AEW's deal with WBD is closing in, and could be hittitng a big benchmark
Brandon Thurston tweeted the following, regarding a report from John Ourand at Puck
"John Ourand at Puck reports AEW's new media deal with WBD "looks like" it will be a 4-year deal: 3 years guaranteed with a 1-year option. Ourand says $170M per year "is apparently in the ballpark." puck.news/newsletter_content/zaz-on-the-ropes-pac-12-action-char...…
He says AEW will air on TNT, TBS, and TruTV twice per week, as part of a strategy to make TruTV more sports-oriented. The announcement of the deal "could come as soon as next week, barring any last-minute changes."
He says AEW is pitching an additional package to broadcast networks. The report at one point refers to AEW as "second-tier wrestling", though, Ourand writes that the deal "marks a clear success for AEW"."
Contacts we've spoken to close to the situation claim that this information does reflect the truth and the deal is being closed in on. We do not have a date in which the deal will be announced.
Sources we've spoken to at AEW say that things have been tight lipped about the future of the deal, and that talent has not been privy to the details of AEW's TV future, or the future of PPVs. However, several on both sides that we've spoken to believe that the MAX/PPV and streaming deals very well could be separate from the amount outlined by Ourand, and a part of a different deal the two sides are working on.
$200M a year was a large benchmark, which led to the "One Bil Phil," talking points, which referenced AEW being able to get an all encompassing deal of $200M per year on average over five years, equaling one billion dollars total. While the length of the deal wouldn't get them there, the $170M figure, plus additional PPV deals or revenue, as well as outside packages likely would.
Fightful reported earlier this summer that AEW had already been offered "at least double" their previous rights fees. Just after the Paris Olympics, another deal had been sent AEW's way, which we're told was "lengthy," and needed to be heavily reviewed. As of AEW All Out weekend, WBD sources told Fightful that talks were "amicable and ongoing."
AEW is still shopping additional packages, something we're told Tony Khan has been interested in doing in quite some time. It would appear as a result of this, AEW no longer will be exclusive to WBD, which was negotiated in as a result of the AEW Collision deal. This led to AEW Dark and Elevation being removed from AEW's Youtube slate. Fox has become a party of interest regarding AEW, and had also spoken to two other wrestling companies outside of WWE in recent years.
We have confirmed that Shockwave is a show, but haven't learned of the platform.
WBD has already prepared materials to announce their slate of programming for 2025.
We've not heard of any talks regarding ROH, but that's not to say those conversations haven't happened.
Although AEW's figures aren't publicly known, a TV deal of this size would make them profitable. If anything, the actual numbers of the deal are expected to be more than reported.
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