TKO President Mark Shapiro says WWE prioritizes “the fan experience and improving profitability”

For the second consecutive year, WWE presented SummerSlam 2026 as a two-night event. During a TKO earnings call, TKO President Mark Shapiro explained WWE’s reasoning behind holding SummerSlam across two nights in Minnesota…

“Our decision making is deliberate. SummerSlam is a prime example. Following last year’s record two-day event at MetLife Stadium, we decided to take this premium live event to Minneapolis this summer for our first ever stadium show in the city, backed by a meaningful financial incentive package. The two-day show was extraordinary. The sold-out corresponding WWE FanFest delivered strong engagement metrics. Across TKO, we prioritized both the fan experience and improving profitability. They are not mutually exclusive, and they are not always in that order.”

Later in the call, Shapiro went into further details…

“Look, we could have done SummerSlam on one night and likely had a higher ticket per cap. But in looking at that event, we chose two days because we thought it would be an overall better fan experience. We thought it would be a better viewing experience on ESPN. We thought we would get more marketing for our brand on ESPN. We thought it was important to go back to the Midwest that outside of elimination chamber last year in Chicago, we really haven’t been doing enough of our PLEs in the Midwest. So as I said in my prepared remarks, it’s not always about the actual bottom line, right? We prioritize the fan experience and improving profitability. They’re not usually exclusive and they’re not always in that order.”