Joint WWE-UFC Weekend Events Move A Step Closer
TKO Group bosses have big plans for WWE and UFC.
From the moment that the merger between WWE and UFC was confirmed fans have wondered whether there could be increased cross-promotion between the companies.
One idea was that WWE and UFC could hold events on the same weekend in an attempt to create ‘destination weekends’ and bring WWE fans to UFC and vice versa. While there’s been little official comment from the TKO Group which oversees both companies, President Mark Shapiro recently confirmed it’s something that’s been looked at.
Speaking at the UBS Global Media And Communication Conference, Shapiro described creating such weekends as a “huge opportunity.”
His comments were later published in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
“Huge opportunity. And not, yes, savings, there is an opportunity if we have two events from both properties on the same weekend, but just think of the revenue upside. That’s the real opportunity. Brands, sponsorship, if it’s an incremental event, the media rights around it. The international media rights around it. The premium experiences we can sell. The two tickets for one deal we can sell. You’re selling out every UFC event and setting records at the gate and with per caps.
Meanwhile, WrestleMania and Survivor Series are just two of our recent PLEs that we just see no slowing down. It makes a lot of sense to find the right weekend. Maybe it starts with two a year, maybe we can do one a quarter, but we’re absolutely looking to capitalize on that, on having two on the same weekend. It’s just really a calendar scheduling. And also we want to make sure we get the right site fee to do that.
If you, we’re getting sizable offers to bring a UFC fight to your town on a Saturday night. If we’re going to do a combo, it’s one plus one equals four.”
WWE Raw TV Negotiations Ongoing
During the conference, Mark Shapiro also addressed the ongoing TV rights negotiations around WWE Raw, commenting that the company has plenty of time to “be creative.”
Triple H missed the November 27th episode of the show, instead traveling to Los Angeles with Nick Khan to take part in discussions over the new TV deal.