Dave Meltzer Assesses AEW's Prospects For Next Broadcast Rights Deal

AEW is set to negotiate its media rights with Warner Bros Discovery at some point soon, as their current media rights deal expires at the end of December 2024. On "Wrestling Observer Radio," Dave Meltzer pointed out a report from the Sports Business Journal, and how he feels it will play into AEW's eventual negotiations.

"There's a big article on rights fees and talked about WWE, didn't talk about AEW," Meltzer said. "Talked a lot about NASCAR, some NBA. The thing is ... it's not promising for AEW to get the deal it looked like they would get a year ago, because things have changed."

Meltzer says sports like the NBA and NASCAR are experiencing downward trends, which doesn't bode well for niche content like WWE or AEW.

"NBA, their deal's up at the end of the 2024-25 season, and everyone's gonna want [them], and I think the AEW deal in many ways depends on the NBA," he said. "If Warner Bros. spends enough to keep the NBA, with their revenue declining most likely, that would mean it would be tough for AEW to get a giant number. If they lose the NBA, at that point AEW becomes so much more valuable because they don't have the NBA anymore. That's something to watch for."

Meltzer says that even if AEW got a huge per-viewer increase, they'd still be "a bargain" compared to WWE's current media rights deals. Meltzer sees AEW being under-priced as a strength for them.

"We'll see," Meltzer concluded, with a final note that the days of niche sports getting a large media deal appear to be dying.