WWE Eyeing Site Fees for RAW and SmackDown Events

WWE has been on an impressive hot streak since Triple H took charge back in 2022 and this has resulted in numerous Premium Live Events selling out and breaking records. The same can be said for episodes of Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown as well and it appears WWE could be looking to get site fees for RAW and SmackDown shows in addition to Premium Live Events.

While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that WWE is currently securing site fees primarily for pay-per-view shows, and not even for every pay-per-view in the United States.

As B-shows have largely moved overseas where they can obtain site fees, A-shows are increasingly held in stadiums. While Survivor Series might still be an arena show, the plan is to secure site fees for it as well as for Money in the Bank.

WWE already gets site fees for Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and WrestleMania, and they are working on expanding this to other major events. The next step is to get communities to pay for bringing RAW and SmackDown tapings to their cities. Meltzer acknowledges the potential profitability of this strategy adding that WWE is now looking to make that happen.

Right now, they’re just getting them for the pay-per-view shows, and not even necessarily every pay-per-view show in the United States. Although now that the B-shows have been pretty much moved overseas and they’re getting site fees for those shows, and the A-shows are gonna mostly be stadium shows – maybe Survivor Series will probably still be an arena show – but the idea is they’re working on getting site fees.

They already do for Royal Rumble, SummerSlam and WrestleMania, and they’re working on getting them for Money in the Bank and Survivor Series, and now the next step is to get communities to pay them to bring Raw and SmackDown tapings in. Hey, more power to them if they can get it. “I don’t know how many people as far as tourists flock to a city on a Monday or Friday when Raw and SmackDown are in town. They do come in for pay-per-views. But if they can get it… just to come to your city, they’re gonna want your city to pay.

And it’s a great business to be in, it takes away all the risk of running shows if you’re getting paid to come in, that’s for sure. They’re giving you the building for free, and you’re gonna get paid to come in, and you’re gonna get other benefits from the city – promotional and everything like that, they’ll help you promote your event because it’s incumbent on them for the event to be a success because the whole idea of spending that money is to bring people into the city and come to restaurants and stay at hotels and all that. We’ll see if they can pull that off. If they do, that’s transformative.”

WWE is clearly doing things right as their deal with Saudi Arabia is also going quite well and we might even get to see the Royal Rumble take place in the country after 2025. Regardless, only time will tell if WWE will manage to get site fees for RAW and SmackDown.

Do you believe WWE will be able to get site fees for RAW and SmackDown in the future? Let us know in the comments section below!