The UFC inked a massive seven-year deal worth over $7 billion to move all programming to Paramount+ starting in 2026, which brings to an end a partnership with ESPN that kicked off back in 2018.
While the UFC’s owners at TKO Group Holdings routinely praised the working relationship with ESPN during the course of that deal, it turns out the Disney-owned network was never in serious consideration to hold onto the full package of broadcast rights after the current deal expires at the close of 2025. Price
really became the sticking point as the UFC was seeking a massive increase from the current deal worth approximately $500 million per year and that was accomplished after Paramount ponied up around $1.1 billion per year for the new deal.
“I can’t say enough about ESPN,” TKO COO and president Mark Shapiro said during the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology conference. “They were an extraordinary partner on the UFC. A lot of our growth and the fact that we’re mainstream and we’re so young and we’re so diverse, so global, has a lot to do with the marketing machine that is the Walt Disney Co. Period, end of story. They are the definitive authority and stage when it comes to sports.
“Having said that, we knew they were not going to be there at the price we wanted for UFC. While we had conversations and across the timelines, there was a time where they might have come in for some of the numbered events, which are the pay-per-views, or some of the Fight Nights or all of the Fight Nights, they were always in the mix and they wanted to be in the mix and Bob Iger and Jimmy Pitaro are huge fans of the UFC and they have a great personal relationship with us and with Dana White. We never ruled them out, but we pretty knew they weren’t going to be able to get to a 2X [price], and that’s what we were setting our sights on.”
ESPN did ink a separate contract with WWE — under the same ownership group — to begin carrying the promotion’s “premium live events” like WrestleMania and SummerSlam but there was little hope in holding onto the UFC.
“We pivoted them as soon as we knew that was going to be the case into [premium live events] to get the big increase on the WWE,” Shapiro said. “The minute we did that, it really meant the UFC was going to be a small package were they to stay.”
With ESPN out of the running, Shapiro says there were numerous suitors interested in obtaining the UFC’s broadcast rights deal at a price the company was seeking for that deal.
While Paramount eventually landed the entire package, which now includes the end of the traditional pay-per-view model for events, plenty of companies were bidding on the UFC.
“We set our sights talking to everybody else,” Shapiro said. “From Warner Bros. Discovery to a lesser extent Apple, Amazon in a big way, YouTube in a big way, Netflix in a big way, DAZN in a big way. There were a lot of players at the table.
“I’m not saying all of them were at the number we ultimately received and signed or that they all would have taken the entire package, because there’s a lot of volume when it comes to 43 fights and then you have The Contender Series and Ultimate Fighter and our library. Only a few vehicles can take that kind of a load and ultimately we pivoted this to CBS and Paramount+ and we’re really excited about the opportunity there.”
Paramount just recently changed ownership with Skydance, led by company CEO David Ellison, taking over the broadcast juggernaut in an $8 billion merger.
Almost immediately after that deal was done, Paramount signed the UFC to that huge seven year deal while also inking lucrative contracts with the creators behind the hit show South Park not to mention snatching away Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer from Netflix.
Add to that, Ellison enjoys backing from his father Larry Ellison, who on Wednesday eclipsed Elon Musk as the richest man in the world with a fortune estimated at nearly $400 billion.
“David Ellison’s vision, technology at the forefront of everything they do,” Shapiro said. “Knowing that Oracle, big time in the news today, is kind of behind that vis-a-vis the Ellisons. They are visionaries, really. They are at the forefront of technology and content merging. We have a lot of history with David. We represent Skydance on the [William Morris Endeavor] side of the equation.
“Really everything he’s touched, against all odds, from content narrative business standpoint is very much been in the footsteps of his father. Success breeds success.”
