Rumored UFC Heading To NETFLIX - Leaving ESPN

[sdpdude9]

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Netflix launch a live sports premium tier if this happened alongside WWE, Boxing, and maybe a few other things. I’m willing to pay a reasonable fee, but this $90 ppv shit has to stop. It’s ridiculously overpriced.

 

[GordonMMARamsey]

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Netflix launch a live sports premium tier if this happened alongside WWE, Boxing, and maybe a few other things. I’m willing to pay a reasonable fee, but this $90 ppv shit has to stop. It’s ridiculously overpriced.

Zero chance the price of PPV's go down, and now you'll have to have a netflix subscription to watch instead of the $5 espn+ so...we have that going for us.

 

[GordonMMARamsey]

I would actually cancel my Netflix subscription if they introduce the additional payment model for PPVs that they use for ESPN and DAZN. The PPV model should die already, people are fine with paying a monthly streaming subscription to watch content, but nobody wants to do that and then pay an extra charge for paywalled events. The monthly costs are getting expensive enough already.

I keep seeing people say stuff like this, just the "if they keep making us pay for ppvs" part... zero chance Netflix says "Hey we should offer the ppvs for free or at a discounted rate." it's going to be just like ESPN+ but with a more expensive subscription.

 

[Darkavius]

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Netflix launch a live sports premium tier if this happened alongside WWE, Boxing, and maybe a few other things. I’m willing to pay a reasonable fee, but this $90 ppv shit has to stop. It’s ridiculously overpriced.

This would be a terrible idea. Netflix with no commercials is already close to $25/month. I understand live sports is very valuable but at a certain point if they added another sports premium tier a person will likely be paying over $40/month for one service at the minimum. I know it's not going to happen soon but eventually there has to be a breaking point on the value of leagues and sports stars within the league.

 

[sdpdude9]

This would be a terrible idea. Netflix with no commercials is already close to $25/month. I understand live sports is very valuable but at a certain point if they added another sports premium tier a person will likely be paying over $40/month for one service at the minimum. I know it's not going to happen soon but eventually there has to be a breaking point on the value of leagues and sports stars within the league.

I agree, paying anything more would suck, subscriptions are already high. Better than the $90 or whatever the hell they’re charging for PPVs now but still, it’s expensive.

 

[sdpdude9]

Zero chance the price of PPV's go down, and now you'll have to have a netflix subscription to watch instead of the $5 espn+ so...we have that going for us.

Quite possible but Netflix has a different business model than something like ESPN so they could approach it in a variety of ways that may or may not include ppv. My hope is it would be a move that made things more accessible but these streaming services are always looking for ways to raise prices.

 

[Söze Aldo]

I keep seeing people say stuff like this, just the "if they keep making us pay for ppvs" part... zero chance Netflix says "Hey we should offer the ppvs for free or at a discounted rate." it's going to be just like ESPN+ but with a more expensive subscription.

Not necessarily. Netflix until extremely recently had nothing to do with sports and didn't view themselves as a sports platform. ESPN of course has been a sports platform from its inception. PPV has always lived in that sports ecosystem.

If Netflix gets the broadcasting deals, pays the UFC 1 billion or whatever for the rights, it's up to them on how to broadcast the events. Jake vs Tyson wasn't PPV, none of the NFL games they broadcast are charged extra, the upcoming Amanda Serrano vs Katie Taylor boxing match isn't PPV.

I doubt Netflix wants to get in the PPV game unless the UFC makes it a condition of the deal, which is dumb in 2025. PPV is an antiquated model from the 80s that's stuck on somehow.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

The UFC can't get a partner to renew a contract with them to save their own asses.

Fox, Reebok, now ESPN.

I bet you in a few years the talk will be about how the UFC is pissed at Netflix.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

. PPV is an antiquated model from the 80s that's stuck on somehow.

This. Selling ppv in 2025 is like trying to sell music CDs in 2025.
Unfortunately the people that actually control the means to change things are fucking dinosaurs and absolutely refuse to change how things are done until someone comes around and does it different and proves through profit that changing how things are done is the best option moving forward.

 

[Daniel Henry]

Is this the big news Dana promised us 3 months ago...

Ufc should stay on ESPN if they want to be taken seriously has a major sport. If ESPN wants to lower thier payout I would still take it. Any money is good money.

Dana probably thinks he's gonna be doing Jake Paul numbers out the gate.

 

[Söze Aldo]

This. Selling ppv in 2025 is like trying to sell music CDs in 2025.
Unfortunately the people that actually control the means to change things are fucking dinosaurs and absolutely refuse to change how things are done until someone comes around and does it different and proves through profit that changing how things are done is the best option moving forward.

Exactly. The music industry realized they couldn't counter all the piracy and fully went into the streaming model. Imagine if people had to subscribe to Spotify, but then had to pay separately for albums when the album is from a really big artist, it would have never taken off; that's the PPV model in 2025, it's killing boxing as well.

Dana literally hangs out with Gen Zs now, he should know they wouldn't know how to order a PPV even if they wanted to.

 

[Natural Order]

Would be great really, especially for Canadians who get raped on pricing as it is.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

Exactly. The music industry realized they couldn't counter all the piracy and fully went into the streaming model. Imagine if people had to subscribe to Spotify, but then had to pay separately for albums when the album is from a really big artist, it would have never taken off; that's the PPV model in 2025, it's killing boxing as well.

Dana literally hangs out with Gen Zs now, he should know they wouldn't know how to order a PPV even if they wanted to.

Unfortunately it's not Dana's job to sell ppv. It's Dana's job to convince ESPN to pay the maximum amount of money to them to air an UFC event. It's up to ESPN to actually sell the ppv.
Dana and ESPN agree that ESPN will pay the UFC (random numbers) $5 million to air UFC 3**.
If 1 million people buy the ppv for $80 a ppv then ESPN has a gross income revenue of $80 million. Both the UFC and ESPN are extremely happy. (Actually the UFC is pissed because they missed out on negotiating for more money out of ESPN)
If 100,000 people buy the ppv at $80 a ppv then that's $8 million. That's good not great. The UFC got paid. ESPN made back what the UFC charged them and made some money on top.
If 10,000 people buy the ppv at $80 a ppv then that's $800,000. The UFC is happy because they got their $5 million out of ESPN. ESPN is pissed because they lost money. They overpaid the UFC for the event and are left holding the bag and absorbing the losses from the ppv underselling.

 

[PattyBates]

Don't project your stup thoughts onto me.

I'm ashamed that ESPN did nothing to improve fighter pay and dislike them for their history of bashing of mma.

How was espn supposed to raise wages?

 

[rjmbrd]

Zero chance the price of PPV's go down, and now you'll have to have a netflix subscription to watch instead of the $5 espn+ so...we have that going for us.

What are you basing this on?

- Netflix has a budget of $18 billion slated for 2025
- Netflix has never produced or streamed a PPV event
- CFO has specifically said 18 billion isn't the ceiling

Their content budget increased 2 billion (2024 to 2025) so a billion dollar/year deal for UFC media rights would easily be folded into their 2026 budget increase.

Bela Bajaria, Chief of Content @ Netflix did a two part interview on "The Town" (Hollywood insiders podcast) I recommend it if you're interested in media rights re: Netflix. She has full stop purchase power over Netflix and approved the WWE deal.

Its a known fact in the business that Netflix wants NFL and probably wants UFC. It is also circulating that ESPN is upside down on their 300k PPV guarantee and less happy with the deal.

So far as we know, PPV buys are down substantially. We're seeing public negotiation with these types of comments, but I would bet a large sum of money if Netflix takes media rights, there absolutely will not be a PPV component, certainly not status quo as you suggest.

 

[Bubzeh]

Not enough people are talking about the FightPass archive and more importantly the other orgs that stream via FightPass. If they let go of them we’re in trouble as a sport.

 

[sdpdude9]

What are you basing this on?

- Netflix has a budget of $18 billion slated for 2025
- Netflix has never produced or streamed a PPV event
- CFO has specifically said 18 billion isn't the ceiling

Their content budget increased 2 billion (2024 to 2025) so a billion dollar/year deal for UFC media rights would easily be folded into their 2026 budget increase.

Bela Bajaria, Chief of Content @ Netflix did a two part interview on "The Town" (Hollywood insiders podcast) I recommend it if you're interested in media rights re: Netflix. She has full stop purchase power over Netflix and approved the WWE deal.

Its a known fact in the business that Netflix wants NFL and probably wants UFC. It is also circulating that ESPN is upside down on their 300k PPV guarantee and less happy with the deal.

So far as we know, PPV buys are down substantially. We're seeing public negotiation with these types of comments, but I would bet a large sum of money if Netflix takes media rights, there absolutely will not be a PPV component, certainly not status quo as you suggest.

Yeah, I don’t see Netflix being interested in PPVs. The UFC in all likelihood is not selling near enough for them to even consider changing their business model to accommodate that. They’re far more interested in growing their subscriber base. I could see the possibility of introducing a higher tier including live sports, but that’s about as far as I think they’d go and it would almost definitely cost substantially less than the current ppv costs.

 

[Tito Tapped]

They really think y'all are going to pay $30/mo for the privledges of buying UFC events.

 

[rjmbrd]

Not enough people are talking about the FightPass archive and more importantly the other orgs that stream via FightPass. If they let go of them we’re in trouble as a sport.

Fight Pass is unrelated to the media rights deal with ESPN, and would be unrelated to a media rights deal with Netflix.

Their archive is wholly owned and prints money in the Fight Pass format.

 

[Söze Aldo]

Unfortunately it's not Dana's job to sell ppv. It's Dana's job to convince ESPN to pay the maximum amount of money to them to air an UFC event. It's up to ESPN to actually sell the ppv.
Dana and ESPN agree that ESPN will pay the UFC (random numbers) $5 million to air UFC 3**.
If 1 million people buy the ppv for $80 a ppv then ESPN has a gross income revenue of $80 million. Both the UFC and ESPN are extremely happy. (Actually the UFC is pissed because they missed out on negotiating for more money out of ESPN)
If 100,000 people buy the ppv at $80 a ppv then that's $8 million. That's good not great. The UFC got paid. ESPN made back what the UFC charged them and made some money on top.
If 10,000 people buy the ppv at $80 a ppv then that's $800,000. The UFC is happy because they got their $5 million out of ESPN. ESPN is pissed because they lost money. They overpaid the UFC for the event and are left holding the bag and absorbing the losses from the ppv underselling.

That's why I don't think any new broadcast partner will want to lock themselves down into a PPV type deal, especially if its Netlix. Like I've said, Netflix has no PPV model even after entering live sports broadcasting.

All Netflix cares about is subscriber count. They will pay the UFC what they believe their value will be in brining in and retaining new subscribers.