WWE Announces Expanded Event Partnership with the Saudi General Entertainment Authority
The following press release was issued by WWE this afternoon.
WWE® AND THE SAUDI GENERAL ENTERTAINMENT AUTHORITY EXPAND EVENT PARTNERSHIP
STAMFORD, CONN. and RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA, November 4, 2019 – Following the historic Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, WWE (NYSE: WWE) and the Saudi General Entertainment Authority (GEA) have expanded their live event partnership through 2027 to include a second annual large-scale event. WWE and GEA also continue to work towards the completion of a media agreement in the MENA region.
This long-term partnership demonstrates WWE and GEA’s commitment to bring sports entertainment to the region and supports Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.
About WWE
WWE, a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family-friendly entertainment on its television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing platforms. WWE’s TV-PG, family-friendly programming can be seen in more than 800 million homes worldwide in 28 languages. WWE Network, the first-ever 24/7 over-the-top premium network that includes all live pay-per-views, scheduled programming and a massive video-on-demand library, is currently available in more than 180 countries. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, Munich and Tokyo.
Additional information on WWE (NYSE: WWE) can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com. For information on our global activities, go to http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/.
TJR Thoughts: The “second annual large-scale event” line means that WWE is committed to two shows in Saudi Arabia every year until 2027. Under the original deal, they only had committed to two shows per year for 2018 and 2019, but with this extension it means the deal continues for another eight years. The timing of this is interesting as well since there are rumors of WWE superstars upset about what happened during the Crown Jewel trip and some of them may not want to go back, but clearly WWE is happy with the deal.