Tony Khan Notes AEW Has Better TV Audience Than WWE In Major Market

It's good to be Tony Khan right now. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham FC, where Khan holds executive positions, are both riding high, making the NFL playoffs and rising up the English Premier League table, while AEW has maintained a consistent level of quality recently, including last night's episode of "AEW Dynamite" in Los Angeles. Khan took some time to talk about his good fortune, in both wrestling and sports, in an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show yesterday, prior to last night's "Dynamite." The AEW CEO wasn't shy about revealing that his company is leading the pack in certain areas of the globe, and reflected on how AEW's origins date back to, of all places, a cocktail party.

"We've got something special," Khan said. "Now we have this audience where it's appointment viewing for so many people around the world. We're the worldwide leader in a number of markets. For example, in England, we have the biggest TV audience by far, because of AEW on ITV. We have this great audience via a great partnership. We have a great audience in Canada on TSN, and different places all over."

"It's funny, I was at a party and at the time, my friend Kevin Riley was the president of TBS and TNT. And basically in 2018, I went up to him and said 'Hey Kev. I have this idea. I was going to ask, are you looking at TV rights right now?' And he was, and he thought wrestling TV rights was really interesting. I pitched to him at a cocktail party in April 2018, and that's kind of how this all got started."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Rich Eisen Show and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription