After months of intense speculation that predicted glorious ascension from some and the utter demise from others, All Elite Wrestling and Warner Bros. Discovery officially announced a new multi-year media rights deal on Wednesday.
The renewal of the deal calls for Dynamite and Collision to remain on TBS and TNT respectively, with AEW programming streaming live simultaneously on Max for U.S. subscribers in January 2025. AEW pay-per-view events will stream live on Max later next year for an additional cost.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Kathleen Finch confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that AEW’s library will be available on Max as part of the deal.
The Sports Business Journal is the first mainstream source to report that WBD has an equity stake in AEW and retained it as part of the new deal.
Industry insiders, including former WCW President Eric Bischoff, have long since suspected ownership stake was part of the equation, considering their financial support of the promotion despite declining ratings.
There was no mention of AEW’s Friday night show Rampage, their quarterly specials Battle of the Belts, Ring of Honor, or Tru TV, which is rebranding as a sports channel. The word on the street is Rampage has been canceled and will finish its run through 2024.
While the financial terms and length of the deal were not disclosed, Variety notes the renewal is valued at upwards of $150 million per year.
Puck.com and the Sports Business Journal are citing a three-year deal with an option for a fourth year, valued at $170 annually.
Wrestling Observer Newletter is reporting the highest dollar value for AEW’s new deal. The breakdown is $180 million in 2025, $185 million in 2026 and $190 million in 2027.
I won’t pretend to be an expert on how media rights deals work. I know that everyone from Fightful.com to the National Enquirer has reported different numbers about the value of the new deal. Many wrestling insiders on social media have also noted varying aspects of the deal from their sources.
The lesson here is that besides AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery, no one truly knows what this deal entails. As my friend @DosEvil said, “The devil is in the details” when it’s all said and done. Sure, people have sources give them tidbits and various parts of a deal, but none of the “experts” have the whole picture.
All anyone really knows for sure is that AEW has a new media deal, and fans get to enjoy more wrestling. Neither company announced the specifics of AEW’s initial deal when the company was founded in 2019. Its par for the course with what information Tony Khan publicly shares.
If Rampage is canceled, it’s the right call. It started on the highest of highest in 2021 as the launching pad for CM Punk’s return to pro wrestling following a seven-year absence.
Unfortunately, it fell over the years in viewership, becoming a glorified episode of the promotion’s former YouTube show, AEW Dark. That goes double for Battle of the Belts, which was a nothing-happening show from the jump.
In 2022, Tony Khan turned down talks with the CW when they expressed interest in Ring of Honor. ROH appears to have no place in the new deal and will remain in the void on their app.
Ring of Honor has no contemporary value and there is no way Max would place their back catalog on the platform. Max has a plethora of award-winning content. Older ROH shows look like public access television shows, which is the opposite of the must-see TV experience that HBO/Max is known to distribute.
The pay-per-view aspect of the deal has the biggest impact on fans. AEW PPVs are available on Triller TV, YouTube, and traditional pay-per-view outlets for $49.99. With PPVs moving to Max at a lower rate in 2025, how much of a discount will we receive?
Max costs $9.99 monthly, with commercials, $16.99 for the ad-free option, and $20.99 for the ultimate ad-free tier, including 4K viewing. Fans will have to pay the monthly subscription fee in addition to the cost of an AEW pay-per-view. If AEW charges $32.99 to those who subscribe to Max’s $16.99 plan, you’re still paying $49.98 for the show between the cost of the two.
It’s a similar setup to UFC’s distribution model, where fans must subscribe to ESPN+ for $11.99 monthly in order to fork over $79.99 for a pay-per-view event. The Max/PPV option will feel like a discount for those who already subscribe to the service. However, it won’t feel that way for those who only subscribe to Max for AEW content.
Some people believe that AEW’s new deal doesn’t offer much benefit to fans, especially when comparing it to the fact that all WWE content is available on Peacock, including PLEs, at no extra cost. The $7.99 tier of Peacock (which includes commercials) is free for Xfinity internet service subscribers.
Many are shaking their fist, wondering why AEW can’t mirror WWE’s PLE distribution. It’s all about the economics. NBC Universal is paying WWE $200 million annually to host their content. That is in addition to the $287 million a year NBC is paying for SmackDown to air on USA.
NXT’s recent move to the CW, the same CW Tony Khan refused to talk to about ROH, nets $25 million a year. Starting in January, Netflix will pay $500 million annually for Monday Night Raw over the next decade. That totals $1,012 billion a year in television revenue alone for WWE.
Reportedly, AEW All In garnered 173,000 pay-per-view buys. $50 a pop equals $8,648,270 million. However, cable, satellite, and online distributors get 50%, which means AEW got $4,324,135 million.
AEW PPVs are often amazing shows that you can’t miss. I still regret missing Revolution in 2023. If PPVs were free on Max, AEW would lose a lot of money with the terms of their new deal.
Whether the number is $150, $170, or $180 million, AEW’s new deal is impressive as no other wrestling promotion is even close to obtaining such a deal. The deal spans three-years, with a fourth-year option. However, Tony Khan needs to stop the bleeding as TV ratings and live event ticket sales continue to decline.
Some people thought that WB Discovery would abandon AEW, while others believe that AEW got a bad deal. I think Tony Khan was hoping for a bigger offer but had to settle for the deal they ended up with. Despite depreciation in overall viewership, their TV ratings in the key 18-49 demo are still strong. This makes me think that they received more money this time around compared to their initial deal in 2019.
Presumably, no ROH and no Rampage for a fee increase, however slight it might be, means more money for less work. That setup can only serve Tony Khan well moving forward. He’s already spread himself too thin creatively. With a lighher slate and more money, Khan has three more years to right the ship.
Regardless of what anyone thinks of the AEW product, everyone should root for their success. The last five years have proven that the wrestling business is a better place with two major promotions instead of one.
RingsideLogic.com 