AEW Actually Made A Profit In April
Reduced production costs helped keep Cody and co. in the black.
Despite the straitened circumstances of the ongoing global medical emergency emptying arenas of fans and restricting the nature of the product, AEW nevertheless managed to turn a slight profit during April - a month which saw America's economy otherwise dramatically contract.
According to Dave Meltzer, writing in this week's issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the limitations have, in some ways, proved marginally, if serendipitously, beneficial. A reduced taping schedule is said to have lowered production costs, though not quite enough to offset the loss of the live gate that'd otherwise be filing in every Wednesday. However, other savings have been made by only flying talent in to film one set of tapings, as opposed to five in a variety of cities.
These factors, combined with the television money from TNT and online merchandise revenue, meant AEW actually ended the month in the black. Given the situation, that's obviously good news, though Meltzer points out that the company had forecast an even more profitable April. Even with the heightened regular production costs, it was expected that this month would have helped recoup some of the startup losses of 2019.
Those plans are now, of course, on hold, and it's just a case of AEW keeping the ship steady until we all sail out of these choppy waters.