Dana White reveals timeline for UFC and ESPN negotiations on new TV deal to...
According to Dana White, the UFC plans to sit down with ESPN to open negotiations on a new deal in the very near future.
UFC CEO Dana White is already looking ahead to the future of streaming media, which includes the promotion’s current seven-year contract with ESPN in the U.S.
“You can look at some of the things Amazon’s done and think whatever [about them], but it’s all about when rights become available,” Dana White said. “That’s when you’re going to see people making big moves. Who’s going to be first to be the big, dominant player out there [in streaming sports]? I actually have been saying for a long time that I’m blown away that Netflix didn’t get into sports sooner. What YouTube did [securing the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket] was brilliant.”
White said he was pleased with how the UFC progressed through the pandemic, crediting the sport’s revival to the next generation of fans.
“Man, we were doing fights that should have done 350,000 [pay-per-view sales], and they wound up doing a million,” Dana White said. “There was nothing else on.”
White wants to see the UFC move into new territories and return to regular spots pre-COVID. But ultimately, White wants the consumer to be able to see the sport, live or on television, in the easiest ways possible.
“As technology continues to get better, the UFC continues to get bigger,” Dana White said. “We can reach more people. Back in the day, when I did this, the original deal, I’d have to go out and cut a million deals all over the world for distribution. Some would be on at different times and this and that. Now, with streaming, it’s pretty much [the] same time, same channel everywhere all over the world. Maybe there are three different ones, but this is the closest we’ve ever been to one stream.”
The UFC’s event calendar restarts Jan. 13 with a Fight Night event from the UFC APEX, headlined by a light heavyweight rematch between Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker.
TKO Group Holdings — the merged company between the UFC and WWE — may have taken a hit in stock prices since first launching this past September, but the company could be poised for a massive rebound in 2024.
The company opened on the NYSE at $102, but as of closing on Tuesday, it currently sits at just over $80 per share. That dip may not look promising, but at least one Wall Street analyst is backing TKO for a huge year ahead, especially with a pair of lucrative television contracts in the works.
Eric Handler, an analyst at Roth MKM, touted TKO as his top pick for the entertainment industry heading into 2024.
“We continue to have a positive view toward sports/live events programming, especially those with a high level of revenue being contractually guaranteed,” Handler told The Hollywood Reporter. “The market for sports rights fees remains strong, aided by an increasing number of interested distributors.”
The changing landscape for television in the streaming era has dramatically affected the entertainment industry, triggering two historically long strikes involving actors via SAG-AFTRA and writers via the Writer’s Guild of America (disclosure: Vox Media Union is part of the Writer’s Guild of America East). Those strikes were largely centered around pay, especially as streaming services like Netflix continue to eat up an even larger share of the overall marketplace for television and film.
Meanwhile, live sports rights fees continue to balloon, with networks and streamers willing to pay a premium price for events that aren’t typically affected by work stoppages or production delays. Add to that, live sporting events also draw massive ratings as evidenced by the NFL’s continued domination, prompting Amazon to pay $11 billion for a single weekly game for the next 11 years.
At TKO Group Holdings, the WWE has already negotiated a new deal for Smackdown and NXT, two of the top programs at the professional wrestling outfit, with a third contract still to come for Monday Night Raw, the longest running episodic series in TV history. Handler has faith that those rights fees will offer a robust bottom line for TKO in 2024, which will only increase stock prices for investors.
I hope they go back to Spike TV.
I hope Dana dies
Is that even a thing anymore? I miss those days.
No I don’t think it’s a thing anymore. I just miss those days too.
He will
$299 CDN per year paid in full in January. All access to PPV and fight library. Done! UFC gets all the money up front for the year and can invest how they see fit.
Every other major sport has a full subscription service. MLB, NHL, F1, MotoGP and on and on.
Most are less expensive than my suggested price.
Tell Dana how you feel.
could
Just a lil harsh there
Damn the UG has me rolling tonight
Was it about how great deal IPTV is?
I hope Dana dies
Not good-natured. Also, can we please be civil?!?!
That’s the type of post they might ban ubin this new ownership era
According to Dana White, the UFC plans to sit down with ESPN to open negotiations on a new deal in the very near future.
The UFC and ESPN are expected to sit down at the negotiating table to discuss a new broadcast rights deal in the very near future.
That’s according to UFC CEO Dana White, who acknowledged plans for those talks ahead of the expiration for the current deal that runs through 2025. The UFC inked a lucrative seven-year deal with ESPN in 2018 that was reportedly worth more than $1.5 billion, which eventually included pay-per-view broadcasts.
Now, with the deal coming to a close, the UFC will first sit down with ESPN before potentially branching out to discuss broadcast rights with other suitors.
“Our deal is coming up,” White said of the UFC’s relationship with ESPN. “I believe that talks will begin with ESPN within the next three to four months.”
Negotiations will be handled by the UFC’s parent company at TKO Group Holdings led by CEO Ari Emanuel, who has played a huge part in almost every major TV deal for the MMA organization. Prior to Endeavor buying the UFC for just over $4 billion in 2016, the talent agency turned multi-faceted conglomerate represented the promotion as a client.
That included the deal to take the UFC to FOX and then eventually move to ESPN.
Live broadcast rights deals are still at a premium right now for networks like ESPN, especially with major streaming platforms such as Amazon and Apple TV getting involved in the bidding. One Wall Street analyst predicted that the UFC’s next TV deal could balloon up to more than $3 billion — more than double the most recent contract signed with ESPN.
UFC also has an advantage in that there’s no offseason in MMA like most sports, so it’s a consistent driver for both ratings and advertising dollars, which is something almost nobody else can offer. The dedicated fan base for the UFC has helped drive ESPN+ growth, with the Disney-owned streaming service now boasting more than 26 million subscribers.
Reports surfaced recently that the NFL has also engaged in talks with ESPN recently on a potential groundbreaking deal that could see the football league take an equity stake in the network. Disney CEO Bob Iger has stated numerous times that he plans to explore potential partners to take on a share of ESPN but still maintain an overall controlling interest.
Given Endeavor’s rapid expansion after spinning off the UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment into one merged company, it’s entirely possible a similar deal with ESPN could emerge. Then again, TKO president Mark Shapiro has hinted at the potential for a UFC TV package to get split up among several networks, which is something leagues like the NFL and NBA do as well.
Yeah that makes sense. Make it more difficult for the people who make your product possible to begin with.