Tony Khan on New Media Rights Deal Making AEW the Second Most Profitable Wrestling Company

– During today’s AEW All Out media conference call, AEW President and CEO Tony Khan was asked by F4WOnline.com’s Dave Meltzer about the new media rights deal on the horizon for AEW, and if that could see AEW becoming the second most profitable company in the history of the wrestling industry. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):

Tony Khan on AEW soon becoming the second most profitable wrestling company: “I think it is reasonable. Whether those cash flows happen overnight when the new deal kicks in, I can’t say those things for sure yet. There is still a lot to be figured out. I do think the die is cast that AEW is going to be the second most profitable wrestling company, at this point, of all time, which is very impressive for a promotion that is just over five years old and has been on television for less than five years.”

On how AEW has expanded in the last five years: “It’s amazing how quickly we’re expended. The expansion of the television product going from two hours a week to five hours a week. Being very excited about what the future holds in our media deal. It’s a really great time for the company. As getting into the semantics and mechanics of the accounting, and how we’re counting all the dollars, I’m not sure exactly how much money WCW made in 1998, nor am I honestly sure how much Jim Crockett was making in 1986, but over the duration of this deal, I expect, over this multi-year period that we’re about to enter into, that we will be the second most profitable wrestling company in the history of the wrestling business.”

On his excitement for the next multi-year period for AEW: “It’s a really exciting thing, and it’s also only the beginning. It’s the beginning of a really long journey. It’s been long journey, but it’s still early in the long journey. We’re really building for the future.”

It was reported last month that AEW was in talks with broadcast partner Warner Bros. Discovery for a media broadcasts rights renewal. WBD’s exclusive negotiating window ended earlier in July.