Details About 2019-2024 WWE Raw & SmackDown Media Rights Contracts With NBCUniversal & FOX
An extensive look at the media rights deals.
Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics published a story about the 2019-2024 WWE Raw and SmackDown media rights contracts with NBCUniversal and FOX.
The deals are now fully public without any redactions via the WWE merger shareholder lawsuit in Delaware’s Court of Chancery.
The Raw contract covers October 2019 through September 2024. The five-year deal paid WWE $265 million per year for Monday Night Raw to air on USA Network, and fees went up over the years.
On the SmackDown side, it covers October 2019 through September 2024. The payout was $205 million per year.
The contracts note that WWE had clauses that prevented their partners from airing other pro wrestling programs. NBCU agreed not to air any non-WWE wrestling content on any of their platforms. There was a similar provision in the SmackDown/FOX agreement. FOX added that MMA, amateur wrestling, collegiate wrestling, UFC, Bellator, and Glory kickboxing do not apply.
As for the creative end, WWE had final say-so over Raw and SmackDown. On the Raw side, it was agreed that NBCU would have consultation rights on production and creative elements, but the final word belonged to WWE. WWE was not allowed to make material changes to the format of Raw, such as making the show a highlight of SmackDown. It had to be the weekly flagship program that NBCU paid for.
It was similar language in the FOX/SmackDown deal, but FOX was protective of their relationships with other sports.
Another aspect of SmackDown on FOX is that FOX was contractually obligated to promote SmackDown in a manner that was consistent with how they promoted the NFL, MLB, and NASCAR.
On the FOX term sheet, it was directly noted that FOX would be the exclusive broadcast partner of WWE programming and noted that for the duration of the deal, Raw could not air on NBC. NBCU was allowed to air Spanish-language replays of Raw on Telemundo. Saturday Night’s Main Event began airing on NBC after the FOX deal.
As far as contract renewal negotiations, the ball was in WWE’s court to offer NBCU either a two or three-hour version of Monday Night Raw.
Present day, Raw airs on Netflix, SmackDown airs on USA Network, and NXT airs on The CW.
