Both WWE and AEW have important television negotiations coming up in the not too distant future. To date, there’s been more attention on AEW’s next TV deal, both because the company is still relatively young and due to the big changes at its corporate broadcast partner, Warner Bros. Discovery.
Despite Warner Bros. Discovery continuing to flounder (its stock price just hit a new low this week) as it tries to tighten its belt financially, most wrestling industry observers expect it to renew its deal with AEW, potentially for even more money than the promotion received under its current contract. The same is true for WWE’s deals with NBCUniversal (for Raw) and FOX (for SmackDown).
But the TV landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, with streaming an increasingly viable option for live events — particularly sports, one of the last types of programming guaranteed to deliver live viewing audiences. That’s led to an intriguing idea: Might Netflix consider bidding for WWE or AEW broadcast rights?
It might not be as crazy as it sounds. Dave Meltzer noted in his most recent issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that “it is confirmed Netflix is looking at getting into live sports,” with the thought that it could “affect both WWE and AEW with next year’s negotiations.” That was based on both comments from WWE executive Nick Khan, as well as reports from outlets like Deadline, which this week claimed Netflix “has been quietly looking into acquiring the rights to a number of leagues and events.”
Though Netflix didn’t confirm the report when asked for comment by Deadline, a source quoted in the article suggested that, “Sports is the baseline now, we all know it, and finding the right properties, the right leagues is a priority, but it is always a question of the right league, the right deal.”
Netflix has famously been spending a ton of money on content in recent years (Deadline pegged it at $17 billion annually) as it’s dealt with the arrival of numerous new players in the streaming space, many of whom took shows and movies for themselves that used to be available to Netflix. That’s left it in the very expensive game of producing things itself for people to watch, which has had mixed results so far.
Getting into live sports solves some of that problem as it removes Netflix from the production side of the equation and potentially guarantees a certain number of repeat viewers. The recent round of coverage has focused on it exploring things like tennis and surfing, but let’s think a little bigger.
Bidding on the broadcast rights for WWE and AEW would cost more, but also give Netflix access to larger audiences. Wrestling has no offseason, so either company would be providing a steady stream of content that delivers year-round. And it can certainly afford it — even though the FOX deal for WWE SmackDown was $1 billion, that was spread over five years, and Netflix most likely spends $200 million on individual movies with big names attached on a semi-regular basis.
There would be some downside for the wrestling companies, with questions about how many fans might bristle at paying for a product they’re accustomed to getting for free. AEW, for instance, might be justifiably concerned about being the first mover to a paid streaming service like Netflix if WWE’s flagship shows were still available on cable.
Still, the wrestling companies would have the guaranteed money from the deal, and Netflix would get its foothold in live sports (or something awfully close, anyway). It’s certainly something to keep in the back of your head as the time for serious negotiations over the next TV deals for WWE and AEW gets closer.