Mark Shapiro made an appearance at the University of Alabama, speaking to a class of about fifteen people on a number of topics as noted by a user on Reddit.
The user, going by “South-Persimmon-5342” on the site, posted audio from the TKO Group President answering their question about the company’s involvement in WWE’s creative process, particularly with celebrities being a part of the programming.
Citing the likes of Logan Paul, Pat McAfee, and NBA players Tyrese Haliburton and Jalen Brunson among others, Shapiro defended the move:
We’re spending a lot more money to market the brand and market the content. And when you do that, you’re gonna win some folks over, but you’re also gonna chase some folks away. They don’t like this or they don’t like that. This is too expensive or, ‘Oh my God, to watch the WWE, I gotta buy Netflix which costs this much, I gotta watch SmackDown on USA, I gotta do that, I gotta have CW so I have to have cable. And now I have to pay for ESPN.’ And you can make some enemies really quickly.
This comes as WWE has wrapped up its first WrestleMania broadcast on ESPN Unlimited in the United States, with the first hour of each night airing simulcast on ESPN and ESPN 2.
Shapiro noted that this spread of broadcast coverage can be seen in other sports:
I was just reading something today that if you want to watch the Yankees games this year, the full season through the playoffs, you’ll have to watch them across 10 platforms at the cost of a thousand dollars when you add up everything you have to buy to see them. That’s just the way of the world today.