WWE Selling WrestleMania Rights To FOX?
Another day, another big rumour regarding WWE's changing PPV business.
Yesterday saw a genuine paradigm shift in the way WWE fans consume professional wrestling, with Vince McMahon announcing during WWE's Q4 2019/FY 2019 earnings call that the promotion was looking to sell its pay-per-view rights to another major OTT streaming platform, with the Chairman claiming an announcement could be forthcoming by the end of Q1 2020.
A huge, blockbuster business move, and here's another one: part of the changes could mean WrestleMania going to FOX.
This is according to Bryan Alvarez, who, on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Live, claimed that a source within the promotion said that WWE could potentially sell 'Mania to FOX rather than having it air on the Network (or whatever OTT service other pay-per-views end up on).
On paper, this sounds like a logical continuation of the growing WWE/FOX relationship. SmackDown's viewership has increased 20% (per yesterday's earnings report) since moving to the new network, whose own FY 2019 financials suggest a mutually beneficial relationship.
There's currently no word on whether this would mean 'Mania airing via pay-per-view or going out on a free-to-air channel, though one would assume PPV if that's what's going to bag the most money.