Despite ESPN’s exclusive negotiating window with UFC ending on Tuesday night, the two sides may want to stay together after all.
According to a report by John Ourand in Puck, UFC and ESPN are “motivated to stay in business together beyond December, when the current deal concludes.” The new reporting comes just one month following ESPN+’s broadcast of UFC 313 that had TKO executives “absolutely furious” after technical glitches prevented fans from purchasing the pay-per-view fights.
Per Ourand, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro and TKO Group president Mark Shapiro met last week to discuss a potential future package. The size of said package will likely come down to the level of interest from outside bidders. On Saturday, UFC CEO Dana White suggested that the fighting promotion could “end up on several different networks, like all other sports do.”
Of UFC’s potential suitors, Ourand mentions Amazon and Netflix as two companies that are expected to meet with the promotion “almost right away” after the expiration of ESPN’s exclusive window. One would have to imagine other media companies will be taking meetings as well.
It has long been expected that UFC would split its media rights into at least two packages once its current deal with ESPN expires. But the idea that the promotion could end up on three or more separate networks or platforms is a new wrinkle.
ESPN seems to be firmly in the mix as one of UFC’s next partners, but it’s unclear exactly what inventory the network would be interested in keeping. Nevertheless, the tension between the two sides seems to have subsided in the weeks following last month’s fiasco. As Ourand says, “sources at both UFC and ESPN said that their relationship was in a much better place,” following last weekend’s UFC event in Miami.
UFC’s media rights picture should start coming into focus soon with the circuit able to talk shop with other potential broadcast partners.
