Endeavor Chief Executive and TKO Holdings Executive Chairman Ari Emanuel appeared on the Pat McAfee Show on Friday.
In a 22-minute interview, the boss of the WWE’s parent company touched on several topics, including how the WWE-Netflix deal came together.
McAfee has brought his show to New Orleans for the run-up to the Super Bowl.
Emanuel said he was in town for “a couple of meetings”, including with Fanatics, which is a partner for the WWE World fan experience at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas.
At the beginning of the conversation, Emanuel was asked why Endeavor had moved into the sports world. He replied:
When we moved into the sports world, we could own the asset as opposed to representing the asset. And so, when you own an asset, you get all the money.
The conversation moved on to the prospect of a boxing promotion under the TKO banner. He was less than enthusiastic about the Ali Act, which was passed into law in 2000, and was aimed at protecting boxers from exploitative practices.
When asked where boxing was today compared with 20 years ago, Emanuel said:
Well, we got the Ali Act that I think hurt it. Hopefully, who knows what’s going to happen with the Ali Act. Dana’s got a plan for boxing. We’ll see. You know, there’s a lot of work, a lot of wood that’s got to be chopped there. But we’re looking at it pretty seriously.
He underlined the efficiency savings realized by the formation of TKO, particularly in back-office staffing, and in negotiating sponsorships and site fees.
Emanuel then fielded a question about the WWE’s deal with Netflix.
They’re incredible partners. Bela [Bajaria] there has been incredible. Ted Sarandos has been incredible. The show’s performing. So we are thrilled. And I think they’re happy. The numbers are up.
He then went into further detail about how the deal came together.
I had a breakfast with Bela, and started talking about it. She runs all of content and programming underneath Ted Sarandos at Netflix.
He added that the initial talks concentrated on NXT:
We did a presentation to her. And then all of a sudden — it first started talking about NXT, actually, and then it just immediately moved to Raw. And over Christmas, a year and a half ago, or whatever, we’re on a Zoom. It’s all approved.
We have to have a conversation with Ted Sarandos. He’s in London seeing the Stranger Things play. We get on the Zoom, [Mark] Shapiro and I, right before Christmas and the Christmas holiday. He’s there with his CFO. It all gets done. We hang up the phone. We do a jig.
