WWE will be making big changes to their live event schedule in 2025.
While speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference on Wednesday, TKO President Mark Shapiro spoke about continuing to cut back on “marginally profitable” live events. WWE has been running non-televised live events for decades when the lifeblood of the company depended primarily on ticket sales.
That has changed over the years and WWE’s primary revenue now comes from their media rights deals. Shapiro said at the conference that Vince McMahon liked to run live events as a way to expand the WWE brand into smaller cities and regions.
Shapiro said WWE went from running 300 events in 2023 to 250 this year and next year the plan is to cut back to “close to 200” while still increasing company profits. It was not said if the “close to 200” number includes the NXT shows. Shapiro reiterated his belief that tickets to WWE shows are underpriced, a sign that ticket prices will continue to increase as they cut back on the total number of shows next year.
Some have said that reducing the live events is a detriment to some of the younger talent who needs reps on the road. However, WWE runs small shows around Florida and the incoming talent trains at the Performance Center in Orlando. The reduced live event schedule will allow for wrestlers to spend more time at home with family.
Click here to listen to the entire call with Shapiro.
