Vince McMahon: If We Don’t Return To Saudi This Year, We’ll Add Shows To Backside Of Deal

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and travel restrictions in place, it’s possible that WWE won’t make it to Saudi Arabia this year.

For the past two years, WWE has run two events in Saudi Arabia. The company held a show in February this year and were scheduled to return at some point before the end of 2020. But the coronavirus pandemic has forced schedule changes across the country.

If WWE doesn’t return this year, they will make good on the number of dates by adding shows to the back-end of the deal.

“They would love to have another huge event, a WrestleMania-type event. We normally have two per year in Saudi. There are of course constraints in the United States and everywhere else during this pandemic. They are not too sure they are gonna be able to give us the ‘okay’ to perform in November or December. They really want us to because it represents a huge turn in what’s allowed and what’s not allowed as far as live events are concerned. The good part of that is, if we don’t perform, we just tack on that event on the backside of our contract. We’re not going to lose the money. Everyone is having to deal with this pandemic, but we’re fortunate that we can move the event on the other side of our ten-year agreement,” said Vince McMahon on the 2020 first-quarter earnings call.

As far as a television deal in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region goes, McMahon sounded a little less optimistic.

“We’re still working on those. Sometimes, things move very slowly. That’s one of those things, we thought we would have MENA rights done by now, for sure. We don’t and it’s some degree of uncertainty of when that’s going to happen.”

In November 2019, WWE and Saudi General Entertainment Authority expanded their partnership through 2027.

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