TKO exec defends reduced WWE live event schedule, sees ‘tremendous upside’ in ticket pricing

Any hope WWE fans might have of ticket prices coming down any time soon will have to wait.

During his annual appearance at the JP Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications conference in Boston, TKO president & chief operating officer Mark Shapiro (pictured above) spoke about both WWE and UFC business which included the upside he sees in both brands.

One of those is ticket pricing which he says has “tremendous upside” in addition to site fees, dynamic pricing (a growing trend with concerts where prices are driven by demand), and yield management (a broader strategy that aims to maximize revenue by controlling inventory availability and pricing).

Shapiro also defended TKO’s decision to reduce yearly WWE live events to around 200 a year, a cut of 75% off the 300 WWE used to do. He said that decision wasn’t just to improve margins as WWE already had a strong following. He added he feels 200 events is a good place to be, but they will continue to prune the schedule as time goes on.

WWE & Peacock

Shapiro said they are continuing to talk with NBC Universal/Peacock who are interesting in renewing their deal for WWE PLEs that expires at the end of March 2026. Shapiro said they aren’t afraid of working with multiple partners from a business perspective as it’s smart to not put all the marketing eggs in one basket while maximizing financial opportunity. He added that as a viewer, “I can’t stand it” but admitted that’s the world we live in now.

Like with the UFC rights, there is no rush to make a deal and they want to have the right partner(s) from a financial and brand growth perspective. He also again noted that what is unique about WWE PLEs is they are “very high quality and low volume.” He again didn’t mention anything about the library and perceived value there.

Here’s some other highlights on both the WWE and UFC side from Shapiro’s 35-minute talk:

• He confirmed that the state of New Jersey is giving WWE a $7 million site fee for this August’s first-ever two-night SummerSlam. As previously reported, the money is coming from pandemic funding.
• Shapiro put over how half the WWE/UFC audience is in the 18-49 demographic and that under 18 years old is one of their biggest audiences. He said in that age, they are tied with the NBA as the biggest draw and no. 1 with males under 18.
• The X-factors to growth with younger viewers: sporting betting with the UFC and Netflix with WWE.
• He feels WWE will be one of the vehicles Netflix uses to become the first-ever company with a $1 trillion valuation as WWE is an “anditote to churn” and a “proven formula for subscriber acquistion.”
• He said Raw is in the Netflix top 10 weekly in 29 countries and up 14% for “what we did on USA last year” without specifying what that 14% represents.
• He pushed the WWE Unreal docuseries in June on Netflix, noting that he cautioned Nick Khan to “not give away the Coca-Cola formula” to expose everything they do but said there’s a proven desire for behind-the-scenes content like this.

Source