New Details On AEW's TV Deal: "Unprecedented" For A Start-Up Promotion?
It isn't as strong as WWE's, but AEW have nailed their TV deal.
All Elite Wrestling finally announced their United States television deal yesterday, with WarnerMedia confirming their partnership with the growing promotion, and AEW themselves following up with a statement announcing that TNT will air their new weekly show starting this fall.
Specific financial details are yet to be revealed and we're still to learn what night the show will air on, but TSN's John McMullen (supported by Mat Men Pro Wrestling's Andrew Zarian) has come through with new information.
Per McMullen, this is an "unprecedented deal for a start-up," and an "amazing deal that those in AEW are ecstatic about." It doesn't include TV rights fees, but this was never on the table. Shoddy reporting was the only reason people had been led to expect such a thing. It does, however, include production costs and a "great advertising split for AEW," which will be significant to the promotion's growth.
Reading this, it's hard to view the WarnerMedia deal as anything other than a massive success. The rights fees issue shouldn't be seen as a disappointment, either: for context, it took Vince McMahon almost 20 years before he was able to secure them.