The Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand offered up predictions for 2017 in sports media. One of his predictions was how much and with what media outlet the UFC would sign with when its current media rights deal ends.
He predicts that the UFC would re-up with Fox for $300 million per year. The prediction is $150 million less than what the UFC had hoped. The UFC made it known that it would be seeking $450 million per year which is a substantial increase from the $115 million deal it signed in 2011.
Payout Perspective:
As Ourand points out, the UFC will likely wait for regulatory approval of the AT&T-Time Warner deal in hopes that Turner Sports makes a run at a deal with the UFC. He dismisses the likes of NBC, CBS and ESPN as possible landing spots for the UFC. If the next deal is $300 million, it would more than double its 2011 deal but might impact the value of the company since a portion of the UFC was valued based on its anticipated media rights deal. Ourand points out that a deal with Fox will not be signed until 2018 so any news on a deal probably would not happen until this time next year.
from what i understand fox 1 needs the ufc, they are the only think on there that draws ratings.
They are first right holders with the Big 10 come 2017, NASCAR draws bigger ratings but that’s only half the year and MLB post season does big ratings this year especially with the Cubs but those were freakishly big ratings.
NASCAR doesn’t do well in the main demos which is the problem with them. I think Darren Rovell recently reported Nascar re-signed a sponsorship deal for lesser money which is usually a bad sign.
UFC wants to be on ESPN some kind of way. I expect a Fox/Espn combo deal.