WWE’s Relationship With FOX Is Reportedly in a Dilemma Ahead of WrestleMania 39

Fox Sports have been streaming WWE’s ‘SmackDown Live’ widely since they signed a 5-year deal back in June 2018. But it seems the 4-year alliance is finally going to come to an end providing a clear disinterest of Fox in dragging it further with WWE.

With WrestleMania 39 right in the corner, the promotion’s future with FOX is in doubt. We usually know WWE for setting new financial goals and reaching higher milestones with each passing year. Till now, a major part of its revenue comes from media rights, which are up for negotiations this year as the current deal is supposed to end in September 2024.

Fox is unlikely to continue with WWE

People anticipated that Vince McMahon‘s return to the board of directors would do something with the new dealings for the upcoming year. But unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. Comcast, One of the most potential buyers of the company, recently ruled out its chance to buy WWE.

Read more: Vince McMahon Under Pressure from USA and FOX to Produce Quality WWE Shows

Now, another recent news made the WWE’s future more unpredictable than ever. According to an official report, Fox isn’t going to renew its contract for SmackDown at least, not with more than its current rate of $205 million a year.

The information stirred up new complications after Forbes SportsMoney Managing Editor and Co-host Mike Ozanian came up with a tweet that says, ‘ Wells Fargo Securities thinks FOX is not likely to renew Smackdown at a higher price and it’s possible we could see Smackdown split between FOX in linear and a streamer, or the entire night move off and likely accretive to FOXA.’

Read more: Vince McMahon Under Pressure from USA and FOX to Produce Quality WWE Shows

Ozanian shared the screenshot from Well Forgo Securities analysts’ presentation regarding WWE’s future negotiations.

The strained relationship between Fox and WWE is not new

WWE’s broadcasting partner Fox got some issues with the company back in 2021. While the exact reason for their worsening relationship is not clear, most people assumed that Fox probably had some problems with SmackDown’s low rating during the pandemic time. Also, Monday right Raw featuring NBCUniversal, one of Fox’s main rival broadcasting companies, didn’t sit well with it.

Apart from this, there was a claim from Fox Source regarding Vince’s inbound series negatively portraying Murdoch, the current owner of the US-based broadcasting company.

Moving to the current scenario, WWE fans are only concerned about the company’s future negotiations. However, we are yet to see if a successful WrestleMania 39 can improve anything in the negotiation game or not.

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What do you think about Fox and WWE’s uncertain future deal? Let us know in the comments.