UFC is just two months away from its domestic media rights being opened up to all bidders, potentially moving the promotion’s live content away from ESPN for the first time in more than half a decade.
ESPN (owned by Disney) and UFC have been in an exclusive negotiation period since mid-January, providing a chance to discuss options that would keep the top MMA promotion’s programming on the same network that it has inhabited since early 2019.
However, if a new deal isn’t reached between the two parties by April 15th, the full ecosystem of TV and internet streaming services will also be available to cut a deal with the UFC.
A recent report from Puck’s John Ourand has given the first bit of real insight into negotiations between the two sides, showing a strong possibility that the UFC could cross past a mid-April deadline without a new ESPN agreement in place.
Ourand wrote this week that it’s “becoming clear” that the parties will let the exclusive negotiating period lapse, noting that no formal talks have begun between the parties yet.
“ESPN hasn’t soured on UFC,” he wrote. “But the league needs a stalking horse bid in order to trigger any significant increase over the current deal.”
ESPN currently pays roughly $550 million a year to broadcast all of UFC’s live events, including its full schedule of pay-per-view and “Fight Night” events. They also air other programming produced by the UFC, like the live recruitment show “Dana White’s Contender Series” and the long-standing reality TV program “The Ultimate Fighter.”
UFC has become a major player in ESPN’s shift from traditional cable broadcasting to internet streaming since the beginning of their partnership. A large number of events stream exclusively through the subscription service ESPN+, including all pay-per-view main cards and a large number of “Fight Night” shows.
UFC has previously expressed enthusiasm regarding a new deal that could keep them with ESPN/Disney.
“It is our intention to re-sign with Disney because they have shown that they do it best,” Mark Shapiro, who is the President of UFC parent company TKO Group Holdings, said in September. “They understand synergy, they understand marketing, they’ve done a great job technologically with developing their platform, engaging their consumers, and of course, ESPN flagship, which is their direct-to-consumer, is on the way, so we’re anxious to see what that’s about and where we can fit in there.”
However, it has been stressed that there is more than one option for them on the table if they don’t make a new deal with ESPN.
“If we get out of that window and we don’t have a deal, we will immediately take up with two or three platforms specifically that have told us they’re anxious to have those conversations,” Shapiro said months ago.
Puck’s Ourand noted that Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have “expressed a willingness to talk” with UFC regarding a deal.
While UFC has no direct connection to Prime Video—a service that has tested out licensing live combat sports through agreements with Premier Boxing Championship and ONE Championship—the company has a link to Netflix. WWE, a company also represented under TKO, kicked off a five-year, $1 billion deal to exclusively air Monday Night Raw on the streaming service last month.
News of ESPN and UFC not formally negotiating just yet comes amid news that the leading sports broadcaster will end its eight-year broadcasting deal with Top Rank Boxing in August, further distancing them from combat sports programming, per Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports.
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