Tony Khan Speaks On Upcoming AEW TV Rights Negotiations
Tony Khan is prepared for what may come with AEW’s next TV rights contract and signals that things are off to a great start.
The financials of wrestling promotions aren’t always the first thing that fans think about when talking about the companies themselves. Yet, they are vital to not only determining what the promotion can do, but who can be signed, for what amount, and they can signal how well a company is doing. For AEW, since their second TV rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, they’ve been on a high of profits. Yet, with the Skydance merger and their current deal ending in 2027, attention is returning to the future of the promotion’s media deals.
During the Full Gear Media Call, AEW head Tony Khan was asked what he’ll do to get a good deal with his potential new boss.
“I think the lifeblood of AEW and the most important focus on the business side is putting on great wrestling television and keeping a very strong relationship because the primary revenue of AEW comes from our domestic media rights deal with Warner Bros. As I’ve been very outspoken, there’s been a huge change at Warner Bros., and for us, I believe it’s a huge change for the very positive. We’ve had a great thing going. We’ve had a great relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery, and I think we performed very, very well. And now being a part of this exciting new regime at the new Skydance, that’s a great opportunity for us. I have had several very good meetings with David Ellison. I’ve met with him four times, and in those four meetings, we’ve had great conversations about the future of AEW. Now we do have a good amount of time still remaining on our contract, and I think we’ve done very, very well. And I know he feels that we’ve performed very, very well, which is very exciting to hear from the owner of the new company. When you ask me what the most important business goal for AEW is, I think international growth is very, very important. However, I would still say the lifeblood for the business engine of AEW is the domestic, and that’s where having this great relationship and continuing that relationship is very important. It’ll be very exciting for us going into 2027 that we’re performing so well and that right now, this is a tremendous time for AEW.”
-Tony Khan
In terms of recent success, the promotion regularly pulls 100K in pay-per-view buys, and many viewers have been impressed with their on-screen product through 2026. This weekend, AEW will put on Full Gear as they hope to head towards the end of the year, and the start of this year’s Continental Classic, with momentum.
In general, Khan has been very positive about the Skydance merger since it was first announced; however, he has also said in the past that he knew all the major TV players should a new deal not come forward with said merger. As such, AEW is likely to continue no matter where it’s housed, the only question is where, for how long, and how much they’ll get in the new deal so they can expand even further.
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As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the future of AEW under Skydance as soon as we hear more.
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