WWE has significantly reduced the number of live events it holds, and TKO Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro recently indicated that this trend will continue.
At the JP Morgan 53rd Annual Global Technology, Media, and Communications Conference, Shapiro stated that the company will continue to reduce its spending after already cutting 75% of its live events. He said,
“We cut those house shows down to where now we’re doing 200 events a year. We cut them 75%, the number of house shows that we do. We feel that’s a good place to be and we’ll continue to prune as we go through. WWE has tremendous upside on global partnerships. Tremendous upside on ticket pricing. Tremendous upside on site fees, dynamic pricing, yield management. All areas we’re really focusing and pushing in on as it related to live events. As you saw on our first quarter, our margins significantly expanded as it relates to WWE live events.“