UFC and ESPN signed an exclusive TV rights deal to begin in 2019 worth a whopping $1.5 billion. ESPN will commit to $300 million a year over five years. Fox had the rights to the UFC since 2011, paying the UFC $100 million a year. The UFC is dancing on the tables today. Dana White posted a big smiling emoji. This is a huge deal for ESPN, who are picking up the UFC at the perfect time. It will only get bigger and bigger and the end of 2018 is panning out to big huge. That will only carry over into 2019 which could potentially be UFC’s biggest year ever.
Fox is the big loser in this considering FOX Sports 2 seems like it exclusively airs UFC Unleashed. Fox is going to try to fill the UFC vacancy by signing a deal with the WWE to air SmackDown Live!
ESPN+ is the biggest winner in the deal. While ESPN is trying to grow the subscription app with Kobe Bryant’s show Detail and streaming all of the 30 for 30 films, adding live UFC fights to the app will make it a must-have.
The breakdown of what ESPN will get from the UFC deal:
- 15 live 12-bout “UFC on ESPN+ Fight Night” cards
- Exclusive, all new-season of Dana White’s Contender Series
- Exclusive pre and post-event shows for all 15 live events.
- Access to UFC’s full archive of programming including its library of past bouts
- A new original, all-aches series produced by the UFC
- Additional UFC-branded content, including “UFC Countdown” shows, press conferences, weigh-ins, and pre and post-shows.
It seems as though this deal is perfect for both sides. ESPN ratings are way down and everyone knows about the massive layoffs over the last couple years. UFC has also seen criticism for losing star power with McGregor not fighting all of 2017 and 2018. Not only will having fights on ESPN help, the coverage is going to help even more.
This deal will not go into effect until 2019 so of course, there are still a lot of things to be worked out and decisions to be made on programming. January is a long way away, so this deal may fall into the background for a while. Come next year, get ready for the biggest UFC year of all time.