UFC Becomes ExcLusive to ESPN

[Revolver]

Actually, I indeed like Whitlock. His show with Colin Cowherd is pretty good.

Not sure how anyone could like Shitlock. He's terrible.

 

[Revolver]

ESPN overpaid grossly. But that's what networks tend to do when you need to fill programming up.

 

[Klippy]

Ari Emanuel is a really powerful guy... dude must have hundreds of connections.

 

[Mesos]

Here are my thoughts
If handled correctly, MMA interest can plateau & UFC still be a very strong business.

UFC does not need to get more popular to be a solid business.

If they stay at this level, they already showed what a great deal it was to buy UFC.

If they go public, the money will be insane.

Which begs the question..... why haven’t they gone public? Just got a big media deal and could get out of debt faster. Why dont they go for it?

 

[brian]

Only gripe i have with this deal is the 20 events on ESPN+. I'm not sure if the UFC has enough talent to do 42 shows, very rarely watch the fight nights.

 

[FrankieNYC]

Which begs the question..... why haven’t they gone public? Just got a big media deal and could get out of debt faster. Why dont they go for it?

Timing is better after the deal(s)
Also WME is not concerned with the debt, so no idea why some on here are lol.

The received $1.1b from investors last summer & they decided not to use it to pay off the debt.
They think being liquid for other investments is better.
I said from date of sale that WME can break even on UFC & the deal is a winner, because it brings their portfolio up even more.

 

[magicmarker]

Here are my thoughts
If handled correctly, MMA interest can plateau & UFC still be a very strong business.

UFC does not need to get more popular to be a solid business.

If they stay at this level, they already showed what a great deal it was to buy UFC.

If they go public, the money will be insane.

with espn now behind the UFC i doubt its going to sink anytime soon. The value will probably be alot higher in 5 years.

I agree with you guys, and in theory it should. But this strategy doesn't allow the sport to have the same feel to it that it used to have imo. Like Mark Cuban said "hogs get fat and greedy, and hogs get slaughtered".

I think running such a high amount of content risks two negative scenarios happening...

A. Over saturated marketplace with too much low quality content.

B. Less stacked cards result in less talk and buzz generated about mma in general, making it even more difficult to find others interested in the sport.

 

[chiefwiggum]

You'll need the extended package for fights on whatever the lower ESPN channel is iirc. Fs1 was awesome for fight nights and now we have to adjust to whatever ESPN thinks will be "better". Guess we will see?!

I’m sure it will go to ESPN +. It’s showing the Crawford vs. horn fight in a week or so
Which was surprising because I had never heard of ESPN+ before.

 

[magicmarker]

Timing is better after the deal(s)
Also WME is not concerned with the debt, so no idea why some on here are lol.

The received $1.1b from investors last summer & they decided not to use it to pay off the debt.
They think being liquid for other investments is better.
I said from date of sale that WME can break even on UFC & the deal is a winner, because it brings their portfolio up even more.

What sort of investments..?

 

[JKS]

so... "fs1 is dying"?

That depends on if FS1 can keep the old footage of the UFC shows. Because of this mega ESPN deal that not only makes the UFC "not dying", its so big that the "not dying" aura can somehow latch onto the old UFC shows and keep FS1 alive as well.

<45><45>

Although....what happens if ESPN is dying??

 

[FrankieNYC]

What sort of investments..?

They just recently bought Neulion as an example
I don't follow everything WME does outside of UFC
They are much bigger than just MMa

 

[chiefwiggum]

I agree with you guys, and in theory it should. But this strategy doesn't allow the sport to have the same feel to it that it used to have imo. Like Mark Cuban said "hogs get fat and greedy, and hogs get slaughtered".

I think running such a high amount of content risks two negative scenarios happening...

A. Over saturated marketplace with too much low quality content.

B. Less stacked cards result in less talk and buzz generated about mma in general, making it even more difficult to find others interested in the sport.

I agree with you but your A and B have been happening for many years.

I never missed a card in 20+ years. Anymore I watch a couple fights or even 1 fight a card. Sometimes. None.

Ufc 200 was Amanda fucking nunes vs miesha tate.

A landmark card.

 

[Mesos]

Timing is better after the deal(s)
Also WME is not concerned with the debt, so no idea why some on here are lol.

The received $1.1b from investors last summer & they decided not to use it to pay off the debt.
They think being liquid for other investments is better.
I said from date of sale that WME can break even on UFC & the deal is a winner, because it brings their portfolio up even more.

Makes sense, I wouldnt have as much restraint as they do for going public but maybe thats why im not rich lol. Regardless what they do, this UFC deal is a homerun for them.

 

[bigeastgi43]

Wme trying to get that return money asap lol. Good for espn, bad for fans imho

Why?

 

[Sp@cePeanut]

Hopefully this works out but, as fans, why do you want more exposure? This reminds me of when we wanted Metallica to be on mainstream radio way back in the day.....they made it to radio, but at a huge cost to the quality and integrity of the product.

 

[Bmurray]

UFC gets a 1.5b deal for their B-events on the most legitimate sports network in the world and 3/4 of sherdog is talking shit lol

 

[juanM3]

smart move by Fox

Except they lose a ton of FS1/FS2 programming. Even with the declining ratings, the UFC stuff was still typically doing better than their other programs.

It seems like a big gap they'll need to fill, but people mentioned they are signing some wrassling deal so that should help.

 

[Swoliosis]

Spot on post. ESPN won't be happy with the watered down cards the UFC has been putting on lately. They're going to want good numbers, so the UFC is going to have to deliver.

I think we the fans win in the end. Yeah, we're going to have to shell out a few dollars to watch all the fights, but that few dollars a month is worth better cards in the end. If someone can't afford the $5-$10, then they have some personal issues to work out lol

I hate the poor. Great post.

 

[superpunch]

I'm worried about how this will effect the UFC's product. Fox already took out a lot of the "character". ESPN is super PC. How's that going to effect the UFC's production?

 

[68WCombatMedic]

UFC gets a 1.5b deal for their B-events on the most legitimate sports network in the world and 3/4 of sherdog is talking shit lol

Probably because they're moms won't up their allowance by the required amount to buy the subscription.

I'm just being a dick, idk if that's why lol