Will UFC & ESPN continue media rights partnership?
The future of UFC’s media rights remain up in the air as their five-year contract with ESPN, owned by Disney (DIS), is nearing its end, as the deal is set to expire in 2025. Will the fighting league continue to partner with ESPN? In this week’s episode of Yahoo Finance Sports Report, host Joe Pompliano is joined by combat sports journalist and host of The Ariel Helwani Show, Ariel Helwani, to discuss the world of MMA, specifically the future of media rights for the league. With streamers expanding their foray into more live sporting events, is it possible the fighting league could branch out to different platforms? “I think they remain with ESPN to a certain degree,” Helwani tells Pompliano. “I think that ESPN recognizes that in many respects, the UFC built ESPN+ for them, and they don't wanna let that go. So I think that they will try to keep them at least on pay-per-view exclusively.” While UFC has historically been linked to one broadcast partner, he points out that fellow TKO Group (TKO) business WWE has branched out and built deals that designated certain fights to certain platforms. “All to say that the business of combat sports is booming right now. It's a fascinating time to be covering MMA boxing and or pro wrestling,” Helwani says. To hear more of Helwani's thoughts, check out the full conversation here. Yahoo Finance Sports Report with Joe Pompliano, a vodcast brought to you by Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports, looks beyond the latest sports business headlines, analyzes all the need-to-know news - the teams, trades, and billion dollar deals - so you and your portfolio will win BIG. Yahoo Finance Sports Report is developed and produced by Lauren Pokedoff.
