On the latest Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams speak with AEW owner and CEO Tony Khan about his many roles across the billion-dollar world of global sports.
In addition to his role at the upstart wrestling promotion, Khan is an executive at the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars and the Premier League’s Fulham FC, franchises owned by his father. Khan discusses how he balances his schedule between the roles (he also runs a media company), and the similarities and differences between their business structures.
In the NFL, for example, the Jaguars are competing against teams that operate within a hard salary cap. In the Premier League, Fulham is competing against teams that are able—and willing—to spend significantly more on players and support. The Premier League has relegation; the NFL does not.
Khan launched AEW in January 2019, and the promotion currently has a media partnership with post-merger Warner Bros. Discovery (Nasdaq: WBD). He talks about the ways in which the company uses its IP across its portfolio. AEW has done recent shows utilizing Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, and HBO’s new Game of Thrones spinoff.
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