For most fans, WWE and the USA Network have a near synonymous relationship. However, NBC and its affiliate may be losing WWE as FOX is believed to be interested in acquiring the TV rights to Vince McMahon‘s wrestling conglomerate and maybe WWE itself.
With Vince McMahon making $100 million moves and WWE already partnering with Facebook, 2018 has proven to be an eventful year for the business end of the company. However, the Wrestling Observer is reporting that WWE may be on the verge of a colossal business agreement with FOX.
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The Observer asserts that Triple H met with Fox Sports in the fall of 2017 where the parties discussed a new TV deal. WWE’s current deal with NBC is set to expire in September of 2019. When WWE and NBC originally struck their agreement was, at the time, for an underwhelming $200 million. This number was low enough to spook shareholders and sent WWE’s stock plummeting. WWE has since rebounded and FOX would likely need upwards of $400 million to secure the rights. Even more, given FOX’s recent $52.4 billion deal with Disney, they have enough cash to buy WWE entirely, but The Observer believes that Vince McMahon is not interested selling his company.
But if FOX does snag WWE’s TV rights, what does that mean?
Well, for one, you won’t see WWE on the USA Network anymore. Instead, RAW would move to FOX’s flagship station and would certainly be trimmed from 3 hours to 2. SmackDown would jump to Fox Sports 1 and other WWE programming would be sprinkled across FOX’s affiliates.
However, all of this is predicated upon FOX and UFC ending their agreement. If the two sides re-up their deal, then that pushes WWE out of the picture as FOX simply would not have the room to harbor both UFC and WWE. It’s worth mentioning that FOX was in the running to buy UFC outright before WME-IMG ended the bidding war at $4 billion. FOX may make a similar offer to WWE one that since McMahon and Co. would have to consider.
This is a situation destined to be fluid, but if FOX and UFC end their agreement then big changes may be in the story for WWE.
