Last fall, ESPN signed a media deal with WWE which would cover its Premium Live Events on its digital platform. It has now gone all in with coverage of WWE including airing the first hour of Wrestlemania on both nights on the main ESPN network.
In leadup to this year’s two-night extravaganza, ESPN has WWE stars all over its programming to hype up this year’s event. Roman Reigns and Danhausen appeared on ESPN’s First Take this week. Also, Pat McAfee is involved in the main event on Saturday and has been weaving this into his daily show.
It goes without saying that the biggest story this weekend is not the performers, but the slow ticket sales which is an actual part of a CM Punk promo.
According to a report by Awful Announcing, ESPN sport more time on its flagship studio programs, Get Up, First Take, and The Pat McAfee show discussing WWE than it did MLB and NHL combined. Astounding for the network that used to dub itself the “worldwide leader in sports.”
The selling of the product of one of its partners reflects the new media world that we live in. ESPN is a partner with WWE more than it is an observer of the product. Its success of WWE is dependent in part on ESPN and vice versa. ESPN has paid for the rights of WWE and its vital to the network’s business it does well. Also, this is sports entertainment with characters and storylines. Not real sport. This is something that longtime viewers that wake up watching Danhausen curse Steven A. Smith have to get used to.
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