WWE Trades Ruthless Aggression For PG | Wrestling Timelines
May 15, 2014 | Rights Fee Disappointment
The ultimate goal, of rebranding WWE as a sponsor-friendly operation ripe for lavish TV contracts, is not quite reached.
WWE reaches a deal with NBC Universal for its television rights fees. USA Network will carry Raw, while SyFy will screen SmackDown and Total Divas will be renewed on E!. WWE had hoped to double or even triple the fees paid under the terms of the existing deal. This does not happen, although the 2014 fee increase is at least considered “substantial”, per the May 26, 2014 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
This is a poor deal. As Meltzer points out, a bullish WWE had internally discussed the fact that NASCAR - another franchise whose audience is stereotyped as low-income and poorly educated - bagged a mammoth fee of $820 million per year despite scoring slightly lower aggregate TV ratings than WWE. Major League Soccer, meanwhile, did not double nor even triple its fee; in going from $18 million to $90 million, the league quintupled it - despite a year-on-year ratings decline of 29%.
The stock market reacts as such; the WWE share price almost halves from $19.93 to $10.92 over the following days. This is a temporary blip that Vince, in an emergency public conference call, blames on the timing of the Network’s launch potentially diluting and undermining TV viewership.
As embarrassing as this is - so much so that WWE does not even publicise the final number, which Dave Meltzer estimates is in the region of $142.5 million per year - WWE is very much on track to achieve its stated 2008 goals. Perspective is not what WWE shareholders want in 2014, but as awful as the deal is in the context of the wider TV landscape, it’s impressive in the context of where WWE was in 2008. The company is now a sponsor-friendly enterprise almost totally devoid of controversy and the attendant stigma. The clean-up operation is complete. Outsiders no longer look at WWE and cover their nose at the stench of death; when they look at WWE, John Cena’s gurning face is beamed back at them.
In time, WWE will get there…