The Sports Business Journal is suggesting fans should expect a major shift when it comes to WWE's relationships with the television networks in 2023. Currently, the company has massive deals with NBC and FOX, but that may change. Specifically, they predict that NBC will buy the rights to both Raw and SmackDown and that could lead to a domino effect for other programming, with NBC actually purchasing WWE down the road.

The article tries to predict what's going on in the world of sports media and makes a number of predictions. Among them, they discuss the pending television rights negotiations between WWE and its major partners. As part of their theory, they believe that as part of the deal set to come down around April -- and not coincidentally around the time of WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles -- that Monday Night Raw as well as WWE NXT programming will remain on the USA Network for the foreseeable future. At the same time, they predict that WWE SmackDown will also move over to NBCUniversal and that USA could start airing all of WWE's flagship shows. The article adds that this could largely affect WWE's negotiations on their Peacock deal when those rights once again come up at the end of 2024.

FOX NBC Triple H WWE

They write: "By the end of the year, the group will have a deal in place with NBCU that keeps “Raw” and “NXT” on USA and moves “SmackDown” from Fox to one of NBC’s channels. The real significance of this deal comes in two years the two negotiate their Peacock deal. The deals for “Raw” and “SmackDown” will lay the groundwork for NBCU to buy WWE outright."

Related: [Report] NBC/USA Network Have "An Issue" With The SmackDown Roster Being Stacked

Could NBCUniversal Buy WWE?

That the article doesn't just stop at NBCUniversal outbidding FOX, but it actually suggests there's a chance that a new television deal could clear the way to NBCU acquiring WWE in its entirety in the years to come is huge. There have been rumors in the past that WWE might be sold to a larger company, with Disney and other major media platforms be among the rumored suitors. NBCUniversal makes a lot of sense.

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