For those that were going to miss this Saturday’s UFC 234 PPV since it was not going to be on DirecTV, you are saved. Dana White issued a statement indicating that they’ve brokered a one fight deal.
As reported on Thursday, the two sides had reached an impasse in contract negotiations. One might infer that the reason for the issues is the assertion that the UFC wanted a better percentage of the revenue received from PPV purchases. As the distributor, DirecTV traditionally receives about half of the revenues received from purchase through the provider. But, the UFC had indicated it was receiving more than half. Distributors promote the PPV event on its network and provides access to its subscriber base.
With the UFC having new alliances and its own digital platform for its PPV, the UFC is trying to assert its leverage. But DirecTV was not budging.
We have a 1 fight deal for this weekend with @directv for Whittaker vs Gastelum and Adesanya vs Silva. So it will be on DirecTV and in bars and on every other platform. I will have this shit all worked out in the next couple weeks. Thank u pic.twitter.com/BkcDINaMdo
— Dana White (@danawhite) February 8, 2019
Payout Perspective:
Perhaps the UFC was the first to blink in this exchange as the PPV day neared. The UFC may feel a little more bullish about its product considering how it believed it aided ESPN+ with the number of subscribers it brought to the platform. One has to think it will try to secure a formal contract deal prior to next month’s PPV featuring Jon Jones.
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