The same week as the merger between WWE and UFC went into effect after Endeavor acquired WWE, it was announced that the TKO Holdings Group had inked a deal to leave FOX for a return to the USA Network with WWE SmackDown in October 2024 after signing a five-year agreement between WWE and NBCUniversal.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel commented on the current landscape of sports media rights and touted WWE’s deal with NBCU for SmackDown.Â
“We got a 40% increase for SmackDown. We have Raw, which is the number one package available. There are three big rights coming available to market; WWE Raw, UFC, NBA. We are involved in two of them. There are six buyers. Plus, I would say WWE Network, which is up in 2026. You cannot undervalue WWE and UFC for the following reasons: One, we do not have a season. One of the biggest issues that will happen with s-mods and network is churn. We’re 52 weeks a year, and we’re flexible. If you want us Thursday night, if you want us Tuesday night, I don’t have any of those schedule issues. That churn issue, because we’re the full year, is so much different from any other sport because then people churn out. That’s one of the issues with sports. Not in a bad way. (You sign up for the NFL), and then the package is over, and then you leave. Our fans are loyal, they stick around, and they move,” he stated.
Regarding whether the NBA media rights deal needed to be settled first before locking down the rights for Raw and NXT, Ari noted there’s still plenty of interest in the rights to programs.Â
“No. I would say there is plenty of interest with Raw right now. I know people are like, ‘NBC is out of the mix,’ and that’s why [the stock] went down. I think there are three things that happened. One, the reason the stock is down is they thought Raw is the best package. I thought a 40% increase, which was in line with expectations, was good. Two, the PFL situation, and three, probably Vince [Vince McMahon], in our deal, wanted to be able to put, at any point in time, his stock. He’s 78-years-old and been at this for decades and decades. Those three back-to-back issues….”
(H/T to Fightful for the quotes)
