The business of WrestleMania 42: What sport can learn from WWE’s mega event

WWE might be sports entertainment but, beyond its scripted finishes, it operates like a conventional sports property in virtually every other way.

Its core revenue streams are events, sponsorship and broadcasting, it develops and recruits talent for its roster, and it must adapt to changing consumption habits and new technologies to stay relevant.

If anything, it has been more innovative than traditional sport, providing lessons for the industry to learn from and mimic, especially when it comes to streaming.

Professional wrestling has come a long way from the carnivals that created the artform. The modern WWE is a global, digital, multibillion-dollar phenomenon whose commercial growth and ties to the sporting world have only strengthened since the US$21 billion merger with Endeavor’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) that created TKO in 2023.

At the summit of this industry is WrestleMania – a unique celebration of professional wrestling and popular culture that elevated the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) into the most prominent promotion in the US. As it approaches its 42^nd iteration, WrestleMania is bigger, more commercial, and more relevant to the wider sports industry than ever before.

CM Punk and Roman Reigns will main event WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas (Image credit: Getty Images)

The host

Weekly WWE events are held at indoor arenas that typically host major league, minor league or college teams, with larger venues such as New York’s Madison Square Garden used for milestone events or premium live events (PLEs).

Some of the bigger PLEs, such as the Royal Rumble, SummerSlam and WrestleMania itself, are held in large outdoor Major League Baseball (MLB) and National Football League (NFL) stadiums. A greater number of stadium shows, coupled with rising demand for tickets, helped increase WWE’s average attendance to more than 10,000 last year.

WrestleMania’s hosting model is similar to the Super Bowl and attracts competing bids from cites across North America and beyond. Although market size, standard of venue, transportation, weather and availability of accommodation are all major considerations, potential hosts also offer financial incentives, such as direct payments, marketing support and tax credits, conscious of the potential economic impact that WrestleMania can have on their city.

The event has morphed into a week-long festival comprising not just two nights of WrestleMania matches, but Monday Night Raw, Friday Night Smackdown, the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony, fan festivals and press conferences. The city of Las Vegas paid US$5 million to bring WrestleMania 41 to the city last year, anticipating economic benefits to the tune of US$215 million.

The success of that event for both parties led to WrestleMania 42 being relocated from New Orleans back to Las Vegas’s Allegiant Stadium for a second consecutive year – the first time this has happened since Atlantic City hosted WrestleMania IV and V in the late 1980s. Indeed, the Las Vegas tourist board was so happy with its investment, it has agreed to pay an increased US$6 million fee for this year’s showpiece.

Event revenues

Las Vegas was a lucrative choice for WWE. The company claimed 124,693 fans attended the two-night WrestleMania 41 and, according to live event trade publication Pollstar, the show generated US$66m in ticket sales revenue, making it the most profitable pro wrestling event in history when adjusted for inflation. Even if both Saturday and Sunday generated an average US$33 million, they would still be number one and two in the list.

Merchandise is also a key contributor of income. Since 2024, Fanatics has been responsible for WWE’s global event merchandise operation, managing online and physical retail. At Wrestlemania 41, sales were up by a record 45 per cent. This is boosted by a major on-site presence at the event as part of the week-long programme.

The switch from a one-night card to a two-day extravaganza in 2020 was a decision necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, but was one that had long been considered by management to ensure a better-paced event, more ticket sales, and higher viewership figures.

Rising interest in WWE has also contributed to rising revenues, but the biggest factor has been a dramatic increase in ticket prices under the ownership of TKO. Indeed, TKO’s OnLocation saw demand for hospitality packages rise by 75 per cent last year.

The fact that Las Vegas could support this degree of growth was a key reason WWE was so keen to bring the event back to Nevada. It would be natural to think WrestleMania 42 will beat least year’s record but that isn’t a foregone conclusion.

Although wrestling fans travel from around the world to watch WrestleMania regardless of location, the reason WWE rotates the hosts of its events is to maximise local demand. Given Las Vegas attracts a greater proportion of visitors than other US cities, not to mention appeal among high spenders, the company may have thought it would be immune to any market saturation or financial constraints.

However, ticket sales in the leadup to WrestleMania 42 have reportedly been slower than last year, leading to some discounted offers.

Sponsorship

WWE is no stranger to commercial partnerships. Brands have a long history of sponsoring events and matches, with WWE superstars appearing in a wide array of commercials and marketing materials.

This activity has grown exponentially under WWE’s new ownership. Whereas the ring was considered sacred under Vince McMahon’s tenure, with logos absent from the mat, TKO has no such preclusions. Logan Paul and KSI’s Prime energy drink became the first in-ring partner back in 2024, while others such as Riyadh Season have seen their logos adorn the canvas of the squared circle.

TKO has unlocked new categories, including through a cosmetics partnership with Maybelline, and struck cross-property deals spanning its entire portfolio. In December, Ram became the official truck partner of the UFC, Professional Bull Riders and WWE.

Match sponsorship has also expanded significantly. However, this trend has attracted criticism from those who believe in-ring action is becoming too comercialised, taking fans out of an event in which immersion is crucial in order to suspend belief. An example of this is Slim Jim-branded tables under the ring or the Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match, a themed match which earned WWE US$1 million (although this pre-dates TKO ownership).

What is indisputable is the impact on WWE’s bottom line. WrestleMania 41 featured a record 28 total partners and set an all-time event record for revenue. Meanwhile, the company’s revenues have increased from US$1.3 billion in 2023 to US$1.7 billion in 2025.

While some of this can be attributed to long-term trends (revenue was US$729 million a decade ago) and increases in media income, TKO’s commercial aptitude is having a significant effect.

WWE Raw has been exclusive to Netflix since 2005 (Image credit: Getty Images)

Broadcast overview

WrestleMania 42 will be the first ‘Showcase of the Immortals’ to be broadcast on ESPN’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) platform in the US – a landmark moment that sees the most prominent sports entertainment event in the world appear on arguably the planet’s most influential sporting channel.

It completes a radical decade-long transformation of WWE’s broadcast arrangements that has seen it prioritise digital platforms above all else.

WrestleMania was traditionally sold as a pay-per-view (PPV) costing up to US$60. However, all PPVs were moved to the in-house WWE Network in 2014, with fans charged US$9.99 for a service that also included an array of archive and original content.

WWE Network was one of the earliest examples of a mainstream sports-specific DTC product that disrupted the status quo. It was a huge gamble, but WWE believed it would deliver greater, more predictable revenues that didn’t need to be shared with the cable companies and give it more clout with television partners when negotiating new contracts.

The launch was a success from a financial perspective whilst also having the added benefit of deepening engagement with fans at a time when linear viewership was declining and audiences fragmenting.

WWE’s loyal fanbase eventually saw the US version of the WWE Network integrated into NBC’s Peacock streaming service in a US$1 billion deal. The WWE Network set a blueprint for other sports organisations – who launched DTC services and then wholesaled them to third-party streaming services – to follow.

ESPN, desperate for premium content with a proven audience to attract subscribers to its DTC service, took over from Peacock last year in a deal thought to be worth US$1.6 billion over five years.

WWE still has a presence on broadcast television thanks to a US$1.4 billion deal with USA Network for WWE SmackDown, while NBC airs four editions of Saturday Night’s Main Event each year on its main network.

But WWE Raw, the promotion’s flagship show, is now exclusive to streaming services thanks to Netflix’s US$5 billion, ten-year deal which also sees it house WWE’s archive and own the rights to all WWE content – including WrestleMania – globally. The shift to Netflix has been transformative in terms of broadening appeal and accessibility.

The final country where the WWE Network was available was Germany until PPVs finally became available on Netflix earlier this year.

What’s next?

WWE has confirmed WrestleMania 43 will be held in Saudi Arabia in 2027, the first time its flagship event will be staged outside of North America. WrestleMania 43 will form part of Riyadh Season, the Saudi capital’s series of entertainment, cultural and sporting events, with a date yet to be confirmed.

WWE signed a ten-year partnership with Saudi Arabia’s GEA in 2018 to bring live events to the country. This deal was then expanded a year later through 2027, with the aim of taking at least two ‘large-scale events’ to the country each year.

The deal was initially hugely controversial but is worth a reported US$100 million a year to WWE – a declining proportion of revenue but still significant.

As platforms multiply, audiences fragment and media rights deals plateau, it’s time to understand what’s really going on in sports media. Join us at SportsPro London this April to learn more.