The big news on Wednesday was that WWE had found a new broadcasting partner come 2026, agreeing to a five year, $1.6 billion deal with ESPN to air all WWE PLE’s, including WrestleMania, on ESPN’s upcoming DTC streaming service. But that wasn’t all, as reports further indicated certain episodes of “Sportscenter” would take place at the location of WWE PLE’s, ESPN would air pre and post-show events for WWE, and ESPN had the rights to create their own WWE original content, should they choose so.
Some of those details have since been confirmed by Jimmy Pitaro, the President and chairman of ESPN Inc. Speaking with Variety shortly after the WWE/ESPN deal was announced, Pitaro was understandably all smiles, as he believes that WWE’s staying power will be a massive boost to ESPN’s brand.
“WWE is going to help us get younger,” Pitaro said. “It’s going to help us get more diverse. It’s going to help us bring in more females.”
To that end, Pitaro revealed that he fully expected “other kinds of programming” involving WWE to be created by both ESPN and Disney, ESPN’s parent company, though he provided no timetable for when these projects could get off the ground. It was noted that these projects could see WWE collaborating with other ESPN broadcasting partners, including the NBA, figures such as TKO board member Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who’s UFL football league airs on ESPN, and ESPN/WWE personality Pat McAfee. These projects would be in addition to existing collaborations between WWE and ESPN, including the show “Stephanie’s Places,” which premiered on ESPN+ this past spring.
