Last week, Endeavor announced its financial earnings for the third quarter of 2021. With this news it shared some insights about the UFC – most of which appear to be promising for the MMA company.
Endeavor praised the UFC for delivering revenues through the pandemic. Despite the concerns over COVID-19 protocols, the UFC moved forward in rolling out its own set of procedures and holding events without crowds, and then with crowds starting in the state of Florida. While there was criticism about the scheduling of events, the UFC did them anyways. And to the chagrin of naysayers, the UFC succeeded. The events provided original content for ESPN at a time when there was little or no live sports to watch.
It posted an adjusted EBITDA of $134.7 million which was the best 9 month span in company history. (Earnings call transcription via Seeking Alpha).
Similar to Disney’s earnings call a few weeks prior, it highlighted the UFC’s role for the rise in subscriptions on its digital platform, ESPN+.
Another key highlight by Ari Emanuel on the earnings call is the rise of the sponsorships for the UFC. On the earnings call, he touted the fan engagement of UFC followers which one may deduce to a great pitch for sponsors and potential sponsors as the base is very active.
Some of the latest deals include:
IconMeals
Love Hemp
Stake.com
Crypto.com
Sweet Sweat
The Memento Group
Battle Motors
Pedalcommander
Easypost
Gopuff
Ziprecruiter
Some interesting sponsorship developments in Q3 including the huge deal with Icon Meals which made it the Official Meal Delivery Partner of the UFC. Crypto.com which made it the official crypto company of the UFC to have a major presence on the promotion’s kits. Also, Ziprecruiter has added its presence in the UFC.
One of the successes for the UFC was the end of its relationship with Anheuser-Busch InBev and its new one with Modelo Especial. The sponsorship of AB InBev, which owns Bud Light, precluded the UFC to retain sponsors in the spirits category. The UFC now has multiple partnerships in the spirits category including Jose Cuervo, Nemiroff, Blackheart Premium Spiced Rum and Howler Head.
With the legalization of sports betting, the UFC has forged a deal with DraftKings in the U.S. and other international gambling organizations such as Neds in Australia. Look for more to come.
With the UFC’s popular young demos and its growing success, look for the company to expand in more areas going forward.
As far as the UFC Antitrust front goes, in its 10-Q it identified the ongoing lawsuit with the former UFC fighters and the new one with Kajan Johnson and C.B. Dolloway. With the lawsuit involving Cung Le, et al., it acknowledge the oral ruling by Judge Richard Boulware that he would grant class certification to the former fighters. It also noted that when the written ruling would come down, the UFC would appeal the decision.
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