AEW TV Deal: Will All Elite Wrestling Sign A Big TV Contract Soon?

All Elite Wrestling has been a useful number two option for professional wrestlers in the United States. The money wrestlers make here is just as good, if not better, than what they’d get in the WWE. This is a big deal because it means other organizations, including WWE, now have to offer more competitive contracts than ever before. Yet the current AEW TV deal is ending roughly by the end of this summer. This means they need to sign a new television contract sometime in the next month or two.

AEW has been broadcasting in America on TNT and TBS, both of which are part of the Warner Bros. family of cable networks. Of course, Discovery Communications now owns Warner Bros. today, but AT&T owned them when AEW was first signed on. Their initial contract was more of a prove-it deal. AEW had to show they were worth a larger TV contract.

AEW did just that, which led to a better deal, which was the last one the company signed. As of this writing, Warner Bros. Discovery has offered AEW a new deal, but the company has yet to sign anything. Fightful reports that an AEW TV Deal has been on the table for months. They claim that both sides are relatively confident that a deal will be reached soon.

There is much more to this than people think, though.

CURRENT ISSUES WITH THE AEW TV DEAL

The current hang-up is that AEW and WBD are trying to figure out which nights, time slots, and even time blocks make the most sense for AEW’s television properties. This could mean AEW Dynamite might move to a new night or possibly another network in the WBD family. On top of this, WBD has been trying to reach a deal that will bring AEW’s PPVs to their MAX streaming platform.

Most feel moving the PPVs off of the Bleacher Report streaming platform needs to happen. Yet, at the same time, no one wants to have to do a UFC/ESPN+ type of thing. It is a model that everyone seems to hate. One must pay for the streaming platform and then pay additional money to watch the PPVs. The best way to do this is to work out a model that NBC Universal did with WWE. They brought the WWE Network over to Peacock, which brought WWE PPVs to Peacock in the United States.

It was a big deal for them to make, and both sides were happy with it. No additional fees are needed to watch anything connected to WWE, either. If WWE makes this type of deal, then AEW certainly should get something similar out of MAX.

This is another big issue that the AEW TV Deal would connect to, especially since WBD has been trying to invest heavily in the MAX service. Many AEW fans would love it if MAX showed every AEW PPV for free when you pay for the MAX service. Due to how well this model has worked for WWE and Peacock, it’s very likely the same deal will be reached with AEW. It would most certainly lead to more viewership for their PPVs, too.

THE MONEY AEW NEEDS FOR THIS DEAL TO HAPPEN

Probably the biggest thing about the AEW TV deal is that they need to get a much bigger deal than they had in the past. We’re talking something not quite at, but roughly near what WWE saw for Monday Night Raw nearly ten years ago. While this is a lot to ask, it is necessary right now for AEW to get something that can make the company properly profitable. This is mostly due to AEW’s massive talent salaries.

According to The Wrestling Observer, AEW’s current roster salary is estimated at around $104 million per year. Due to this size, they need to get a fantastic television contract to break even. If they can get something near $200 million per year, which they have not proven they are worth, this would get them into the black much quicker.

They are likely to get something in the neighborhood of $125 to $150 million with the MAX deal involved. That would net them $25 to $50 million in profit after roster salaries. AEW Owner Tony Khan might also decide to stop offering stupidly high salaries. He needs to be open to letting some talent go. Especially when working with other companies to use their talent off and on is a lot cheaper.

WON also estimates that the roster salary is around 50 to 55% of AEW’s total revenue. In WWE, the percentage of its revenue that goes toward talent is a little below 20% right now. However, it had been as low as 8% at one point. We can thank AEW and other companies for the rise, as WWE paid more over the past five years to keep or sign talent due to increased competition.

COMPARED TO WWE:

That said, WWE’s low percentage of roster salary is one reason why the company is so massive profitable. In addition to this, they have also signed incredibly large television contracts. They also just made a deal with Netflix that will bring in $5 billion for the company. Starting in 2025, WWE will air RAW on Netflix in America, but all their other properties and even PPVs will be on Netflix for the rest of the world. This will run for five years, with an option to continue for another five. This is roughly $500 million annually.

That won’t include SmackDown or NXT in the United States. SmackDown will air on USA Network for five years and bring in $1.4 billion. This nets the company more than it brought in for its FOX contract. NXT will also be airing on The CW soon, bringing in around $25 million annually. In total, WWE will make around $1 billion per year on their television contracts.

This is why the percentage of roster salaries is so much lower, as they can pay the same amount AEW pays its talent and still have a lower roster revenue percentage.

The AEW TV Deal does not need to be this large, but it does need to bring in enough for the company to do better than break even. Otherwise, Tony Khan will just be spending money with very little, if any, profit.