WWE News: Agreement Reached, SmackDown Live Heading To FOX In 2019

In some breaking news today, ESPN’s Darren Rovell is reporting that FOX has reached an agreement with WWE to bring SmackDown Live in what’s being called a “massive” offer. At this time, there are no specifics yet on the terms of the deal, however the contract will begin in October 2019 and it’s believed SmackDown will remain a live program. Additionally, Rovell is stating that it will be on FOX and not FS1, which was the previous belief.

This comes after The Hollywood Reporter revealed that NBCU, the current home of both RAW and SmackDown Live, was willing to let the Tuesday night show go due to the high asking price WWE wanted for RAW (which you can read here). It had also been speculated that in addition to FOX, Facebook and Amazon were both potential landing spots for the blue brand (you can find that here). There has still been no official word from WWE or FOX.

The Wrap has also added that a source close to the deal is stating SmackDown Live will be moving back to Fridays.

EA’s Take: After everything that came out about NBCU’s dealings to get RAW, this seemed pretty inevitable. There was some talk that WWE Network could be a home for SmackDown Live as well, but there was no way WWE would pass up on such a large amount of money. We’re still waiting on potential numbers for this contract and I’ve been passed along some speculation, but nothing that can be sourced or confirmed yet. I’d imagine based off how SmackDown draws compared to RAW, it’s likely that WWE is getting right around half of what the red brand is worth.

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