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Nick Khan appeared on today's Marchand and Ourand Podcast Report in advance of WWE's Wrestlemania 39 weekend.
Marchand is sports media reporter for NY Post. He broke the Troy Aikman and Joe Buck to ESPN story. Ourand is sports media reporter for Sports Business Journal. He broke the story back in October about the Ballys Sports Regional Sports Networks (corporate name Diamond Sports). He reported they would file for bankruptcy before end of winter. They filed March 15. Sinclair is the parent company and they are 8 billion dollars in debt.
The Interview starts 21 minutes in. Highlights:
Khan went to UNLV and talked about attending Wrestlemania 9 as an usher.
He was huge fan as a kid. His parents are from Iran and so he was a big Iron Shiek fan.
Working for Vince: have to have an answer to every reasonable question, cannot lie, challenging; says Vince has been generous and grateful to him
How did they focus on the business during the controversy? He said dedication to shareholders; he said employees stayed calm.
He says H is head of creative and Vince is no longer involved. He respects that. He has embraced that.
Khan says he is optimistic about the new TV deal. He says WWE has 3 R's they adbide by. Ratings, relevancy, and Revenue. He says all 3 are currently strong. Plugs Mania - says both nights are sold out. Executives from FOX/NBC and the potential bidders will all be there.
The right of first refusal of TV negotiations start this weekend.
He alks about not missing shows during COVID. Praises the superstars and producers.
He explains why they dropped the PPV name. He talks about having a PLE scheduled opposite the Tom Brady return to New England game. Says they cannot compete with the NFL so they moved the PLEs in the fall to Saturday and it was good so they are doing more of it.
The media rights deal was designed to end now because the other sports would have already had their deals settled by now.
He was asked if they can go all in on streaming - says its always possible. Says we are the highest rated show on USA Network times 3. Why does the FOX deal work - because the majority of scripted content has moved to streaming and right now OTA networks are focusing on live content. When asked about going all in on streaming he references that Disney moved Dancing With the Stars to Disney+ so it is not unprecedented.
Khan was asked about future of streaming and talks about how Warner Bros Discovery could be interested in further consolidation. Says mergers are tough to do and next President will be a factor. He referred to a law that says WBD can't do any further consolidations for 2 years after the completion of the Turner takeover.
They go into regular sports media discussion. He negotiated the SEC/ESPN deal that starts in fall of 2024. Goes into discussion of Big 12 deal that FOX/ESPN signed a few weeks ago. Talks about the difficulty Pac 12 is having getting a TV deal. Talks about the LIV golf deal. Says that NBC will bid on the NBA and win a package - either Tuesday nights, Wednesday nights, or sometime on Sundays. Goes into conversation about ESPN talent contracts.
He was asked about percentage increase in new WWE TV deal. Obviously he won't answer. Hosts predict 1.5 to 2 times. Marchand speculates Amazon could bid on Smackdown.
No plans for Pat McAfee at Mania.
We learn that WWE owns the rights to the old American Gladiators TV show.
He talks about for merchandising going all in with locally branded merchandise to be sold at the live events. Taking Austin 3:16 and doing City X 3:16.
He talks about how going all in with streaming could lead to loss of revenue by not getting the cable carriage fees.
Did Peacock deal because at the end of the day they save money because how could they compete with Netflix in the investment of technology to run the network. OTT streaming space has become cluttered. Talks about not having the upcharge on The PLE that UFC does and that it has expanded the subs. Says they would do the UFC style upcharge only if Peacock came to them to do it but Khan worried about pricing out the fans.
He said this years Mania has the highest price floor seats ever. Says both nights sold out.
Is Roman going to go to Hollywood? Says we'll see. We think it could happen and we would be excited for him but knows of nothing imminent.
Khan refuses to comment on the report of the Saudi sale rumor. He says process is robust and the marketplace is excited. He says it will be Vince's call at the end of the day. Says Vince will do whats best for the shareholders.
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