Nick Khan reveals when WWE decided to enter the site fee ‘business’

Much like its corporate sibling in the UFC, WWE getting site fees and in-kind deals for bringing major events to a city has been a growing focus for both itself and parent company TKO, a topic referenced continually by TKO head Mark Shapiro.

This year alone, WWE will bring in $5 million for November’s Survivor Series in San Diego, California; $5 million in site fees & $4.2 million in tax credits for this year’s two-night WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas, and $7.1 million for August’s two-night SummerSlam in New Jersey.

And then, there is the reported $100 million WWE/TKO will receive for bringing WrestleMania to Saudi Arabia in 2027, not to mention this January’s Royal Rumble.

Talking to Puck’s John Ourand as part of a bigger feature on UFC, WWE president Nick Khan revealed when that light bulb went off: when he learned UFC was getting roughly $3 million from Salt Lake City, Utah for an event.

“I looked at our current WrestleMania deal, and we were getting around $150,000 for WrestleMania, and what I call ‘posters around the city’ — otherwise known as value-in-kind. So we got an economic impact report, and got into the subsidy business,” he said.

WWE heads to Indianapolis, Indiana, this weekend for Wrestlepalooza. WWE signed a deal with the Indiana Sports Corp in June 2024, the financial terms of which have yet to be disclosed.