the suggestion forth to the concerned populous that the more than 1,000,000 inmates be put into the employment of the sports-entertainment industry. The more than 3,000 inmates who have been sentenced to death will be placed in a suitable cage containing various weapons, whereby, in a televised public spectacle, they will combat one another to the point of death. The roughly 1,000,000 remaining inmates can be employed with non-lethal tasks such as camera operator, or weapons-bearer.

Using the figures I found regarding current sports-entertainment, I estimate that the average event could easily draw 12,100 spectators willing to pay $30 per ticket, making gross earnings of $363,000 per event in ticket revenues alone. I estimate that it would be easy to hold at least one event per week until the number of prisoners began to thin, and therefore estimate, with roughly 48 weeks per year, a sum of $17,424,000 per year could be generated from ticket prices. At price of $30, I believe 1.5 million to be a reasonable, if not low, estimate for the number of people who would purchase the right to view such an event on television per year. Thus I compute $45 million per year could be earned from pay-per-view events, which would be reserved for more spectacular bouts. Televised events, being reserved for those inmates who's physical abilities are likely to inhibit the entertainment value of their battle, would not be as enjoyable to watch, but still quite interesting, and undoubtedly capable of capturing high ratings, as well as advertising dollars. Without the addition of advertising revenue, my system would bring in approximately $62.4 million per year.