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New details about AEW’s expected media rights renewal deal with Warner Brothers Discovery

Aaron Rift

Just prior to the 2024 AEW All Out PPV event, AEW President Tony Khan said the company was “on the 1 yard line at the most important time in our history.” Earlier this month, it was reported that AEW was believed to have a “done deal” with Warner Brothers Discovery for a media rights renewal.

An article by John Ourand at Puck, beneath a paywall, has details about the expected deal. Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics.com provided a summary via Twitter/X…

“John Ourand at Puck reports AEW’s new media deal with WBD ‘looks like’ it will be a 4-year deal: 3 years guaranteed with a 1-year option. Ourand says $170M per year “is apparently in the ballpark.” He says AEW will air on TNT, TBS, and TruTV twice per week, as part of a strategy to make TruTV more sports-oriented. The announcement of the deal ‘could come as soon as next week, barring any last-minute changes.’ He says AEW is pitching an additional package to broadcast networks. The report at one point refers to AEW as “second-tier wrestling”, though, Ourand writes that the deal ‘marks a clear success for AEW’.

“Notably, no mention of content for the Max streaming service, for whatever it’s worth. I’ve estimated AEW’s current deal with WBD is somewhere around $70M annually. This certainly sounds like more content, which would complicate a straightforward % increase comparison.”