After ESPN's upfront presentation, new president Jimmy Pitaro mused about the network's growing interest in the UFC. "Combat sports in general is interesting for us. We’re pretty confident we’ll continue to be the destination for combat sports," said Pitaro.
That turned out to be the understatement of the year. In a move that will reshape the TV sports landscape, ESPN is poised to take over the entire UFC TV package from Fox Sports with a $1.5 billion deal starting in 2019, sources tell Sporting News.
Moving forward, ESPN, not Fox, will be the UFC's main TV partner. Fox, meanwhile, will shift from the real world of combat sports to "sports entertainment" via a new $1 billion deal to televise the WWE "Smackdown Live." Still, the top UFC fights involving, hopefully, Conor McGregor and other champs will remain on pay-per-view and the UFC's Fight Pass service. In March, Sporting News broke the story that Fox was pursuing the WWE.
MORE: Fox lands WWE weekly show for a reported $1 billion
ESPN, Fox and the UFC could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but details are starting to emerge about the UFC's move to ESPN. Fox has been the TV home of the UFC for the past seven years. ESPN will pay the UFC $300 million a year for five years for the entire UFC TV package, according to SportsBusiness Daily.
The figure includes ESPN's previously announced $150 million per year deal with the UFC for its new ESPN+ app.
Via SBD:
For months, Fox Sports was considered a prohibitive front-runner to retain the rights. But ESPN, under the direction of new President Jimmy Pitaro, showed a newfound interest in the property. Pitaro showered praise on the MMA space at the Sports Business Summit in N.Y. on Monday, describing the UFC as an ascendant property and touting its young and diverse demos.
ESPN two weeks ago cut a five-year deal worth $150M annually for 15 UFC events that it will stream to its ESPN+ OTT service. Today, the two will announce another five-year deal for $150M per year for 27 more events, including 10 full events and 12 PPV prelims on linear. Five more events will go to ESPN+. UFC will keep the rights to 12 PPV events, the same number it carried this year.
The UFC was purchased by Endeavor for $4 billion in 2016. While the UFC didn't get as much rights money as it wanted from ESPN, it's still an increase over its current seven-year deal with Fox, according to Variety.
"It’s a reflection of declining TV ratings on Fox Sports for UFC, which has struggled to keep its momentum going despite the absence of the caliber of star fighters that propelled the league to its peak just a few years ago," says Variety.
Meanwhile, Fox is finalizing a $1 billion deal to carry "SmackDown" on Friday nights next year, according to The Hollywood Reporter. As previously reported by Sporting News, Fox is expected to televise the WWE on its bigger broadcast network, not the FS1 cable channel.
