Nick Khan talks TV rights negotiations, possible return to PPV, Vince, more

[Chris]

Pat McAfee is not expected at WrestleMania 39.

WWE CEO Nick Khan told The Marchand & Ourand Sports Media Podcast that the company has "no plans" for McAfee to be at the event this year. McAfee has not returned to the SmackDown commentary desk following his hiatus to join ESPN College Gameday last year. He made a one-night return at the Royal Rumble in January but is currently not expected back full-time.

Khan said of McAfee:

We have no plans to have him there this weekend.
The world is his oyster. He's 36 years old and look at his relevancy factor when you talk to young children. I have two young children, when I talk to them it's often, 'McAfee, McAfee, McAfee.' That's what's in the wheelhouse for them. So, if you look at any of the traditional buyers, what do they want? They want a young diverse audience. What does McAfee bring? He brings a young, diverse audience. You notice he doesn't get political, extreme, either way. He has Aaron Rodgers on, he treats him respectfully, develops that relationship, he becomes the go-to home of Aaron Rodgers. You see that with more athletes and Pat. He's not looking to annihilate anybody or crucify them, he's looking to have good content and his content has been terrific. So, he'll determine, ultimately, where he wants his home to be and our hope is that he does more with us.

McAfee's WWE future garnered speculation earlier this month following Wade Barrett telling the Daily Star his role on the SmackDown commentary team is "as permanent as you can ever be in a role in WWE."

Shortly after Barrett's statements, McAfee posted to Twitter that he still has "massive plans" regarding his journey to the WWE Hall of Fame. He wrote:

"A lot of wrestling chatter about me right now.. I think about wrestling everyday..that dream isn’t done," McAfee tweeted. "My business is currently rather active and exigent…+ baby on the way…timing is everything I still have MASSIVE plans for my journey to the WWE HOF someday. Believe that."

Last month, McAfee reflected on his career and what his future in WWE could hold. He wrote:

"Baby girl on the way… what’s that mean for my future with @WWE? I LOVE it but, they’re allegedly gonna be sold, who’s buying them? Do I want to work/make money for those people?"

McAfee recently announced that he will return to ESPN College Gameday next season.

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/nick-khan-says-wwe-has-no-plans-for-pat-mcafee-at-wrestlemania-39

 

[Bad News Booty]

It’s a real bummer I miss Pat


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Chris]

WWE CEO Nick Khan is looking forward to WrestleMania 39 weekend in Los Angeles for a variety of reasons -- one of which includes the beginning of TV rights negotiations.

Khan also dropped an interesting nugget when it comes to a potential return to pay-per-view if a rights partner was interested.

During an appearance on John Ourand & Andrew Marchand's podcast, Khan said the exclusive domestic TV rights negotiating window with existing partners NBCUniversal and Fox opens up this weekend, giving them "the first bite at the apple" as he put it.

Khan wouldn't put a number on what the company expects for an increase when it comes to Raw (NBCU) and Fox (SmackDown), but Marchand predicted 2x while Ourand thought it would be more than that.

Khan simply said, "I expect a lot" and added a lot of that was up to his work and that of the team at WWE.

Khan said there will be "a lot" of other companies in attendance this weekend, not in an official business capacity but to enjoy themselves. He declined to say who.

A return to PPV?

He said he loves how Peacock has expanded their audience with no upcharge and that Peacock executives would say a "substantial" portion of their 20 million paid subscribers is due to WWE.

But when asked if WWE was open to conversations about following the model ESPN and UFC has with ESPN+ and UFC PPVs, Khan said they were open to conversations and that if, for example, NBCU offered 5x in rights fees but needed to have an upcharge in order to do that, they would listen.

Khan said the most important thing is to not price out their fans, citing that the upper decks for this weekend's WrestleMania are just $25.

Vince McMahon

Asked about Vince McMahon's involvement in creative, Khan said the executive chairman was "not that involved." He said McMahon has embraced Paul Levesque as head of creative and that they have their own dynamic, "and from my point of view, things have been terrific for the last few months since Vince's return."

With last summer's scandal surrounding McMahon, Khan credited both shareholders and WWE employees with "staying calm" and that, "Fortunately, we're on the other side of it."

Roman Reigns

Asked if the current undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns has a future in Hollywood, Khan thought he did and that they would fully support that, adding there are a lot of conversations going on. However, Reigns would be staying aligned with WWE if he does make that jump.

Pat McAfee

He said there are no plans for the popular commentator to be involved or at this weekend's events.

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/nick-khan-wwe-open-to-conversations-about-returning-to-ppv-model

 

[The Gipper]

God I hate how corporate Nick Khan talks lol.

 

[Chris]

Merged the two Nick Khan threads since for whatever the Pat stuff got posted separately but its all from the same interview

If they go back to PPV I'm gonna fucking riot lmao

 

[Dale]

Gonna be interesting to see what happens with Fox and whether the Peacock stuff becomes too much of an issue for them

 

[Cwalker]

Peacock so bad there contemplating going back to PPV smh

 

[Canadian Dragon]

Merged the two Nick Khan threads since for whatever the Pat stuff got posted separately but its all from the same interview

If they go back to PPV I'm gonna fucking riot lmao

The High Seas are clear these days, matey!

 

[Chris]

The High Seas are clear these days, matey!

It's so funny, nowadays I almost only use watchwrestling for UFC PPVs, not even wrestling bc access to most stuff I wanna watch is so cheap but I'm not fucking paying $70 a month lmao

 

[Canadian Dragon]

id pirate aew stuff a lot more if it wasnt only 5 ppvs a year and one of those im there live. + i use the vpn to bring that price down to 20 because nah

 

[Canadian Dragon]

WWE on fite lfg

 

[Cwalker]

Bring back the Network in America you cowards

 

[John McHenry]

Didn't know PPV still existed to be honest. WWE on Paramount + ... Actually I can see that happening and may have to buy a share of Paramount+ just to get ahead of the curve.

 

[Chris]

Didn't know PPV still existed to be honest. WWE on Paramount + ... Actually I can see that happening and may have to buy a share of Paramount+ just to get ahead of the curve.

Yeah AEW, Impact and I think even ROH still get put on traditional cable PPV along with streaming I believe

UFC is different as it's on ESPN+ and then you have to pay a separate PPV price (like 80 fucking dollars) for those events with their non PPV weeklies free with your subscription

 

[John McHenry]

I can see a bonus on a streamer model I think it'd be a backwards move to go back to traditional PPV