UFC: ESPN to Air Popular Sport Beginning in 2019

It seems that the UFC has found a new home. Since 2011, the UFC had been home on FOX and then eventually made its way to Fox Sports 1. As of Tuesday morning, they had signed a deal with ESPN. It’s worth noting that the UFC and Fox had been in contract talks for some time now about the future as the contract was coming to an end. You could make the argument that all three parties end up coming out on top.

We will first look at the UFC. They come out on winners here because they now get their product to more homes. In the spring of 2017, Fox Sports 1 had roughly 24.85 million viewers. On the other side, ESPN had 61.91 million viewers in the same period. ESPN would end up seeing 37.06 million more viewers than Fox Sports 1. This benefits the UFC because now eyes will be on the product.

This also, to an extent, benefits Fox Sports 1 as well. Yes, they lose a major part of their programming with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. However, they have a heavy interest in becoming the home of the WWE. Those talks began after it was reported that WWE’s current TV deal is set to expire soon. Now that the UFC is out of the picture for FS 1, they can turn their attention towards the WWE. Finally, ESPN wins in the deal because they are now entering one of the hottest markets in the media world regarding the UFC.

In addition, ESPN will be able to do more for the UFC than Fox Sports 1 was ever able to do. I am surprised is that it took a company like ESPN this long to finally get into the world of combat fighting. It will be interesting to see how this move will change the landscape and help bring new eyes to the product.

Jon Blayne

Jon is a diehard wrestling fan but still takes time to show his devotion to the Giants, Mets, and Knicks