TKO President Mark Shapiro participated in a recent earnings call to discuss various topics, including last weekend’s first-ever two-night WWE SummerSlam PLE.
Shapiro said, “Our SummerSlam was the most viewed we’ve ever had in history. So quickly, that is turning into another WrestleMania for us, and the more that Nick (Khan) and Paul (Levesque) can drive these events to be of that ilk and that level, and deliver the kind of result on live events and site fees that we get for WrestleMania, that’s what’s gonna get us the rest of the way there on a margin increase.”
On Ari Emanuel:
“Of course, Ari Emanuel, and I have to say, UFC doesn’t happen without Ari Emanuel, and WWE for that matter doesn’t happen without Ari Emanuel driving that. He’s a significant value creator, and he spends a lot of time out there leveraging his relationships on what’s around the corner that might fit — of course, has to be treated and we have to be proven — but might fit squarely into our sports pure play model.”
(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)
