UFC Becomes ExcLusive to ESPN

They should get Colin Cowherd on there
 
If true, ESPN provides much more exposure than Fox and FS1. That is a huge number to help make back the original investment. Curious of the length of the deal. IMO this is good for the growth of the sport.
So a cable network that has seen a steady ratings decline is better than a Network TV station? Lol ok bud. That automaticly takes away a huge audience. I live in Canada and we don’t even have espn but we Fox and the affiliates.
 
Those talk shows on FS1 will never mention mma again lol
 
B... b... b... b... b... but financial wizards and renowned business experts Big John McCarthy and Joseph Rogan said that UFC was overvalued by USD 2,000,000,000 when it was bought by WME.

<30>

 
OK...it's official! "UFC IS NOT DYING"
 
Why the negativity ?

- ESPN home to all non PPV content.
- ESPN + is $5 and it will be an additional $5 to purchase fightpass? so for cost of fightpass now ($10) you will get FP content and whatever ESPN + has.
- ESPN provides more exposure in States and globally.
- Shill

Oeh and a nice 200 mil increase from last TV deal
 
@FrankieNYC care to shed some light on the ESPN details

Hey Jon,
I was away until now, so just getting to it.
I put in a few emails, but is 4:30am west coast, where both of my "insiders' are, so I doubt I'll hear anything for a bit

So ESPN gets a total of 30 cards (it seems)

According to Variety on Tuesday, the revised deal will have the Disney-owned ESPN getting 30 UFC cards per year, pushing the valuation of the contract to $1.5 billion over that same span of time — $300 million per year. It remains unclear how many pay-per-view events the UFC will run in 2019, but the typical 12 or 13 is not expected to change.

That makes me think they might not drop PPV to 8

Hopefully it works for all
 
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1.5 billion? That's crazy.

I thought it was surreal hearing that Fox was willing to pay 1 billion for WWE programming over a five year period, and they get better ratings in general than the UFC does. ESPN willing to shell out 1.5 billion for the UFC, though? And I thought WME-IMG got conned. <45>

Why would you think they were conned?
They were worth $5b in 2017 before these deals
 
WME is on the right path.
Mayweather/Conor definitely helped some, then they got to squeeze Ronda out her last PPV, and closing out this deal with ESPN....They're looking gravy!
 
WME is on the right path.
Mayweather/Conor definitely helped some, then they got to squeeze Ronda out her last PPV, and closing out this deal with ESPN....They're looking gravy!

Remember WME also brokered the WWE/Fox/USA deal(s) so they get a % of that as well.
 
I would love for all the UFC content to be in a single place. Now it scattered all over.
 
+1, lol @ everyone wanting WME to fail

I post the numbers here, all the time
What people choose to comprehend is up to them.

Are WME good for MMA? I'm not sure about that.
Do they pair fair?
UFC never paid fair.

But anybody thinking UFC was not an ATM & that the WME-era is not more profitable/valuable is really foolish.

I hope MMA turns around as far as fan interest goes.
Hopefully ESPN promotes the F outta it.
 
By far the best thing that could've happen to the UFC.
 
OH dude I watch ESPN pretty regularly and their opinions on the sport are TRASH! I want to hear from someone who cares, not because their contract says they’re have to give an opinion

A lot of that has to do that they simply don't have the time to be consumed with MMA on any level with everything else they needed to be on top of. Now that ESPN will make it a priority for them to learn and have probably unlimited access to fighters to give opinions I think we'll see much more educated talk about MMA on ESPN moving forward.
 
So a cable network that has seen a steady ratings decline is better than a Network TV station? Lol ok bud. That automaticly takes away a huge audience. I live in Canada and we don’t even have espn but we Fox and the affiliates.

In the Canadian context that's quite irrelevant though, no? Sure we don't have ESPN and get Fox and affiliates, but our UFC content is on TSN (the Canadian ESPN). So why would what we do and don't get in Canada in any way affect how good/bad this is in the States?
 
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