Details on the new agreement between AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery are reportedly close to being finalised and an official announcement is expected imminently.
The media rights for the next period of AEW programming have been a common topic of discussion in the wrestling world with Tony Khan being frequently asked for an update on the matter. While Khan has been limited with what he is able to say, he has frequently been positive about his relationship with the network and its head David Zaslav.
Further indicating that big news was coming, Tony Khan recently appeared in front of a live crowd after Rampage went off the air and stated that he felt “pretty good” about the promotion staying on TBS and TNT moving forward.
While details have remained sparse from Khan and WBD, a new report from John Ourand in The Varsity Newsletter has provided more of an insight, stating that an official announcement could come as soon as next week providing that there are no “last-minute changes.”
What Is Expected In The New AEW Deal?
As stated in the newsletter, insiders have told Ourand that the upcoming deal will be initially for 3 years guaranteed and an option to extend it by another year. Furthermore, the $170 million per year value that has been seen on message boards is reportedly close to the true value.
For comparison, Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics has estimated that the current deal is valued at around $70 million per year. Thurston also anticipates that the significant increase in value may also signify more content being produced moving forward.
In terms of which channels AEW content will be broadcast on, it is stated that “matches will air on TNT, TBS, and TruTV twice a week.” The reason for this is that the goal is to make the latter 2 networks more sports-orientated channels following the loss of the NBA rights earlier in the year.
There is no mention of a partnership with streaming platform Max, which many anticipated to be the case to be the home of past and future pay-per-views. However, it is also stated in the newsletter that All Elite Wrestling is pitching another package to broadcast channels with no timetable as to when this will begin.
Further details on the upcoming deal and the content of The Varsity report have been expanded upon by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select. In regards to the imminent announcement of a new media rights deal, Fightful states that from their sources the information “does reflect the truth” but does not know the date of an official announcement.
Furthermore, talent has not been informed of any details regarding media rights and the company themselves have said to be “tight-lipped” about the future deal.
In regards to AEW pitching packages to other channels, Fightful reports that shopping additional packages is something that Kahn has been looking at doing “for quite some time” and that there is a distinct possibility that AEW will not be an exclusive property to WBD moving forward.
It is also reported that if the $170 million per year deal is finalised, this would make the promotion profitable.
While many are optimistic over the reported AEW deal, one show could be cancelled.
Very happy about the future, Tony Khan declared that things are “very bright” in AEW.