Everyone Has a Price: The Rising Cost of Being a WWE Fan

Ever since TKO bought the WWE in 2023, the cost of being a fan has gone up significantly. Ticket prices are ridiculously high, and in the US, PLEs left Peacock for ESPN’s new $30 service. Not to mention that as a fan in the US, if you want to watch everything, you need Netflix, Cable, and the ESPN Unlimited. (Or you know, get a VPN and watch it all on Netflix.)

On top of that, merchandise prices have also gone up, while quality has gone down. $35 for a shirt is a lot to ask for, but if I’m paying that much, I want the shirt to be good quality.

So, the question is, is TKO about to price itself out of the market? Or will they be able to keep getting fans to part with their money?

Ticket Prices

The COO for TKO, Mark Shapiro, has gone on record saying that they intend to keep raising prices to maximize profits. I want to be clear on one thing: I am in no way wanting to glorify Vince McMahon; he is a horrid example of a human being, and I’m glad he is out of the WWE. With that said, the reason Vince kept prices lower is that he was thinking long-term.

Hook kids who come with their parents, who, in turn, were hooked on the WWE when their parents took them. It becomes a perpetual fanbase, where generations of fans can come to a show and keep the ball rolling. That’s why WrestleMania IX had $25 seats. That’s why WrestleMania 31 had decent seats for $250. It made it affordable for a family to save up and make it their vacation. Or for some friends to all go together.

Hell, at WrestleMania 38, the cheap seats were still only $100. Now, the cheapest seats are between $188 and $370. Decent seats were between $200 and $400, and are now between $660 and $1,735. Ringside seats for WrestleMania 38 were $2,360, and now they range from $9,899-$17,302. The prices for WrestleMania 42 are for 2-day passes, but even if you divide them in half, that’s still a huge increase in just four years.

SmackDown came into my neck of the woods recently, and I wanted to take my wife to her first wrestling show. And for decent seats, as in upper deck seating, but not the top of the arena. It would have cost us somewhere around $500 to go.

Attendance

The combined attendance for WrestleMania 41 was 124,693. The 2025 Royal Rumble had 70,347 attendees. Survivor Series: WarGames 2025 had 46,016 fans in attendance.  SummerSlam 2025 had a combined attendance of 113,722. All great numbers, but then we get to Elimination Chamber in 2026, where only 19,346 fans showed up in Chicago to see hometown hero CM Punk.

Rumors are that WrestleMania 42 tickets are not moving fast. With only 39,800 sold for night one and 41,300 sold for night two. They’ve also had multiple sales, including the 31.6% off on 3:16 day, and a current 25% discount.

Some of this can be chalked up to the booking and creative direction going into the event. But when you are asking your fans to pay anywhere from $188 to $17K per person for just the event itself. You are starting to price fans, both going on their own and with family, out of the event completely.

ESPN Deal

In August of last year, the WWE announced it would be leaving Peacock for ESPN Unlimited. ESPN is paying them around $325 million per year over the next five years for the deal. Which seems like a great business deal. Except for 11 years, the WWE fans had been able to access PLEs plus the complete history of the WWE for $9.99 a month. Even after the move to Peacock, the price didn’t change.

Now, fans are being asked to pay $30 a month (if they can’t get ESPN Unlimited through their cable provider). Which, if you like sports, I guess is a good deal. But for those of us who don’t follow sports, we are being asked to spend $30 a month on a service we are only using once a month.

It’s why many of us in the US have opted to grab a VPN. Though Netflix has started cracking down on watching live events through a VPN. I had already gone the VPN route to avoid ads during Raw, but now they are starting to roll out ad breaks in other countries. First Canada and now England.

If Netflix finds a way to completely prevent VPN usage with their service, then I’m not going to be watching PLEs anymore. I can’t afford another $30 on something I am using once a month.

Merchandise

Ever since the WWE partnered with Fanatics to make their merchandise, the price has gone up. And the quality is down. It also takes forever to have anything ship. When my wife first saw Mr. Iguana, she was an instant fan.

So, I thought I’d get her her first wrestling merch. It was $35 for the shirt, and it took almost a month to ship. The fabric feels cheap on it, and I’m wondering how long until the screenprint starts to come off.

In 2020, I was able to get a nice Finn Balor hoodie for under $50. It was lightweight, but warm, and it lasted me for years. I had a SHIELD one before that was also really high quality.

I will probably get my wife the Danhausen shirt, because she also loves him. But it’s hard to justify the cost at this point.

What’s Your Price?

In this economic climate, I’m at my limit as far as paying to be a fan. I’m not going to get ESPN Unlimited. I’m not willing to pay the ticket prices. And I’m barely willing to get merchandise. I know I’m not the only one, because this kind of discourse is all over the internet.

TKO is making moves that make sense for them as a business in the short term. And that is the issue when you are beholden to shareholders. You have to keep making profits to keep them happy. But if you aren’t thinking long-term, how to make and keep new fans, then you are doomed to fail.

Wrestling is a niche product, and yeah, it’s more popular than other niche products. But it’s still niche, and you have to be smart to keep your fanbase rolling and invested. I’m never going to drop $17K on a ticket to anything. I wouldn’t even drop $500 for two to see Metallica (the only band I haven’t seen on my bucket list). It’s just too much

I don’t know how the families who bring their kids for Jey Uso to steal can afford to bring their whole family. Back in the 1990s, my family did one big vacation per year, or every other. But it was something my parents saved for to make happen. Or we did something cheaper, like going camping or staying in a family friend’s cabin or something. We only went to Disneyland twice. Once when I was four and again when I was around 13 or so.

Aside from that, it was trips to see the grandparents out of town, or the previously mentioned camping. So, to think about saving all year, just to go to Monday Night Raw or the Royal Rumble, just blows my mind.

I hope TKO can figure out that they are asking too much for their fans. Yes, they need to make a profit to stay in business and to pay their wrestlers and other employees. But if no one is buying a ticket, then you aren’t making any money at all.