Last week’s Sports Business Journal included a report by Terry Lefton about the UFC’s 25 percent increase in sponsorship revenue largely championed by new deals signed by the company.
Coming in with a heavy debt load after WME’s acquisition of the UFC for approximately $4 billion, the new owners felt pressure to produce.
In speaking with the UFC’s senior vice president of global partnerships Paul Asencio, the UFC’s partnerships with Modelo, Kraft Heinz (for its Oscar Mayer P3 “official protein snack” and Devour as “official frozen food”) a global rights deal with Nemiroff Vodka, an official poker partner in PokerStars and a large renewal with Monster Energy have helped the company with the increase in sponsor revenue. In addition, it has forged deals with Motel6, Trifecta Nutrition, Blackheart Premium Spiced Rum, Van Heusen and BodyArmor all since the company was purchased by WME.
Certainly, the UFC has worked on brokering more partnerships with bigger brand companies and segmenting some of its sponsors to cater to different regions across the globe.
Payout Perspective:
There are still more categories for the UFC to fill with sponsors including automotive, insurance and gambling/sportsbooks which all should garner lucrative deals for the company. In addition, the report includes the possibility of looking into the CBD oil category from cannabis business as that industry is starting to grow. The partnership with ESPN will help attract new partners as well.
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