A big part of the Professional Fighters League (PFL) MMA organization’s strategy is about their global ambitions, which have seen them strike several recent deals with Torneos/DirecTV (Latin America), Channel 4 (UK), RMC Sport (France), fighting.de (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), and more. (In the U.S., they have deals with ESPN and fuboTV.) Their latest deal is with Australian streaming service Stan Sport. Here’s more from a PFL release:
The Professional Fighters League (PFL), the fastest growing and most innovative sports league, and Stan Sport today announced an exclusive multi-year broadcast partnership. Under the deal, Stan Sport will become the exclusive PFL broadcast partner in Australia, carrying the inaugural PFL Challenger Series, beginning February 18, along with the 2022 PFL Regular Season, Playoffs, and PFL World Championship. The deal was spearheaded in conjunction with Athletic Sports Group and its subsidiary Fight Globe, the world’s largest combat sports distributor.
Through the partnership, Stan Sport will bring MMA fans exclusive PFL content including archival season footage from 2019-2021 and original content from PFL Studios.
…The Professional Fighters League is proud to announce our multi-year broadcast partnership with Stan Sport in Australia beginning with the inaugural PFL Challenger Series this February,” said PFL CEO Peter Murray. “Australia is one of the fastest-growing MMA markets in the world and Stan Sport is the perfect partner to deliver our innovative products and live year-round programming schedule to the fans.”
“Our exclusive new partnership with the PFL will bring Australian MMA fans a world-class competition on Stan Sport,” said Stan Acting Chief Executive Officer Martin Kugeler. “The PFL features some of the biggest names in MMA, with some trailblazing Aussie fighters joining the League in 2022. MMA is one of the fastest growing sports in Australia. The pedigree of the PFL’s roster combined with the League’s extraordinary production quality, will make it a key pillar in our combat sports offering.”
It’s certainly notable to see the PFL continue to strike these kinds of deals around the world, and to see those deals feature not just their new live events, but also their archival and studio content. Expanding studio content has been a big focus for them, and that’s probably helpful in getting on board with some of these services.
The mention of Aussie fighters here is also significant. There are three spelled out in the release: featherweight Aaron Blackie, who will debut in the Challenger Series on March 11, and light heavyweight Robert Wilkinson and heavyweight Sam Kei, who will make their PFL debuts in the regular season (which begins April 20). That will definitely add to the interest in this league in Australia, and that helps make this agreement a bigger deal.
