UFC Fight Pass in play - Amazon & YouTube interested

[FrankieNYC]

I hinted toward this on Monday
But in addition to the US TV rights, WME has received offer from YT & Amazon to buy FP.
There have been discussion of both selling the catalog outright or just the broadcast right for X amount of years.
Also the bid from NBC supposedly includes FP & that is a reason Fox upped their bid to $250m per (from the $100-120m per)

Now what the offer(s) include is the key. Do they include bigger/better cards that take away from UFC PPV profits?
That is an unknown variable.

But don't be shocked if FP winds up elsewhere very soon.

________

Now personally, this makes me wonder how long WME cares to be in the MMA game.
When they spearheaded the purchase, they said that ownership of content was a big interest to them.
Since UFC went up in value while interest & PPV/TV are down, I would not be shocked if WME/Investors sell & walk away with billions or they do an IPO & then sell out.
I think the declining interest in MMA has made the owners look at things differently & think getting out while profits are breaking records might be the way to go.

 

[Dream20]

I would pay 350$ for it.

 

[FrankieNYC]

@Myrddin Wild & @tithas

 

[Bubba32]

MMALOGIC posted this on the underground six months ago. He said WME was going to sell the rights to fightpass (library and the fightpass prelims). He said likely buyer would be amazon but could be any of the players with digital assets.

It just makes more sense. The content is worth more to these guys than a stand alone service like fightpass. They can monetize it better. Similar to how NFL sells its content to other networks instead of placing it on the NFL network.

ESPN launching its own ott digital service will further make things interesting.

ESPN, Turner/att and NBC/COmcast have their own digital assets/services which means theyd likely want rights to the fightpass content whereas Fox doesnt. If they go with Fox then it would be more likely to be combined with a deal from amazon/facebook/youtube/etc for the fightpass content.

 

[sonhow]

Hopefully they would fix at least some of the problems then. Sux when you try to watch with tv app but you can't because the shit is jammed.

 

[Son of Sonnen]

I think they are using it to up the Fox offer but will end up keeping it.

 

[Mr hanky]

 

[Treeloy]

I think the declining interest in MMA has made the owners look at things differently & think getting out while profits are breaking records might be the way to go.

This is a contradiction. How can the interest be declining if they are breaking profit records. You guys are looking at things too short term. A company doesnt sell because a few shows didnt do well. Look at how the entire year goes first, we are only in February.

 

[fordman7795]

Well hopefully whoever buys it does a yearly subscription service that includes all ppvs.

 

[Bubba32]

I think they are using it to up the Fox offer but will end up keeping it.

I dont think they are going to keep it. I dont think they want to be in the business of running their own niche network and collecting 9.99 per month or whatever it is especially when they can make more money by just licensing it out to people who are already in that business.

 

[Bubba32]

This is a contradiction. How can the interest be declining if they are breaking profit records. You guys are looking at things too short term. A company doesnt sell because a few shows didnt do well. Look at how the entire year goes first, we are only in February.

I dont think WME is going to sell the UFC. WME is planning to go public and they need assets like the UFC to make the WME ipo a success. If anything they are buying more properties like the UFC.

 

[Bubba32]

Well hopefully whoever buys it does a yearly subscription service that includes all ppvs.

whoever buys the rights to it will offer it for free or part of their existing service.

 

[Cheapshart]

It would make sense from a cost-cutting perspective if the platform isn't performing well and they can open a new revenue stream selling content.

Doesn't neccesarily mean they're looking to get out of the MMA game imo.

 

[Treeloy]

I dont think WME is going to sell the UFC. WME is planning to go public and they need assets like the UFC to make the WME ipo a success. If anything they are buying more properties like the UFC.

They arent idiots. If everyone on this site knew Ronda/Conor/Gsp could retire at any moment then so did they. Im sure they bought the company with a 20-30b exit plan, maybe more.

Makes no sense to sell when the sport is growing so fast. A lot of people give credit to the fertitas for selling when they did, but I actually think it was a terrible decision. They grew the company from nothing to 4.2b and sold it right when the big money started coming in.

If they had just held out 10 years and continued to grow I could see the UFC being worth 20+B easily in the not too distant future. They sold way too early. They built up the company for 20 years and made 4b which is good, but in another 10 it could be worth double or 4x that amount imo.

Fertittas fucked themselves out of billions imo

 

[JayJayMMA]

I think the declining interest in MMA has made the owners look at things differently & think getting out while profits are breaking records might be the way to go.

Not surprised if they do, they are majority owned by silver lake so will sell as soon as they have the right price. Doubt they will own the asset past mid way through 2019. The rumblings of the ali act potentially coming in could hamper any future sale for a desirable price.

 

[Bubba32]

They arent idiots. If everyone on this site knew Ronda/Conor/Gsp could retire at any moment then so did they. Im sure they bought the company with a 20-30b exit plan, maybe more.

Makes no sense to sell when the sport is growing so fast. A lot of people give credit to the fertitas for selling when they did, but I actually think it was a terrible decision. They grew the company from nothing to 4.2b and sold it right when the big money started coming in.

If they had just held out 10 years and continued to grow I could see the UFC being worth 20+B easily in the not too distant future. They sold way too early. They built up the company for 20 years and made 4b which is good, but in another 10 it could be worth double or 4x that amount imo.

Fertittas fucked themselves out of billions imo

WME believes UFC will be worth over 9 billion within 5 years.

I guess the Fertittas didnt believe they could take it to the next level or wanted to take it to the next level. They got a pretty good deal though.

 

[HelloJapan]

They're here for investment, make a buck, then gtfo, and not long term. UFC will go the way of the 'Hummer', Chinese ownership incoming.

 

[Which Doctor]

WME believes UFC will be worth over 9 billion within 5 years.

I guess the Fertittas didnt believe they could take it to the next level or wanted to take it to the next level. They got a pretty good deal though.

Agree. They got other pokers in other fires.

 

[Son of Sonnen]

I dont think they are going to keep it. I dont think they want to be in the business of running their own niche network and collecting 9.99 per month or whatever it is especially when they can make more money by just licensing it out to people who are already in that business.

This is sort of a side, but related. I am shocked how the UFC has not expanded/improved in certain areas and actually gotten worse in areas that WME should have been equipped to take them to the next level.

Fight promotional media like posters and commercials have gotten worse. Have seen virtually no expansion of UFC presence in mainstream media. Social media has not changed at all. The way they handle general PR - fight announcements and release of information has gotten worse too. Now instead of expanding the reach of their properties like a Fight Pass for example, they are looking to sell it off.

 

[Son of Sonnen]

Not surprised if they do, they are majority owned by silver lake so will sell as soon as they have the right price. Doubt they will own the asset past mid way through 2019. The rumblings of the ali act potentially coming in could hamper any future sale for a desirable price.

That’s another thing. How are they not confronting this head on and working with fighters to stave off expansion of the Ali act? Congress would not interfere at all if there was some form of collective bargaining. All these major league sports somehow figure out a way to make billions while working with their talent.