In recent times since being absorbed under the TKO umbrella, WWE has drastically scaled back on the number of house shows that the company holds. At the same, they have increased ticket prices for these shows as well as their premium live events. TKO Executive Mark Shapiro spoke at the JP Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications conference in Boston and if you were looking for a change in that strategy, it doesn't sound like it's going to happen any time soon:
"We cut those house shows down to where now we're doing 200 events a year. We cut them 75%, the number of house shows that we do. We feel that's a good place to be and we'll continue to prune as we go through. WWE has tremendous upside on global partnerships. Tremendous upside on ticket pricing. Tremendous upside on site fees, dynamic pricing, yield management. All areas we're really focusing and pushing in on as it related to live events. As you saw on our first quarter, our margins significantly expanded as it relates to WWE live events."
Shapiro also spoke of keeping the monthly premium live events "short and sweet" which would be consistent with their last many events running only 5 or 6 matches and also noting that the company continues to talk to Peacock, who are interested in renewing the deal for WWE premium live events which expires in less than a year.
