ESPN, WWE ink five-year deal for WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, other live events

The WWE is coming to ESPN.

The Disney-controlled sports and entertainment business will pay an average of $325 million per year for five years of U.S. rights to the WWE’s biggest live events, including WrestleMania, the Royal Rumble and SummerSlam, beginning in 2026, according to people familiar with the matter who declined to be naming speaking about the deal specifics. Spokespeople at WWE and ESPN declined to comment.

NBCUniversal’s Peacock had previously paid $180 million per year over five years for the package, according to two people familiar with the matter.

All 10 of the WWE’s premium live events each year will stream on ESPN’s new $29.99 per month direct-to-consumer platform in the U.S. Select events will be simulcast on ESPN’s linear networks.

Disney reported quarterly earnings Wednesday that showed domestic ESPN revenue up 1% to $3.93 billion.

The WWE and ESPN have strategically moved closer together in recent years, said TKO Group President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro in an interview. TKO is the controlling owner of WWE. Shapiro, himself, was a top executive at ESPN in the early 2000s.

“In many ways, this is our destiny,” said Shapiro. “If you want to expand the audience, our fan base, the fervor around WWE, and grow on a real significant national scale, you can’t do that as it relates to the sports world without partnering with ESPN.”

ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said he would have been interested in bidding on the package of events even if ESPN weren’t about to debut its new streaming service. Still, adding the events, for no extra charge, for subscribers of the digital product will help reduce churn for professional wrestling and help expand ESPN beyond traditional sports.

“Our place was built as the entertainment and sports programing network,” said Pitaro, referencing the literal meaning of the acronym, “ESPN.” “This is a fantastic way for us to expand our audience. It’s younger, it’s more diverse, and it’s more female than what we see at the network level.”

Thirty-eight percent of WWE’s audience is women, noted WWE President Nick Khan. About 50% of people who attend WWE live events come with children, he said in an interview.

“It’s multigenerational viewing, and we think ESPN is multigenerational viewing,” said Khan.

In 2024, the WWE signed a 10-year, $5 billion deal with Netflix to stream “Raw” every Monday night, beginning this year. Netflix will continue to stream marquee WWE events outside the U.S.

“SmackDown,” which airs Fridays on USA Network, will continue to stream on Peacock. That deal expires in 2029, according to people familiar with the matter.

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC and USA Network.

Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify that ESPN will hold the rights to stream WWE premium live events in the U.S. Netflix holds those rights outside the U.S.