Endeavor To "Run The UFC Playbook" With WWE

Four months on from the company being put up for sale, WWE was sold to Endeavor on Monday, April 3 and the pro wrestling company will merge with UFC under a new parent organisation headed by Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel. 

President and COO of Endeavor and the new parent company Mark Shapiro discussed the WWE-UFC merger with Sports Business Journal and he explained that Endeavor will "run the UFC playbook" with WWE as the company looks to grow WWE's sponsorship, licensing, hospitality, and ticketing opportunities. Endeavor will also look to further develop talents through non-scripted shows, movies, and commercial endorsements. 

"We're going to run the UFC playbook. The opportunity to put Vince McMahon's creative head with Dana and Ari is going to create a significant amount of value for shareholders. That's the strategy. That's how it has successfully played out for the UFC over the last six years. Remember when we bought it for $4.1 billion? People thought that price was crazy. Now, it is valued at $12.1 billion. I mean, what a story. We hope to do the same thing with the WWE," Shapiro said.

WWE CEO Nick Khan added: "In many internal conversations that Vince and I would have with one another, the question wasn't whether we thought we could do it all on our own. Yes, we could do it on our own, but it probably takes 10 years."

The UFC-WWE merger is expected to be completed later this year. In the meantime, Vince McMahon is once again at the top of WWE. Not only has the 77-year-old survived a sexual misconduct and hush money scandal but he will be the Executive Chairman of the new parent company and he is once again in charge of WWE creative.