With 2026 not far off the horizon, WWE was going to have some decisions to make, chiefly regarding the house for his or her premium live events. The promotion has aired their PLE’s on Peacock over the past 4 years, but with their contract set to run out in March 2026, questions abounded over whether the promotion would look to stay on Peacock, or seek a brand new home.
The reply has turned out to be the latter. In a Wednesday morning press release, WWE and ESPN announced an agreement that may see ESPN develop into the domestic home for all WWE PLEs starting in 2026. The discharge states that the upcoming ESPN DTC streaming service, set to launch later this month, will stream all WWE PLE’s annually, together with select simulcasts on other ESPN platforms.
No financial terms were disclosed within the press release, but The Wall Street Journal has since reported that the contract between the 2 sides is for five years and value $1.6 billion, equaling out to $325 million per 12 months, a 1.6x increase over the Peacock deal. Wrestlenomics reports that ESPN’s flagship show, “Sportscenter,” will broadcast on location for certain WWE PLE’s, and that ESPN has the rights to create original WWE content, and air the pre and post-shows following PLE’s.
It has been confirmed that the rights to the WWE’s video library weren’t included on this ESPN deal, nor were the rights to “WWE NXT” PLE’s. This could allow WWE to hunt deals with other platforms for the library and “NXT PLE’s” in the event that they selected, though it’s unclear whether they’ll achieve this. No start date was mentioned, but as noted, the Peacock deal is ready to run out in March, making WrestleMania 42 the most certainly show for WWE and ESPN to launch their partnership.