Mark Shapiro says talent will continue to gravitate toward WWE and UFC because they are experts in storytelling and being stars.
WWE and UFC have been under the same umbrella since they merged to form TKO in September 2023. On November 6, TKO reported their earnings for the third quarter of 2024, and WWE continues to thrive.
Mark Shapiro, President and Chief Operating Officer of TKO Group Holdings, highlighted Triple H, Nick Khan, and UFC’s Dana White and Dana Epstein as experts in storytelling during TKO’s financial results call. He stated that talent aspired to be in these leagues. (H/t Fightful for the transcription)
“The reason why you don’t hear about it a lot, and we say this in all modesty, you don’t hear about it because of the work of Paul Levesque, Dana White, Nick Khan, and Lawrence Epstein. That’s just the fact of the matter. They are experts in storytelling. Period. They are experts in creating rivalries, period. They are experts, like David Stern was, in building and marketing stars. When your platforms, your businesses, your leagues become known for that, talent aspires to be with those leagues. We haven’t had those challenges as of late because, frankly, the talent wants to get to the UFC and WWE level.
“We don’t take that for granted. We’re not arrogant about it, and we want to incentivize all of our fighters at UFC and all of our superstars at WWE to put out their best every day and aim for the top of the mountain. We’re prudent about it and we want to keep those costs under control. As long as we do our job of continuing with that storytelling, continuing to build our fanbase, continuing to surround ourselves with the right partners, then talent will gravitate towards the UFC and WWE.”
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