The UFC’s deal with ESPN is up in 2025 and while there’s still over a year until then, the speculation has begun.
Less than one day after the NBA announced an 11-year deal with Disney, NBC, and Amazon Prime valued at approximately $76 billion, UFC CEO Dana White said the deal could impact the field for the UFC.
“It’s going to depend how all these other rights play out,” White told CNBC on Thursday. “The NBA was a big deal. Obviously, this one is playing out. ‘Who’s going to get them? Who’s not going to get them?’ It could determine where we end up.”
White also mentioned the possibility the UFC could divide content across deals with multiple networks – similar to that of the NBA and NFL.
“Our rights deal is going to be a big deal coming up here,” White said. “Who knows? We could end up like the NBA and the NFL where we end up on multiple channels instead of just one. … It’s all moving and changing so quickly.
“Yeah, I could definitely see (the UFC on multiple networks). … We have a lot of different levels of fights, whether it’s Contender Series, Fight Nights or pay-per-views. They could end up on multiple platforms.”
When asked if negotiations already had begun, White denied with a smile.
“They haven’t necessarily begun yet, but there’s a lot of interest and a lot of people out there kicking the tires,” White said.
Regardless of the UFC’s next move, sports streaming rights are big business. White indicated he expects the landscape to shrink and consolidate in the coming years.
“It’s interesting. Sports rights are through the roof right now,” White said. “I have this philosophy. When I grew up, you had Channel 3, Channel 5, Channel 8, and Channel 13. I think that’s going to be the same globally over the next several years, and you don’t know who the players are going to be, who are going to be the majors. Will it be Disney? Will it be YouTube? Will it be Amazon? Who knows.”
In 2018, the UFC and ESPN signed a five-year, $1.5 billion deal for domestic broadcast rights beginning in 2019. In early 2019, they extended the deal two years and added pay-per-view streaming rights. Prior to the ESPN era, UFC was on FOX for seven years (though pay-per-view broadcasts were traditonal) from 2012 through 2018.
