Sports Illustrated writer/reported Richard Deitsch noted on Twitter that FOX Sports President Eric Shanks, FOX Sports talent producer Jacob Ullman, and FOX Sports host/personality Colin Cowherd were all sitting in the front row at Smackdown Live in Los Angeles this week.
It’s no secret that there is interest from FOX with the idea being that, if a deal is made, Monday Night Raw would move to the FOX network and Smackdown Live would potentially move to FS1 in 2019 after WWE’s current deal with the USA Network expires.
The prevailing rumor is that if FOX is not able to sign UFC to a new television deal then it would open the door for WWE to sign with them. A deal with FOX could be more lucrative than their current deal with the USA Network. If Raw moves to FOX then the show would likely be cut down to 2 hours (8-10 pm) because local affiliates air the local news at 10 pm. In theory, that would be great for WWE and it’s something that Vince McMahon would prefer. The only reason why Raw is 3 hours is that USA is paying a significant amount of money for the third hour. McMahon has said in the past that the ideal length for Raw should be 90 minutes.
In the front row last night at the WWE Smackdown show in L.A.: Fox Sports president Eric Shanks, Fox Sports talent producer Jacob Ullman and Fox Sports talker Colin Cowherd.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) February 28, 2018
First ever Smackdown @WWE pic.twitter.com/MuMwJfhlVF
— Colin Cowherd (@colincowherd) February 28, 2018
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