2023 is proving to be one of the most pivotal years in WWE’s history. The year kicked off with Vince McMahon ending his six-month retirement by returning to the board of directors in January, reassuming his position as WWE Chairman. From there, reports emerged that WWE was seeking to sell itself, which led to rumored suitors that included Comcast, Amazon, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The long-awaited sale went through on Monday, as Endeavor purchased WWE for $9.3 billion. This acquisition has led to WWE merging with Endeavor’s other sporting giant, UFC, as both companies will progress by sharing some key leadership figures.
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Even though the sale is finalized, the story is truly just beginning. One of the biggest question marks moving forward revolves around television rights. WWE currently has linear TV deals with NBCUniversal (Monday Night Raw and NXT on USA Network) and Fox Corp. (WWE SmackDown on Fox). Both of those contracts expire in 2024. UFC has its television contract with ESPN, and that is not due to expire until 2025.
WWE President Nick Khan detailed what’s next for the company from a television standpoint, noting that conversations with their current TV partners will be beginning imminently.
“The most important thing is that NBC and Fox, from a WWE point of view, feel respected in the process,” Khan told Axios. “So we’re going to enter those conversations with them.”
That said, Khan did add that WWE is comfortable in exploring television free agency, so to speak.
“If we’re not able to do that, we’ll see what the marketplace has to say and ultimately choose the right partner for the WWE audience in our shareholders,” Khan said.
While linear television is crucial to WWE’s product, it has also put a large emphasis on streaming in the past decade. Following the launch of the WWE Network in 2014, all WWE pay-per-views were streamable on the company’s streaming service for just ten dollars per month. When the company migrated the WWE Network to Peacock in 2021, the monthly pay-per-views were rebranded as “premium live events” and became exclusive to the streaming service. It’s worth noting that since UFC still puts the majority of its content on pay-per-view, Endeavor could be looking to shift WWE back towards a platform that would warrant a significantly steeper price tag for its monthly events.
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on WWE’s future following its sale.
