UFC Agrees to Deal with Fox

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2011/08/16/Media/UFC.aspx

Quote :

n what would represent a major push into the mainstream for the UFC, Fox has agreed to a deal that will see the broadcast channel air as many as four MMA events per year, according to several sources. The multiyear deal would mark the first time the UFC will have consistent airtime on a broadcast network. Fox execs refused to comment on the deal, but sources with knowledge of the negotiations said bidding had gone as high as $90M per year. The Fox deal is believed to be for seven or eight years. As part of the deal, most of the weekly programming that UFC has on Versus and Spike TV will move to FX starting in January. That includes several fight cards, plus shows like the reality series "The Ultimate Fighter." Fox-owned Fuel also will wind up with some UFC content. But rumors that Fox will rebrand Fuel as a UFC channel are not true, sources said. Fox was attracted to UFC programming, which has produced some of the highest viewership figures ­-- and most attractive demos --­ on Versus and Spike TV. UFC also has become more mainstream, with almost all states now sanctioning the sport, although New York remains a notable holdout. Both the Versus and Spike TV deals with UFC expire at the end of the year. UFC has long looked to get a broadcast TV deal for its content. Sources said UFC had been negotiating with Comcast/NBC for several months in a deal that would have included NBC and Versus and would have seen G4 rebranded as a UFC channel, but those talks recently broke down. The UFC's talks with Viacom-owned Spike ended before that. Sources said Spike ultimately passed over concern that its UFC shoulder programming stopped growing. Shows like "Unleashed," "Knockouts" and "Countdown" averaged 1 million viewers in '05. This year, they are averaging 492,000. Spike holds the rights to UFC library programming through '12, including old fights and shoulder programming such as "UFC Unleashed." UFC's Sunday night event in Milwaukee on Versus also drew 766,000 viewers from 9:00-11:09pm ET, marking the net's most-viewed program for the week ending August 14. That figure is up 3% from 744,000 viewers for the last UFC event on Versus on June 26.

oh snap...

Although Dana is being very cryptic about this right now so it may not be totally official

"You guys will know when we have a TV deal"

Big news.

Major reprucussions if it does go through.

I wonder how stacked the fox shows will be.

captain organic wrote:

Big news.

Major reprucussions if it does go through.

I wonder how stacked the fox shows will be.

I'd think the 1st one would have to be.

Great news! I hope knology has Fuel TV...

Fox will have a 1pm press conference Thurs with Hill, Freer, Shanks, Landgraf for "one of the biggest announcements in Fox Sports history."

They forgot to mention the new Fox News viewpoint show called "Dana"

Boo mutha fuckin yahhhhhhhhhhh

Biggest news in MMA history

LA wrote:

NBC Sports FX gets enough viewers for it still to work close to as Spike has, I think they could have enough time slots for the typical UFC events/shows. You could possibly get like 3-4 events on NBC Fox a year, and don't have to completely adandon the PPV model. Plus the Pre and Post fight show is will be excellent, and really adds to each event.

Right idea, wrong station, but fucking amazing news, I yelled yes when I read it on my phone earlier.

LA wrote:

Biggest news in MMA history

Yes it is glad to see it.

4 free PPV worthy cards a year? I like.

Fuck how doesn't this thread have like 50 posts already?

By the way, SF is probably gone, they'll take on a lot of the fighters I'm sure.

Probably more events, Friday night fights now, I'll take it.

[quote="LA"]By the way, SF is probably gone, they'll take on a lot of the fighters I'm sure.

Probably more events, Friday night fights now, I'll take it.[/quote]
It took you this long to realize this?

quote fail!!! lol i are such a noobie

killerofchicken wrote:

[quote="LA"]By the way, SF is probably gone, they'll take on a lot of the fighters I'm sure.

Probably more events, Friday night fights now, I'll take it.

It took you this long to realize this? [/quote]


There was no real indications before, they even wanted to extend Overeem's SF contract to a long term deal...

that's what they wanted you to believe...

Oh now it's that shit , no one was buying my the whole GG shit could be BS post before.

Reem was the one who said that though.

KingsOwn19 wrote:

They forgot to mention the new Fox News viewpoint show called "Dana"

That is fucking hysterical!!!

Good one Kingsown

This should be pretty cool, now they just have to get the right announcers, I don't want Joe Buck trying to cross over and announce

Rogan and Goldie?

cascade_run wrote:

This should be pretty cool, now they just have to get the right announcers, I don't want Joe Buck trying to cross over and announce

Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.

Actually, i hella wanna hear those two call a UFC event...just once...for the lolz.

bobbitt15 wrote:

Rogan and Goldie?

Hopefully Rogan and somebody else. I can't stand Mike Goldberg.