ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer streaming service will be the new home for WWE’s biggest live events, including WrestleMania, the companies announced Wednesday.
The Walt Disney Co.’s sports media unit will pay around $1.6 billion in a five-year deal with the WWE that will begin in 2026. The rights fee is nearly double the $180 million a year paid by NBCUniversal, which carried the events on Peacock.
ESPN is launching its new streaming platform on Aug. 21. For $29.99 a month, consumers will get access to ESPN’s channels and other content without a pay TV subscription.
The service will carry the 10 marquee events staged annually by WWE, which include Royal Rumble, Survivor Series and SummerSlam.
The deal comes after ESPN’s announcement that the NFL is taking a 10% equity stake in the unit. In return, ESPN takes over the NFL’s media properties, NFL Network and RedZone, giving the company more live games and exclusive content from the league.
While the WWE’s programming is entertainment with predetermined outcomes, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro told The Times that the live events will help broaden the audience for the company’s new streaming service.
“When you look at the WWE audience, it is younger than what we typically see across other sports,” Pitaro said. “It’s more diverse and it is about 38% female, which is a higher percentage of what we have at the network level.”
Pitaro noted that having major WWE events scheduled throughout the year will help the new streaming service retain subscribers who otherwise might check out when their favorite sports are not in season.
ESPN has aired wrestling programs in the past. The network carried matches from the American Wrestling Assn., a Minneapolis-based outfit, from 1985 to 1990.
ESPN already has a strong business relationship with WWE parent TKO Group Holdings, as the network has carried the company’s UFC events.
While the rights deal is aimed at generating and retaining new customers for ESPN’s streaming platform, some of the WWE premium events will show up on the company’s cable channels.
ESPN also announced a multiyear extension and expansion of its coverage of the NFL Draft. Starting next year, ESPN and ABC coverage of the event will be available across all of Disney’s streaming platforms, including Disney+. ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ABC present separate feeds of the first two days of the draft and all will be offered in the upcoming streaming platform.
The new deal gives ESPN the rights to create more alternative telecasts of draft coverage across Disney’s streaming platforms.
ESPN will also launch a daily program focused on the draft that will begin the day after the Super Bowl.
ESPN was the first network to televise the draft in 1980, when it was known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting and held in a bland New York hotel ballroom. The event has evolved into a awards-show-type spectacle that has seen its TV audience grow along with the popularity of the league.
The first night of the 2025 NFL Draft held in Green Bay, Wis., on April 25 was watched by 13.6 million viewers, an increase of 11% over last year according to Nielsen data.
