This week, in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, veteran wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, released the latest revenue earnings within quarter three for TKO Group Holdings and its two subsidiaries: UFC and WWE. In total, TKO reached revenues of $1,119,944,000 and profits of $41,005,000. As far as WWE stands, its being perceived as the resilient and financially savvy subsidiary compared to UFC.
To begin, live events are up 40.4 percent from $51,094,000 to $82,392,000. The success of this, according to Meltzer, stems from WWE's historic announcement of turning SummerSlam into a two-night event starting this year. Of course, fans are starting to feel massive holes in their pockets regarding the increased prices on tickets. WWE President Nick Khan addressed the matter of this, stating that reducing non-televised events and focusing more on televised shows, including PLEs, is what's best for business. Therefore, the idea that tickets will be lowered in price are impractical.
"We've increased prices appropriately with the marketplace. That's for the PLEs, '[WWE] Raw,' '[WWE] Smackdown,' Saturday Night's Main Event, and every other ticketed program that WWE has. We remain bullish on it," Khan sternly noted on a call pertaining to its quarterly reports. "A couple of years ago, when TKO was stood up, one of the first things that we collectively did was reduce the non-televised live events, which created more scarcity in the marketplace for our televised events and our continued international expansion only furthered that. Even in January, you'll see us on a European tour for 'Raw' and 'Smackdown,' leading into Royal Rumble, which takes place in Saudi Arabia. Tickets already on fire for that event, and again, creates more scarcity in the United States, which is a good thing for our overall gate."
As far as sponsorships and consumer products, they too were up at 105.6 percent from $21,669,000 to $39,937,000 and 20.1 percent from $26,159,000 to $30,889,000, respectively. On the same call, the CEO of TKO, Ari Emanuel, called "SmackDown" ratings as of late "impressive," citing that it was first on its day on cable nine times during the quarter, as well as "Raw," which was always top ten on Netflix. During this call, he did not reveal the cut they made with Saudi Arabia for WrestleMania 43 in 2027.
