TKO President Mark Shapiro Explains Why WWE Is Still In Its Infancy

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TKO President Mark Shapiro recently spent some time answering questions from the media during the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, and the business executive indicated that Endeavor saw a lot of missed potential for sponsorship opportunities in WWE when they bought the company. While there have already been significant changes in that department since WWE merged with UFC to form TKO, Shapiro says there is more to come.

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"We're just getting started — it is very early," Shapiro. "The integration is still going. We're one year in. Talk about being a baby. So we [have] a lot of pressure on our teams, and we're creative, and we're going out on these pitches. I mean, Nick Khan [has been] getting on the road and going out [to] sell WWE."

Shapiro also stated that WWE is "20 years old" in its "current state." The executive could be referring to the point at which Vince McMahon took the company public, which took place 25 years ago in 1999. However, Shapiro did not elaborate beyond stating that there was lots of room for the company to continue growing revenue.

One of the ways TKO intends to increase WWE's revenue is by raising ticket sales, which Shapiro said were too low for too long. Since taking over, WWE ticket prices have increased, and the executive indicated that they were likely to continue to do so.

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Another announcement recently made by Shapiro is that WWE will continue to scale back live events, also known as "house shows," next year. According to the TKO President, the profit margins on the events are simply too low, meaning that such a heavy live event schedule is not cost effective.