As the clock ticks down on UFC’s exclusive negotiating window with incumbent ESPN, other suitors are lining up to get into business with the MMA leader.
Among those is WBD (Warner Bros. Discovery), which is rounding out a strategy in a post-NBA environment for its sports division.
Last November, WBD and the NBA reached an agreement that would keep the two entities in business together but at a reduced level. The agreement included a digital agreement for highlights, live game rights in several international territories, and TNT Sports continuing to produce Inside the NBA for broadcast on ESPN and ABC.
Luis Silberwasser, CEO of TNT Sports, appeared on The Varsity podcast with John Ourand and spoke openly about the network’s interest in pursuing future relationships with the UFC and Formula 1.
We like both (UFC and F1). We know combat sports is an area that we don’t have and AEW (All Elite Wrestling) is not combat sports, it’s sort of a hybrid between entertainment and sports, so we don’t consider that 100 percent sports. So, combat sports, like UFC, which is a fantastic property, has perked our interest, and the other one, Formula 1, as well.
We will continue to be disciplined and strategic about it and it has to meet those objectives that we want. It has to offer us value from a distribution perspective, from a Max perspective, and generate the scale that we need to monetize.
The UFC is in its final year of a $1.5 billion pact with ESPN, which began in 2019 and includes the domestic television and streaming rights of UFC’s content and its pay-per-views.
WBD announced a renewal with AEW last fall, which went into effect on January 1 with a three-year deal and an option for a fourth year. The deal saw a consolidation with the elimination of Rampage on Friday nights but added a concurrent streaming component with Dynamite and Collision airing on Max during its linear broadcast on TBS and TNT respectively.
UFC’s exclusive negotiating window expires on April 15.
