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The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is open to starting talks with Disney over a new US broadcast rights deal in the near future, according to Endeavor president Mark Shapiro.
The UFC and Disney inked a five-year agreement worth a reported US$1.5 billion from 2019. The pact allowed ESPN to stream live and exclusive coverage of 15 of the mixed martial arts promotion’s (MMA) events via its ESPN+ direct-to-consumer (DTC) service, supported by additional programming across its TV, social and digital platforms.
The pair later expanded the contract to make ESPN+ the exclusive US home of UFC pay-per-view (PPV) events, creating a single point of purchase for fans for the promotion’s premium events.
Though that deal is due to run until 2025, Shapiro has indicated that Disney and Endeavor-owned UFC could soon be sitting down at the negotiating table again, revealing that his company was “open to a renewal conversation sooner rather than later”.
“[Disney] love what [UFC has] done for ESPN and ESPN2,” said Shapiro, who was speaking at a conference hosted by financial services firm RBC Capital Markets. “They love that it’s the anchor tenant of ESPN+.”
Disney may face competition for the next contract though, with Shapiro sounding out several of the media giant’s streaming rivals.
“We’re patient,” he continued. “The business is going strong, margins are really strong. We see significant upside of all the ancillary businesses.
“We’d like to give a little more time for the Amazons and the Apples of the world to keep growing.
“We’re really open-minded. We’re not going to just take the quick increase. We’re going to maximise the real potential here.”
Shapiro also said that Endeavor was “in conversations” with Netflix “about where they can test out sports”. According to the Wall Street Journal, the streaming heavyweight is mulling investing in live sports rights and is considering a move for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in the UK.
“We’re not going to be a guinea pig,” noted Shapiro. “Time serves us well to kind of wait it out. [Netflix are] tiptoeing. They’re dancing.”
He added: “I would question, though, are they the right marketing partner? People don’t go to Netflix for sports. They go there for [Formula One docuseries] Drive to Survive. But they don’t go for live events just yet.”
The chance of a UFC rights deal akin to the global union between Major League Soccer (MLS) and Apple seems unlikely at present, with Shapiro stating that was not something Endeavor was targeting “out of the gate”. The MLS-Apple arrangement includes every match being offered through a new, dedicated subscription streaming service available exclusively through Apple TV.
More broadly, Shapiro believes streaming services “are scrutinising much more” compared to recent years. He suggested they are “not going to do as much volume” and will adopt a ‘quality not quantity’ approach by prioritising programming capable of retaining and attracting subscribers.
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