Tony Khan Says Reports On Media Talks Have Been ‘Pretty Accurate,’ Praises Fans’ Enthusiasm

Tony Khan believes its an exciting time for AEW and noted that some reports about their media negotiations are “pretty accurate.” It has been reported that the company is close to a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery with the new deal being “at least double” the amount of their current deal.

Khan was asked about the media rights negotiations on the All Out media call and reports of the status, as well as the “avidity” of the AEW fan. You can see highlights below (courtesy of Fightful):

On the AEW media talks: “It’s a really exciting time for AEW. We are having great conversations. There have been a lot of reports, and a lot of them have been pretty accurate about the status of the media deal between AEW and Warner Brothers Discovery being something that has been a productive and ongoing conversation that we’re still working on. There are a lot of details. You mentioned the future of the TV deal, which is something we all want; AEW on TBS and TNT. It’s great to be wanted by TBS and TNT. I feel very fortunate that, after being here for five years, there is still this great appetite and desire to keep AEW at TBS and TNT. It’s a mutual thing. We love Warner Brothers Discovery.”

On working with WBD on the deal: “We’re still working through the details of the agreement, which is a very long and tenuous process, but a good process to do. It can be long to figure out a contract for one person, one player, one athlete. Imagine an entire league, doing an agreement for all of our events and all the exciting things we’re working on. There are some exciting things to come, without revealing anything that would jeopardize our company or the great status of everything we’re working on. There is a lot of excitement on each side… Without getting into the future of streaming, I acknowledge there have been a lot of good conversations between AEW and Warner Brothers Discovery. There are a lot of things to be worked out, but it’s a great time for AEW. This is going to work out really well for AEW and our fans.”

On AEW fans’ spending habits: “Did you know, of all the world’s sports leagues, that the league whose fans spend the most money per month on streaming video of every sports league out there? The league who spends, on average, the most per month on streaming video? It’s AEW. It’s ahead of every other sporting league in the world. I’ve never said AEW is the biggest sporting league in the world, but we are a big sports league now, and we have a lot of fans. We also have the greatest avidity of fans of any league in the world. It shows up in the metrics and intangible ways, too. Sure, I didn’t check the decibel meter every five seconds at Wembley Stadium because we were having such a great show, and we were in the moment trying to enjoy it as it was happening.”