Tag: Mark Shapiro

TKO exec on WWE ticket prices: Vince McMahon ‘wasn’t totally focused on maxing the opportunity’

Posted on by Josh Nason

A week after a clip went viral with a fan questioning WWE head Nick Khan about the increasing price of WWE tickets, the message apparently didn’t get through to TKO leadership in terms of what’s to come.

TKO chief operating officer Mark Shapiro spoke at the annual Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference Wednesday (audio below) and in talking about ticket prices for both UFC and WWE, he said “WWE is not where the UFC yet is on ticket yield. We have our work to do there.”

“We know we have a lot of room there because Vince McMahon was primarily pricing tickets for families and wasn’t totally focused on maxing the opportunity there. Now that we’ve seen what we can do with UFC, we’re replicating that in terms of ticket yield and holding back and advance sales when it comes to OnLocation on the WWE side and it’s working out really well,” he said.

A term used commonly by concert venues, airlines and hotels, ticket yield is considered a measure of the average revenue generated per ticket sold, maximizing revenue with the goal of selling all inventory at the right mix of prices.

WWE live event & hospitality revenue finished at $185.7 million for the second quarter, up $41.4 million year over year, partially attributed to higher ticket revenue. Both WrestleMania 41 and Night of Champions from Saudi Arabia were in the second quarter.

Shapiro hasn’t been shy about saying publicly this year that TKO sees “tremendous upside” in increasing ticket prices. An example he used Wednesday was UFC shattering previous records to become the highest-grossing event in the history of Chicago’s United Center.

Site fees continue to be a key focus of TKO with Shapiro saying they need to sell out their inventory of UFC numbered events in addition to WWE PLEs before moving on to UFC Fight Nights, WWE Raw and SmackDown events.

He said they are talking to Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, London, Paris and that “there are no shortage of countries…that want to see us bring our show to town.” He said they will continue to maximize those opportunities with both in-kind deals (goods & services) but that the “most important to me is cash. Cash kills.”

He also had a warning of sorts for towns that are successful when WWE or UFC comes to their town, especially for the smaller events, using UFC Fight Nights as an example.

“If we have a St. Louis going up against a Des Moines, Iowa, and you want us back there and you’ve broken records and sold out both your arenas, you have to pay for us to come back or else we’ll take it to another town. And that goes for NXT, Raw and SmackDown on the WWE side.”

Shapiro also talked about how TKO hopes Wrestlepalooza will be in the same conversation as WrestleMania and SummerSlam.

Click here to listen

TKO exec: WWE Wrestlepalooza could be another WrestleMania or SummerSlam for us

Posted on by Josh Nason

TKO chief operating officer Mark Shapiro is putting a lot of stock into this month’s WWE WrestlePalooza.

Shapiro spoke at the annual Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference Wednesday where he talked about the September 20 premium live event that will kick off their multi-year deal with ESPN. Audio from the talk can be found below.

He said they hope Wrestlepalooza is “an annual recurring franchise” for the company and one that is both is on par with two of their most notable annual PLEs and becomes part of their big four events of the WWE year.

“Hopefully, Wrestlepalooza is a winner and we can bring that back annually. That could be a marketing bonanza for us if we do that right,” he said, adding that Paul “Triple H” Levesque is spending day and night creatively making “what we think it can be: another WrestleMania or another SummerSlam.”

He said the Royal Rumble is just below that level and they feel Wrestlepalooza could be in that quadrant.

The Saturday show from Indianapolis, Indiana, will be the first PLE on the new ESPN streaming service and will run partially head-to-head with the AEW All Out pay-per-view.

Click here to listen

TKO exec defends reduced WWE live event schedule, sees ‘tremendous upside’ in ticket pricing

Posted on by Josh Nason

Any hope WWE fans might have of ticket prices coming down any time soon will have to wait.

During his annual appearance at the JP Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications conference in Boston, TKO president & chief operating officer Mark Shapiro (pictured above) spoke about both WWE and UFC business which included the upside he sees in both brands.

One of those is ticket pricing which he says has “tremendous upside” in addition to site fees, dynamic pricing (a growing trend with concerts and events where prices are driven by demand in real-time), and yield management (a broader strategy that aims to maximize revenue by controlling inventory availability and pricing).

WWE live event reduction

Shapiro also defended TKO’s decision to reduce yearly WWE live events to around 200 a year, a cut of what he said was 75% off the 300 WWE used to do (even though it’s actually a 33% reduction). He said that decision wasn’t done just to improve margins, and that WWE already had a strong following. Shapiro feels 200 events is a good place to be, but they will continue to prune the schedule as time goes on.

WWE & Peacock

Shapiro said they are continuing to talk with NBC Universal/Peacock who are interesting in renewing their deal for WWE PLEs that expires at the end of March 2026.

Shapiro said they aren’t afraid of working with multiple partners from a business perspective as it’s smart to not put all the marketing eggs in one basket while also maximizing financial opportunity. He added that as a viewer, “I can’t stand it” but admitted that’s the world we live in now.

Like with the UFC rights, there is no rush to make a deal and they want to have the right partner(s) from a financial and brand growth perspective. He also again noted that what is unique about WWE PLEs is they are “very high quality and low volume.” He again didn’t mention anything about the library and perceived value there.

Here’s some other highlights from Shapiro’s 35-minute talk:

  • He confirmed that the state of New Jersey is giving WWE a $7 million site fee for this August’s first-ever two-night SummerSlam. As previously reported, the money is coming from pandemic funding.
  • Shapiro put over how half the WWE/UFC audience is in the 18-49 demographic and that under 18 years old is one of their biggest audiences. He said in that age, they are tied with the NBA as the biggest draw and no. 1 with males under 18.
  • The X-factors to growth with younger viewers: sporting betting with the UFC and Netflix with WWE.
  • He feels WWE will be one of the vehicles Netflix uses to become the first-ever company with a $1 trillion valuation as WWE is an “anditote to churn” and a “proven formula for subscriber acquistion.”
  • He said Raw is in the Netflix top 10 weekly in 29 countries and up 14% for “what we did on USA last year” without specifying what that 14% represents.
  • He pushed the WWE Unreal docuseries in June on Netflix, noting that he cautioned Nick Khan to “not give away the Coca-Cola formula” to expose everything they do but said there’s a proven desire for behind-the-scenes content like this.

TKO exec: Both WWE & NBCUniversal ‘keen’ on renewing PLE contract for Peacock

Posted on by Josh Nason

The word TKO chief operating officer Mark Shapiro used to describe the interest level between both WWE and NBCUniversal when it comes to renewing their Peacock deal was “keen.”

Appearing at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference Monday, Shapiro said that they will get into discussions in the next financial quarter with NBCUniversal regarding their existing deal that provides U.S. viewers with both WWE premium live event and archive access. The deal is up in March 2026.

The full audio from the call can be found below.

Shapiro said that NBCUniversal has been “a crazy good partner” that has made WWE a priority in their growth plan and that WWE has been great for Peacock in both acquistion and retention of subscribers.

However, he did say that while NBCU is “keen to renew” and that they are also keen to renew with them, “it might make sense to move elsewhere if the plan, not just the dollars, makes the best sense for the growth of our brand and the property.”

He was asked if it make sense for everything WWE to be available on Netflix and he said while it may make sense to split the UFC TV rights package as an option, they have “really enjoyed being with one home as long as they hit the price” with ESPN/Disney. He said with WWE, it’s a relatively small package of events (noting that it could be 12-14 PLEs in addition to six NXT PLEs) so it makes sense to keep it in one place but that depends on supply and demand.

He speculated that it would make sense for Netflix to own everything WWE, but he wasn’t pitching that and merely bringing it up as it’s out there as an idea. He said a common theme is programmers are looking for big events and “not regular season,” saying that WWE can “make noise when we want to make noise.”

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Here’s a few other notes from Shapiro’s talk:

  • He put over the Netflix deal and the early viewership success, specifically pointing to views as that is “most analogous to Nielsen,” Raw is up 13% year to date over USA and if you include the premiere, they are up 38%.
  • He said NXT is up 22% year to date on CW vs. USA.
  • Getting site fees for all 24 total WWE PLEs and UFC PPVs is still a focus over the next one-to-four years, saying that four are committed to Saudi Arabia which leaves them with 20 to sell. He noted they sell roughly about 1/3 of their inventory and are following the “F1 strategy on steroids” when it comes to doing that. After they sell those, they will move into selling Raws, SmackDowns and even NXTs. He noted those might not be at the highest level money wise, but pointed to examples like their upcoming WWE/UFC/PBR stretch in Kansas City as to what they can do.
  • If WWE fans were hoping for any type of relief from higher than usual WWE ticket prices, that doesn’t appear to something worth holding one’s breath over. Shapiro said they have “much more to go” on optimizing revenues for their schedule, nothing WWE has just got into dynamic pricing and that by reducing house shows, “scarcity drives demand which gives us more pricing power.”
  • There wasn’t much new on the UFC TV rights front other than that they hope to work something out with ESPN/Disney but their goal is to grow the sport and not necessarily go for the biggest money deal but one that will allow them to make the next deal after that even that much bigger.
  • Shapiro put over the “cultural impact” of John Cena turning heel and how it was featured on ESPN.
  • He added “you’ll be amazed at the surprises” that will come your way at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas, comparing it to UFC’s event at the Sphere last year in terms of spectacle.

Click here to listen.

Legalized betting on WWE matches is ‘not happening’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

While the sports gambling industry continues to grow in the United States, WWE won’t become part of it in the immediate future.

TKO President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro told CNBC on Thursday that legalized betting on WWE matches in the U.S. will not be happening. It had been reported in 2023 that WWE was interested in making it legal to bet on high-profile matches. The company had talks with state gambling regulators, but — if the idea was going to become reality — WWE would have had to take steps like working with a firm to lock in match results well ahead of time and ensure they did not leak.

“Not happening,” Shapiro said. “It’s not happening. We’re scripted. Look, years ago I ran Dick Clark Productions. We had enough challenge keeping the American Music Awards and the Golden Globe winners under wraps [even] with an auditor that was there. We’re not going to be asking Triple H — Paul Levesque, who runs our creative — to keep his scripts so under wrap that we can start sports betting. It just doesn’t jive.”

Shapiro said TKO is doing sports gambling with the UFC and believes the young audience — and young men specifically — loves the gambling aspect.

WWE and AEW have both had partnerships with sports gambling companies, but they have been free-to-play pools instead of standard betting.

TKO exec recently met with Vince McMahon, says he is very ‘positive’ about WWE’s current direction

Posted on by Josh Nason

A day after TKO announced their quarterly earnings, one of the company’s higher-ups said in a new interview that he has been in contact with Vince McMahon and that the former chairman is positive about WWE’s direction.

TKO chief operating officer Mark Shapiro talked with CNBC’s Alex Sherman and was asked about McMahon who is still under federal investigation for the hush money scandal in addition to the primary subject of the Janel Grant lawsuit.

Shapiro revealed he had breakfast with McMahon recently “just to check in” following the recent Netflix docuseries drop. He said he hadn’t heard from McMahon at all and “wanted to see where he was” with everything.

“He’s got some litigation that he’s working through, and frankly, he wants the privacy and the time to work through it which is great, because in the meantime we’re going to keep building TKO and WWE,” he said, later adding, “He couldn’t have been more cooperative. He couldn’t have been nicer. I mean, he was a total pro at breakfast, if you will.”

He reaffirmed that McMahon has nothing to do with TKO, makes no decisions, and is not asked for opinions even though he remains a shareholder. He said McMahon “couldn’t have been more positive” about the direction of WWE, but specifically said he wasn’t asked for his opinion.

As recently as March of this year, Shapiro went on record to say McMahon was not returning to TKO.

McMahon shut down PBR being part of TKO launch

Shapiro also revealed that McMahon didn’t want the Professional Bull Riding group in TKO upon the creation of the company. He wanted to focus on just WWE and UFC to start and “didn’t want to confuse the messaging.” He said McMahon wasn’t against PBR ever joining TKO (which it did two weeks ago an inter-company acquisition), but just not at the onset.

Shapiro said it was a compromise and that when it came to TKO, McMahon had to do some things Ari Emanuel, Dana White and Shapiro wanted and vice versa.

Ads on Netflix

Shapiro also said when it comes to Netflix advertising on WWE Raw, dynamic/personalized advertising (focused on users based on data vs. general broad ads) will be in place for year two but not year one. He said the manual advertising is already “filled up.” He also said Netflix could be in the mix for UFC TV rights when those come up next year.

Wrestling Weekly: AEW All Out thoughts & the road to Grand Slam

Posted on by Victor Sosa

Image: AEW

On this week’s Wrestling Weekly, it’s all about last Saturday’s AEW All Out and the subsequent road to this month’s Grand Slam with a match we can’t wait to see, regardless of how we got there.

Also, we talk about enhancement talents and whether doing that work for the big groups can hinder their ability to be seen as stars in the future.

We do talk some WWE at the onset, looking ahead at tonight’s WWE SmackDown, Bret Hart’s appearance on Raw, and the rest of what’s happening these days.

Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!

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WWE to hold fewer live events in 2025, potentially increase ticket prices

Posted on by Josh Nason

On the eve of their first anniversary after merging both WWE and UFC into the publicly-traded TKO, the brand’s president revealed some news on the live event front for WWE fans.

The full audio for the call can be found below.

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference Wednesday, Shapiro said they are continuing to trim “marginally profitable” non-televised live events that Vince McMahon liked to run when he was trying to expand the brand name in smaller cities and regions.

Going from what Shapiro said was 300 events in 2023, he said they will put on 250 shows this year and then drop down to “close to 200” in 2025 in the effort of “margin expansion” which is financial speak for an increase in a company’s profit rate.

He did not specify whether the 200 number included NXT shows as well.

As he has done in the past, Shapiro said that they remain underpriced on WWE tickets and joked that he yells at the WWE team about not making prices higher when they are selling out so fast. He mentioned they didn’t have dynamic pricing tools in the past, indicating the trend of ticket prices increasing as demand increases that has taken over the concert industry could be coming to WWE.

He said with the current Peacock deal for their PLEs/archive content coming up in 2026, they feel “incredible” about that deal coming up and that it’s “beautiful” they have all the deals in place for Raw, SmackDown and NXT, putting over Netflix strongly as a “battleship” that will help them grow their brand and audience.

On the PLE deal, Shapiro said the 12 monthly events are “exciting and that people know” all about the shows. He said the WWE fanbase is a casual sports fan, an entertainment fan, lots of women, and very, very young. He said they are in a “really strong place” and plan on doing a lot of listening with all the potential suitors for the PLEs.

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Shapiro also talked about the impending UFC TV & PPV rights negotiations that are coming up in 2025. He revealed that the exclusive negotiating window with ESPN/Disney is between January 15 through April 15 and that their preference is to re-sign with the incumbent.

He said there have been no negotiations with ESPN as of now and that other platforms remain interested in having conversations about UFC programming. He reiterated they are going to remain flexible with the negotiations and with any partners who align with what they are trying to do like grow revenue in addition to both the audience and brand.

That extends to what they do with pay-per-views and revealed that Dana White initially didn’t like releasing control of sales to ESPN as he loves being a promoter. Shapiro said when it comes to either splitting the package or taking PPV sales back in house, they are up for all of it.

Click here to listen (no sub needed)

We’re Live, Pal: AEW Double or Nothing & WWE King and Queen of the Ring

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

It’s another episode of We’re Live, Pal which is also available for free on YouTube below.

Andrew Zarian and I opened up the show talking about what’s going on with Warner Bros. Discovery and the NBA as it relates to AEW.

We also discussed:

  • Mark Shapiro’s comments about the UFC rights, and WWE events going to paying locations
  • What success might look like for AEW as it relates to their rights
  • Tony Khan’s latest tweet celebrating AEW Collision ratings
  • WWE’s King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring possible matchups & winners
  • AEW Double or Nothing preview

You can follow us on Twitter.

For website subscribers, you can click here to listen (sub needed).

WWE reality show & documentaries planned for first year of Netflix deal

Posted on by Josh Nason

A WWE “Drive to Survive” type reality show is planned to be part of the first year of the WWE and Netflix partnership.

Speaking at the JPMorgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference Monday, TKO chief operating officer Mark Shapiro talked about the relationship with his usual talking points, but added that as part of the deal that begins in January 2025, they will also do “a lot of ancillary shoulder programming” next year that includes a series akin to the popular F1-focused docuseries in addition to documentaries on other WWE stars.

The “Drive to Survive” series that launched in 2019 is credited for a massive boom in F1’s popularity worldwide. The league signed a three-year extension with ESPN in June 2022 worth up to $90 million annually — a huge increase from their previous $5 million/year deal.

The WWE/Netflix deal begins this January, bringing Raw to the streaming giant domestically and all WWE content internationally for those regions that don’t have existing deals still in place.

Some other interesting quotes:

  • He said they will expand their WWE deal with Saudi Arabia over the next 6-12 months. Interestingly, the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (Turki Alsheikh) said an “enhancement” will be announced this month which could mean a future WrestleMania or Royal Rumble heading to the country in 2026 or 2027 if he has his way.
  • In talking about the UFC’s impending TV rights negotiations, he openly opined that ESPN should consider buying out the PPV rights and put them all on their impending direct-to-consumer flagship streaming channel exclusively. He said they haven’t pitched that to ESPN, but used that as an example of the “flexibility” they will bring to those conversations.
  • He said packaging up UFC/WWE events is a big part of their strategy going forward with attendance, site fees and pricing as key performance indicators. He said if they (WWE or UFC) are coming to town, it doesn’t have to be all cash when it comes to site fees, but they have to heavily incentivized to bring events to a city.
  • He said if next June’s UFC debut in Saudi Arabia goes well, he feels Dana White would be very open to bringing future events there past the one they already signed for — one that got twice the fee as the first one that hasn’t even happened yet.

TKO says WWE’s Nick Khan has sustained ‘strong’ partnership with Saudi Arabia

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Though Vince McMahon is no longer involved, WWE’s business relationship with Saudi Arabia remains strong.

As part of a deal with the Saudi government, WWE has held PPVs/PLEs in the country since 2018. The long-term deal calls for WWE to hold two events in Saudi Arabia per year, receiving an estimated $50 million for each show. The next of those events will be King & Queen of the Ring on May 25.

Saudi official Turki Alsheikh recently told ESPN that an “enhancement” to WWE’s deal with Saudi Arabia will be announced later this month. Alsheikh said Saudi Arabia is hoping to host a future Royal Rumble or WrestleMania.

During TKO Group’s first quarter earnings call, TKO executive Mark Shapiro was asked about WWE potentially expanding its Saudi relationship. Shapiro said WWE could potentially look to increase the amount of shows it holds in the country, but nothing is planned right now beyond the two annual events.

Shapiro noted that, while there was speculation the WWE-Saudi partnership could be negatively impacted by McMahon being gone, WWE President Nick Khan has maintained a “very, very strong relationship” with Saudi Arabia.

What I would say there is, let’s remember, we have a strong and healthy relationship with the Kingdom through WWE and doing two annual events a year. And I’ll just remind folks… those deals were primarily and highly tied to Vince McMahon. And there was a lot of speculation with Vince being gone, ‘Would that impact the relationship in a negative way? Would they be looking to get out of it?’ And I would say proudly that Nick Khan, in particular, has developed and sustained, cultivated, nurtured a very, very strong relationship in a handoff from Vince.

They [Nick Khan and Saudi Arabia] have a lot of trust in each other. They have a lot of faith. We’ve been delivering on those events. Potentially we could look to do more events, but nothing is planned beyond those two events at this time. And we will continue to look at eventizing or festivalizing those WWE events more than we already do.

The UFC, which is also owned by TKO, announced an extension to its partnership with Saudi Arabia this week.

WWE & Netflix discussions originally focused on NXT

Posted on by Josh Nason

While most of the headlines coming out of Mark Shapiro’s Wednesday comments have revolved around Vince McMahon, the TKO COO did reveal an interesting fact about the initial WWE/Netflix talks.

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology Media & Telecom Conference, Shapiro said that in the company’s talks with the streaming giant, NXT was the original point of discussion.

The two sides eventually came to a five-year, $5.2 billion deal to bring Raw to Netflix domestically starting in January 2025 in addition to all WWE programming, including PLEs, to Netflix internationally.

Shapiro said with the deal, they “cracked the code” with bringing live sports to Netflix and that the partnership alone “de-risked” the UFC/WWE merger that spawned TKO.

Shapiro is bullish on the deal that was driven by WWE CEO Nick Khan and TKO CFO Andrew Schleimer, mainly because of his confidence in Netflix’s marketing. He specifically mentioned WWE being highly visible when users log in to the service. He said it’s a good neighborhood to be in with Netflix and WWE, NBCUniversal and WWE, and UFC with Disney/ESPN.

He said the plan with Netflix is to be “very innovative” with the partnership, but that things are in the laboratory phase with possibilities. He wants to bring innovation to the deal with new technology, discussing how when he was with ESPN, they did the same with any new properties that came to the network.

“Netflix is very incentivized to bring the same technology innovation and disruption to WWE and we welcome it,” he said.

Other notes:

  • On the UFC side, Shapiro said they consider UFC one of the “big four” when it comes to TV given how much better their ratings are vs. the NHL. He talked a lot about the success they have brought to ESPN and ESPN+ where he said they are the anchor tenant.
  • Shapiro said they have not yet made a combined sponsorship pitch for WWE/UFC deals, but the team to do that just came into place in January so it’s early. He has a lot of confidence they will be able to grow the WWE sponsorship money in the same way they did with UFC, but possibly quicker given WWE’s “best in class” standing.
  • To that end, he reiterated they will focus on activating advertising inside the arena and that McMahon didn’t do things like selling ads on the mat. He did say that UFC’s ads on the Octagon mat are “arguably too muddy.”
  • He said the recent Anaheim WWE/UFC weekend was a great test for their dual threat approach of holding two shows in one venue and loved the “unplanned synergy” of athletes from both brands appearing on the other. They will look to replicate that, but it will be more of a long-term play with select situations.
  • He added that WrestleMania will see a big influence from WME (Endeavor’s talent agency) with “big celebs” coming.

Wrestling Weekly: Examining Mark Shapiro’s WWE comments, Okada’s future

Posted on by Victor Sosa

On a new Wrestling Weekly, Les Thatcher and myself discuss this week’s comments from TKO’s Mark Shapiro on cutting WWE house shows.

Also, we talk where Kazuchika Okada may go if he leaves NJPW. 

We also discuss which WWE brand will land CM Punk, as well as the rest of the week in AEW.

Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~! 

Click Here To Listen (sub needed)

WWE exploring cutting back on house shows as part of cost-cutting initiatives

Posted on by Josh Nason

TKO chief operating officer Mark Shapiro said they are looking to cut back on WWE house shows in the future as part of a cost-cutting initiative with both WWE and UFC.

Speaking at Monday’s UBS media conference, Shapiro said while house shows (what he called “cards” and/or “superstar events”) are good for the brand, building an audience and bringing the brand to “C and D counties,” “from a margin perspective, they’re dilutive.”

“There’s probably an opportunity, as we go through our synergies and efficiency opportunities, to cut back on some of those non-televised events which, of course, will push our margin up,” he said, adding they are going through that exercise now.

He did not define what “C and D counties” meant, but it’s assumed to be events in smaller cities and towns. He said WWE runs 300 events a year with 170 of those being televised.

Conversely, TKO and ESPN would like to see more UFC Fight Night events and are exploring that. He pointed to their six sellouts and impressive gates last quarter including their latest big financial success at Madison Square Garden. He did not indicate how many they are looking to add.

More cuts

After the company gave guidance that TKO could save up to $100 million in efficiencies post-merger, Shapiro said they will be at 75% of that by the end of 2024. 

He specifically called out production as an area in which more cost savings can be found, specifically pointing to travel crews and production for televised events for both UFC and WWE.

“There are a lot of production efficiencies. Even if our production chiefs want to tell me there’s not, frankly, I worked at ESPN for 12 years, I oversaw all production, I have been through all the song and dance with every producer who treats every tape machine and camera like it’s a baby and doesn’t want to give it up. And we’re here to improve our margins.

“We’re going to scrutinize every dollar on production for every single event, every single one of these telecasts, and improve our savings,” he said.

Raw TV rights

Asked about any update on the domestic TV rights for WWE Raw, Shapiro didn’t sound like they are in a rush, saying they could either wait until the NBA TV rights are completed or even wait until the night before their current deal with NBCUniversal is up in the fall of 2024.

Site fees

Shapiro re-iterated TKO will continue to look for site fees for both WWE and UFC events, saying their deal for a combination of events in Australia generated $16 million in addition to talking about the Saudi Arabia deal for both companies. He also said there is a long line of countries who want to bring their events to their country.

Sponsorship

Shapiro said he won’t be happy until they hit $1 billion in sponsorship revenue for the UFC as they want to be where the NBA and others are. 

With WWE, he said the “manifesto” by Vince McMahon for no sponsorship on the ring mat or other places has been thrown out and they are going to follow the same plan as they did with UFC for in-venue deals. With the WWE audience, he said they are “very diverse, 40% female and heavy family.”

We’re Live, Pal: TKO has officially arrived

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

It’s a brand new We’re Live, Pal! with myself and Andrew Zarian and this week’s show is available for free on YouTube. Just click above to watch.

We talked about the new combined WWE and UFC company, now under the branding of TKO. We discussed WWE’s media rights and some of the rumors of where they could be headed. We also talked about WBD’s Max streaming service, their play for live sports, and where AEW might fit in.

Finally, we talked about the CM Punk debacle and whether we could see him ending up in WWE.

You can follow us on Twitter.

For website subscribers, you can click here to listen (sub needed).