TKO president Mark Shapiro envisions a future where fans who subscribe to the new ESPN flagship streaming package get UFC PPVs for free.
The big streaming companies are in the middle of a knock down drag out war to determine who will end up on top, and UFC fans could benefit greatly from the conflict.
Sports is already being touted as the answer to the retention problem many streaming services have, and many leagues are making big money as rights deals are being renewed at record levels. The UFC’s deal with ESPN expires in 2025, and who knows where the combat sports promotion could end up after that.
We could see bigger moves than just a switch in the streaming service that sells us pay-per-view events. Mark Shapiro, the president of UFC’s parent company TKO, spoke at the JP Morgan Technology, Media and Communications Conference, and he shared a vision where a streaming service (like ESPN’s new ‘flagship’ platform) offers UFC PPVs to you for no extra charge if you sign up to their service.
“If I, for example, was launching direct-to-consumer flagship ESPN, I might think about just buying out the pay-per-view and putting it right on that flagship channel,” Shapiro said (via MMA Fighting). “Like you can only get it, just like ESPN+, if you have flagship.
“If you’re trying to launch ESPN flagship and whatever they might call it — that’s the working title — and you’re trying to charge $29, $39.99, whatever it might be, what better than to have a monthly ‘pay-per-view’ that sits exclusive to that platform?” he suggested. “Now we haven’t had those conversations with ESPN. But that’s just an example of the kind of flexibility that we’re going to bring to the conversations.”
ESPN previously bought the rights to exclusively sell UFC PPVs through ESPN+ in the United States, so they’re clearly open to these kinds of unique ideas being pushed by TKO execs. And they need the new ESPN ‘flagship’ streaming service to arrive with a bang so it isn’t dubbed a lemon out of the gate.
What better way to do that than with ‘free’ pay-per-views?