Ari Emanuel discusses Monday Night RAW’s TV rights.
Since the shows inception, it has aired on Monday Nights and while the show has differed in length, there has never been much consideration for the show to move off of Monday Nights.
With SmackDown’s TV rights deal locked down from 2024 to 2029, now the attention turns to Monday Night RAW and NXT, and now we know more details.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel commented on the current landscape of sports media rights.
“We got a 40% increase for SmackDown. We have Raw, which is the number one package available. There are three big rights coming available to market; WWE Raw, UFC, NBA. We are involved in two of them. There are six buyers. Plus, I would say WWE Network, which is up in 2026. You cannot undervalue WWE and UFC for the following reasons: One, we do not have a season. One of the biggest issues that will happen with s-mods and network is churn. We’re 52 weeks a year, and we’re flexible. If you want us Thursday night, if you want us Tuesday night, I don’t have any of those schedule issues. That churn issue, because we’re the full year, is so much different from any other sport because then people churn out. That’s one of the issues with sports. Not in a bad way. (You sign up for the NFL), and then the package is over, and then you leave. Our fans are loyal, they stick around, and they move,” he stated.
When asked if the NBA media rights deal needed to be settled first, Ari commented, “No. I would say there is plenty of interest with Raw right now. I know people are like, ‘NBC is out of the mix,’ and that’s why [the stock] went down. I think there are three things that happened. One, the reason the stock is down is they thought Raw is the best package. I thought a 40% increase, which was in line with expectations, was good. Two, the PFL situation, and three, probably Vince [Vince McMahon], in our deal, wanted to be able to put, at any point in time, his stock. He’s 78-years-old and been at this for decades and decades. Those three back-to-back issues….”
Ari Emanuel
We will have to wait and see where RAW will end up when WWE secures a new TV rights deal for its longest running program.
H/T to Fightful for transcription
If you enjoy Bodyslam’s content, you can help donate to the site here. You can also visit our PWTees store and buy Bodyslam official merchandise here.
You can listen to all of Bodyslam’s podcasts by following us on Spotify and subscribing to our YouTube Channel, or any of your favorite podcast platforms.ⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘ
