Warner Bros. Discovery is in the pro wrestling business.
For more than just providing a cable television home and digital streaming platform for pro wrestling content, too.
Following the AEW and WBD media rights renewal announcement on Wednesday, a story was released by Sports Business Journal with some interesting additional information about the new agreement.
While specific terms of the deal were never disclosed, it was rumored to have a value of upwards of $150 million per year. The length of the deal was never announced.
According to the aforementioned Sports Business Journal piece, the AEW and WBD media rights renewal is a three-year deal, with an option for a fourth year, estimated to be valued at $170 million per year.
This includes the television rights fees and other elements involved in the agreement.
More interestingly, however, is that the deal calls for WBD to keep its equity stake in AEW, the size of which was not disclosed.
Although it was never publicly acknowledged by AEW or WBD that WBD owns a percentage of the company, AEW President Tony Khan has never denied this either. Instead, he has publicly stated that he would never let anyone have voting power over him in the company, so no one would ever have a larger ownership percentage or stake in AEW than him.
We will keep you posted.
