Endeavor and TKO Group President & COO Mark Shapiro believes the company is going to “leverage and capitalize on the ridiculous demand these days for live events and premium content” following WWE and UFC coming under the same umbrella. He said the two properties will maintain “their own distinct identities, but there will be significant synergy” between the two. WWE’s media deals with Fox and NBCUniversal expire in October 2024, and Shapiro said, “We’re in discussions now with multiple platforms, both linear and digital.” Shapiro: “I’m cautiously optimistic about that and encouraged by those conversations. ... We’re year-round. There’s not a lot of sports properties that are a year-round calendar.” He said with the media landscape changing and under pressure, anybody claiming they are “not paying attention to it is a fool, anybody that says they are immune to it is a fool.” Shapiro: “Not only do you have calendar, not only is it sports, it’s live, it’s volume, it’s tonnage, it’s got extraordinary engagement, it's diverse. ... You want to get your hands on premium properties. I don’t care if it’s ‘Stranger Things’ or it’s the UFC, you want something that’s going to draw people to buying your direct-to-consumer streaming platform.”
SEPARATE MEDIA DEALS LIKELY: Shapiro noted the UFC and WWE would probably have separate media rights deals, “but you have to nimble, you have to be flexible and patient, and one never knows." Shapiro: "There could be a short-term deal we do just to align the two. It all depends on market dynamics and right now, time is on our side. We’re not rushing to do a deal” (“The Town,” THE RINGER, 9/12).
