UFC agrees to deal with FOX?

[ex carrabba fan]

Is this legit?

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/D...Media/UFC.aspx

[The GIGGAS]

Looks like it:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/mma/p...-deal/415416/1

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by ex carrabba fan

Is this legit? http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/D...Media/UFC.aspx

SBD is usually spot on and one of the rumors I read yesterday said this. What sucks is Comcast doesnt have Fuel so I'll miss some programming.

The other rumor I read was Fox will get 4 events and the Spike deal will remain the same. Spike would continue to air TUF.

[aholbert32]

I'm happy with the deal except for the Fuel piece. Fox equals more PPV quality events on free TV. Plus Fox is a better fit for the UFC than any other demo. Factor in UFC promotion on things like the NFL and MLB is huge. FX will promote the show just as much if not more than Spike.

Spike will probably pick up Bellator and Bellator will now be in HD so thats good.

[ex carrabba fan]

Interesting. Good stuff Aaron

So what's the forecast look like in terms of the next five years? In terms of getting MMA into the main mainstream.

[Gotmadskillzson]

MMA is aleady in the mainstream........everybody knows what MMA is. However, you still have a lot of people who refuse to watch it because they view it as nothing but over glorified cockfighting..

[Gotmadskillzson]

Plus I'm not surprised about the Fox deal since Versus is changing their name to somethng else in January and they are going to be part of the NBC family in January as well.

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by ex carrabba fan

Interesting. Good stuff Aaron So what's the forecast look like in terms of the next five years? In terms of getting MMA into the main mainstream.

This is the true test on the UFC's ability to be a mainstream sport. Now looking back at the numbers that CBS did with Elite XC and Strikeforce, I would be SHOCKED if the UFC doesnt crush those. Fedor v. Rogers did 4 million. One of Kimbo's fights did 5 mil. Most casual fans had no idea who Fedor was at that time. Most people only knew Kimbo from his Youtube videos. Both of those fights did huge numbers. Think what the UFC will do with fighters that people actually know.

The big decision for the UFC going forward is what fights to put on Fox and what fights stay on PPV. Fox isnt paying 90 mil a yr (The total deal is for over half a billion dollars) just to have Chris Leben v. Mark Munoz fight in a main event. They want the top dogs. Lets say Jones beats Rampage. What does the UFC do? Jones v. Evans on Fox would do great numbers but it would also probably get anywhere from 700k to 1 million buys.

Back to your question, I think it helps with the mainstream but its not a slam dunk. The sport is what it is. Some people will always hate the ground game and be turned off by the sport. But getting more viewers on Fox and on FX (which has more subscribers than Spike) cant hurt. Also will force networks like ESPN to cover the sport (even though ESPN is doing much better these days)