The Executive Vice President of ESPN’s programming and scheduling department, Burke Magnus, was recently interviewed by the Wrap. During the interview, he spoke about why ESPN wasn’t able to reach a deal with WWE for Smackdown Live.
It turns out that ESPN took a hard look at making a deal for Smackdown but things didn’t end up working out. As we know now, WWE signed a massive deal for the show to head to FOX instead.
Here is what Magnus had to say about ESPN not reaching a deal with WWE:
“We did talk to WWE during their process some months ago. Took a hard look at it, we’re obviously big fans of them. We just went into business with them on the XFL indirectly.”
“We couldn’t find a fit for it, primarily based on schedule. As you know, those properties are 52 weeks a year live.”
“I’m proud to say we have a pretty good problem, which is that we can’t clear anything 52 weeks a year live. We have a pretty full portfolio of content as it is.
He was also asked if a possible off-season was discussed as part of this deal:
“Not specifically that, but we looked at all kinds of conversations to try and make it fit. It just didn’t work. We parted ways and they got a good deal with their new partners, continuing at NBC(Universal’s USA Network) and adding Fox. So all’s well that ends well for them — but we gave it a good try.”
Would you have preferred Smackdown to move to ESPN instead of FOX? Let us know in the comment section below.
On a related note, here are 7 small changes that would improve WWE television.