– WWE President Nick Khan has defended WWE’s expensive ticket prices as it makes the brand more in-demand.
“Capacity continues to be very high. We’ve increased prices appropriately with the marketplace. That’s for the PLEs, Raw, SmackDown, Saturday Night’s Main Event, and every other ticketed program WWE has… one of the first things we collectively did [with TKO] was reduce the non-televised live events, which created more scarcity in the marketplace for our televised events, and our continued international expansion only furthered that.
“So even in January, you’ll see us on a European tour for Raw and SmackDown. Leading into Royal Rumble, which takes place in Saudi Arabia. Tickets are already on fire for that event and, again, creates more scarcity in The United States. Which is a good thing in terms of our overall gates.”
(Source: TKO Earnings Call)
Folks, this is damage control. Higher ticket prices does not increase attendance. And I’ve already seen second market sellers begin to have to take a loss because they can’t move the tickets.
NFL teams at least have the common sense to reduce ticket prices. WWE’s $500 for nose bleeds. Then it’s $50 or more for a t-shirt, and then there is the food. As a user on Reddit said, the average Raw is becoming like the Super Bowl, and the average family just can’t afford it anymore. It’s like the new regime is pricing the old fans out.
It’s short-term vs. long-term thinking. If you strictly follow supply and demand and you can still sell out arenas with higher ticket prices, sure, you make more money per event and can keep announcing record gates. But who’s at the arenas? If kids and families are getting priced out in favor of people who can afford the higher prices, you lose out on one way to keep building your fan base – the kids growing up going to shows become parents taking their kids to shows. The movie industry has already suffered because of it (among other factors) and Disney & other theme parks are at a similar tipping point.