Sports content has evolved from being a “toy shop” experiment to leading the entertainment industry, according to WME President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro.
“When I was running ESPN, even though ESPN was worth more than the entire Walt Disney Company combined, they looked at it as being like the toy shop,” Shapiro said on a panel at TheWrap’s TheGrill conference on Tuesday. “And now that fun factory is leading the way in overall content.”
Shapiro, who also serves as president and COO of TKO Group Holdings, which owns the UFC and WWE, added that the rise of sports content stems from differences in audience engagement compared to traditional entertainment like movies.
“Movies are emotional and they’re visceral, and you walk out, you’re moved by them. You talk about them. But when you’re in a movie, you are a passenger,” Shapiro said. “When you are at a sports event, the audience is a participant and they truly believe they have a say in the outcome of that sporting event. Whereas in a movie, the outcome is the same. It may hit people differently, but the outcome is the same for everyone that watches it.”
TKO has been a tear lately with the recent $7.7 billion deal that UFC struck with Paramount+ along with the 10-Year, $5 billion deal WWE set with Netflix for “Monday Night Raw.”
Shapiro also noted that sports offers something unique in the current cultural moment. “Sports is the last passion-ifying content, especially in the time of uncertainty, especially in the time of division,” he said. “Human characteristics, from revenge, resilience, intentions and perseverance, are all characteristics we can relate to that resonate with us as humans. And it’s live. And what does everybody want these days? What do they suffer from? FOMO. Everybody wants to be there. They want to share content. They want to be able to participate in the conversation, and sports let me do that in real time.”
Shapiro added that he hasn’t seen demand slow across TKO’s annual events. He also cited the recent Electronic Arts $55 billion all-cash deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners.
“So sports is going to keep winning out. It’s why you see Silver Lake and (Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners) spending $55 billion dollars to buy EA,” Shapiro said. “What does EA have? A lot of sports games. Madden. College football.”
“There’s no angle you’re going to turn right now where sports is cooling off. We see no signs of it,” Shapiro added.
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