WWE Expands Deal With Saudi Arabia To Include Second Major Annual Event

WWE announced via a press release on Monday that the company's partnership with the Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Authority has been expanded to include a second large-scale event each year. The release reads, "Following the historic Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, WWE (NYSE: WWE) and the Saudi General Entertainment Authority (GEA) have expanded their live event partnership through 2027 to include a second annual large-scale event. WWE and GEA also continue to work towards the completion of a media agreement in the MENA region.

"This long-term partnership demonstrates WWE and GEA's commitment to bring sports entertainment to the region and supports Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030," it continued. WWE fisrt signed a 10-year multi-platform partnership with the kingdom's organization in March 2018, starting with the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Jeddah in April 2018. Since then the company has hosted three additional events in the country, with the latest being Crown Jewel in Riyadh this past Thursday.

As The Wrap's Tony Maglio explained on Twitter, WWE's initial contract with Saudi Arabia only listed one event per year as part of the official deal and the Greatest Royal Rumble (2018) and Super ShowDown (2019) events served as "placeholders" until WWE got a second annual event added to the 10-year contract. So Monday's announcement officially put what was already happening down on paper.

WWE was only contracted to do Crown Jewels (1/year) as they worked out the longterm contract for a 2nd event. The Greatest Royal Rumble & Super Showdown were I guess what you would consider freelance/placeholder events.

Now there will be 2 contracted events for the next 8 years https://t.co/J8Annzomok

— Tony Maglio (@TonyMaglio) November 4, 2019