TKO’s Mark Shapiro on athlete pay: We’ll share ‘as much as makes sense with the stars’ of WWE & UFC
Of all the things that came up during a 35-minute appearance at a technology conference Wednesday, getting asked about fighter and wrestler pay likely wasn’t at the top of TKO COO Mark Shapiro’s list.
That did happen, however, as during the annual Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference, Shapiro (seen above) was asked about his take on fighter and wrestler pay as relates to the level of reinvestment into the company and how investors should take that into account.
Shapiro said they already run “a pretty lean cost structure” that fighter and wrestler pay is part of, but they will “continue to do right by our fighters and our (WWE) superstars.”
“The cream of the crop will get paid the premium dollars,” he said, adding that when they sign big rights deals like UFC’s with Paramount and WWE’s with ESPN, they reinvest in the product. He used UFC doing “of the night” bonuses when they signed with ESPN as an example of that, perhaps not realizing UFC bonuses began long before the ESPN deal.
“We’re going to share as much as makes sense with the stars of both leagues. We will be very competitive…we are very competitive. We pay more than any other competitor in the combat sports space. We know why we’re here and it’s a team effort,” he said.
Citing the amount of events TKO runs in a year, Shapiro said, “We have to pay for performance in terms of our people and the same goes for our fighters and (WWE) superstars.”
He said there are cases where Conor McGregor and Jon Jones get paid more, but they “deliver more in return. It’s a scale and a formula, and we’re very transparent about it with our fighters and (WWE) superstars.”
Shapiro also talked about how ticket prices remain an area of opportunity for WWE as Vince McMahon priced tickets for families, and that Wrestlepalooza is seen by TKO as a potential “Big Four” PLE of the year for WWE.
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.