The Sports Business Journal reports that the UFC media deal with BT Sport will almost double. According to the report, it will also work with Discovery as part of a beginning of a new relationship that may usurp the North American rights that ESPN currently has for the MMA promotion.
The UFC will see exponential increases in its international media rights deal and the upcoming deal with the Great Britain and Ireland region will mean the Las Vegas-based company will receive an average of $15-20 million per year.
The report by SBJ notes that Warner Bros. Discovery President & CEO David Zaslav is in the process of setting up a joint venture with BT that includes BT Sport. In January, Discovery signed UFC rights for the Netherlands (Discovery+) and Spain (Eurosport).
The UFC media rights deal doesn’t come up until 2025 but based on the success of the company, it will be an attractive free agent with the rights deal for North America to skyrocket. Obviously, the contractual language in the current deal likely means that ESPN will get the first bite at locking the UFC down before other entities can make offers. But the news that Discovery is in play likely makes the company happy since it knows that there will be competing bids.
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