Whether you’re trying to attend to an event or a television taping, or even want to (legally) get all of WWE’s content at home — it’s expensive to be a WWE fan in 2025. That’s increasingly becoming a topic of conversation among those fans, something we’ve been covering for a while… including earlier when our guy M. G0mez passed along tips from the pros on how to turn a (checks notes) $900 Raw seat
into a $373 one .
For example, just last week after this TikTok from AlexanderRose_tv went viral for the moment when Rose (presumably) tells WWE president Nick Khan that ticket prices are “crazy” and “a little too steep”. It’s a very cordial exchange from both sides, and before Rose ends it by again praising the WWE product, Khan says “I understand” about his trouble affording tickets.
Perhaps Khan hasn’t had a chance to convey his understanding to TKO COO Mark Shapiro just yet. Both men do have busy schedules. Shapiro’s took him to the annual Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference today (Sept. 10) spoke about TKO’s strategy on WWE ticket prices.
First, as often is the case with Ari Emanuel’s right-hand man Mark S, we had to research some business jargon:
- “Ticket yield” is generally calculated as the average revenue generated per ticket sold. It’s based on a pricing/inventory strategy called “Yield Management”, which focuses on modifying pricing and availability so companies make the most money possible on things like hotels, travel reservations, and tickets.
- “Holding back” or “holdbacks” are tickets withheld from the public for a variety of reasons, including to maximize ticket yield.
Okay, with that out of the way, here’s what Shapiro said on the conference (courtesy of Wrestling Observer):
“WWE is not where the UFC yet is on ticket yield. We have our work to do there.
“We know we have a lot of room there because Vince McMahon was primarily pricing tickets for families and wasn’t totally focused on maxing the opportunity there. Now that we’ve seen what we can do with UFC, we’re replicating that in terms of ticket yield and holding back and advance sales when it comes to OnLocation on the WWE side and it’s working out really well.”
Not often we hear about Vince McMahon not being ruthless enough in any business setting, but… there ya go. Apparently McMahon was leaving money ticket yield on the table by trying to keep WWE live shows something parents could take their kids to.
There is a point in yield management where you can lose revenue if you incorrectly predict how much most of your fans are willing to pay for whatever you’re selling. Shapiro and Khan haven’t gotten there yet. We’ll see if they do, or if they achieve a perfect ticket yield.
