Endeavor president: With WWE, we’re going to run the UFC playbook
With the dust not even close to being settled on the merger that will see Vince McMahon’s WWE fused with Endeavor’s UFC in a new company, indications on how the new WWE will be run are emerging.
In an interview with Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand, Endeavor president Mark Shapiro said, “We’re going to run the UFC playbook. The opportunity to put Vince McMahon’s creative head with Dana (White) and Ari (Emanuel) is going to create a significant amount of value for shareholders.”
On Monday morning, Endeavor and WWE announced their intent to merge WWE with UFC into a new yet-to-be-named publicly traded combat sports company trading under the ticker symbol TKO.
The playbook Shapiro referred to will be to focus on growing WWE sponsorship, licensing, hospitality and ticket sales in addition to developing its talent through unscripted shows, movies and endorsements.
“That’s the strategy. That’s how it has successfully played out for the UFC over the last six years. Remember when we bought it for $4.1 billion? People thought that price was crazy. Now, it is valued at $12.1 billion. I mean, what a story. We hope to do the same thing with the WWE.”
Shapiro cited a statistic that 80% of WWE’s net revenues come from the media segment. As alluded to during Emanuel’s interview alongside McMahon with CNBC Monday, Endeavor won’t be a central figure in the negotiations on the new TV rights contracts until the merger deal closes later this year.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.