All The King’s Men 9.05.11: Week 30 – The UFC on Fox
Posted by Larry Csonka on 09.05.2011
In what may end up being the biggest story of 2011, the UFC has inked a seven-year deal with Fox that will see the UFC air on the Fox family of networks! But will the deal with Fox actually help the growth in popularity of MMA? The 411 staff examines…
ALL THE KING's MEN!
The Concept
The concept of the column is simple. As the "King" of the 411 Roundtable, I will pick a topic for discussion. The staff, or "Knights" of the old roundtable will then have the opportunity to state of they are FOR or AGAINST the week's topic, and then will have the chance to defend their position. Lets get to it…
THE UFC on FOX!
In what may end up being the biggest story of 2011, the UFC has inked a seven year deal with Fox, which will see the UFC air on the Fox family of networks and earn the promotion $100 million a year from Fox. That all being said, the UFC's deal with FOX will not help the sport of MMA grow past its current level of popularity.
Jonathan Solomon - DISAGREE. If you believe the new UFC/Fox deal cannot help mixed martial arts grow in any way, you must be one pessimistic human being. Although it's small, the fact that Fox has already rolled out commercials promoting the UFC already helps the sport. While the sport has been on network television several times before (EXC, Strikeforce and the IFL have each had time on broadcast networks), this is the first time that the undisputed king of the sport will be able to call it home.
Unlike those other promotions mentioned earlier, the UFC has tons of money and work in a financial environment that doesn't flush it down the drain (like the folks behind Elite-XC did, for example). They know how to promote their brand and the fact that all casual fans recognize the sport as "UFC" and not "MMA" tells you that in a blunt way. Combine the promotional power of the UFC and the Fox network and holy crap, anyone who has insisted the sport is not "legitimate" over the years, they can finally pipe down (although such haters will always find something to criticize about the sport).
From a simple numbers perspective, the statement has to be wrong. Conservative estimates have the UFC's specials on broadcast television reaching at least four million people. Consider that historically, the UFC's bread and butter has been pay-per-view and their best buyrate has been 1.6 million for UFC 100 in 2010. Realize that numbers have been down across the board in 2011 based on television (Spike) and PPV and entering this deal, the addition of millions upon millions of eyeballs to the product is all but guaranteed to help the sport grow.
In America, sports achieve their growth based on the amount of exposure they receive on television. It's a simple formula. The NFL has the richest television contract (over a billion dollars) and they are the clear top sport in the country. Major League Baseball has the next lucrative contract and you can gather its popularity. Look at the NHL however which sacrificed exposure with ESPN for money with Versus/NBC Sports and the league has taken a direct hit in popularity in recent years. With the UFC on Fox for at least the next several years, it will have a relationship with their NFL programming and the rest of the network's line-up. With changes in television, sports properties have become so revered for TV executives and advertisers because it's the one genre that large numbers of consumers sit down and watch intently. To be honest, both the UFC and Fox have too much invested in this deal for the sport not to grow.
Stewart Lange - DISAGREE Here is the most basic part of my disagreement laid straight out- Spike broadcasts exclusively in North America, limiting the potential viewers of not only its shows, but also their advertising. Fox, on the other hand, already broadcasts around the globe to millions of people so automatically, there is a huge increase in worldwide exposure for the UFC and while I may be biased, I think that is the real deal breaker here.
In Europe and the UK especially, "UFC"- by which I mean MMA in this instance- is still seen by the majority of the mainstream media, incorrectly, as human cock fighting. The only real exposure the sport gets is negative, from the likes of fame-hungry BAMMA reject Alex Reid (who dated a couple of glamor girls, if you are not aware of him) and as a result he is better known to the public than such greats as Anderson Silva, GSP and Randy Couture, because the only MMA programming is tucked away on a premium sport channel (nope, it isn't "free").
What this deal could signify would be potential for UFC programming on channels such as FX and advertising during shows that air on that channel already such as American Dad, NCIS and Dexter, done properly, could pique interest or, at the worst, curiosity in the UFC product.
In the States, there is already so much shown on Fox that correctly placed advertising could easily sway new viewers to the UFC and eventually MMA on the whole which is only a good thing. A big first event on Fox should set ratings records since a great event on free, Network TV could do something very similar for the sport as the very first Ultimate Fighter finale and introduce a new generation of fans to the sport that we all love.
Jeffrey Harris - DISAGREE As of now there is now way you can look at this as a sign of something other than growth. This isn't exactly ECW getting a TV deal with The Nashville Network. For starters, this means UFC getting a network deal on Fox in Primetime which is huge. The Ultimate Fighter is going live. So by those two elements right there, those are huge signs of growth for the company. They are finally getting a primetime TV slot on a regular network, and The Ultimate Fighter is being completely reformatted. I think the other good news to take for this is all signs indicate is that UFC got the deal they wanted. This is a multi-year deal with UFC getting paid up to $100 million a year. That will definitely fill the coffers and I imagine up the paydays and bonuses of the fighters. If not that, UFC can soon start a new division in flyweight sooner rather than later, do tours in Mexico, and afford bringing some of the bigger names from Strikeforce into the UFC. The UFC also will apparently get to maintain control of production of their events. I think MMA on networks previously shows what happens when guys who don't know MMA get their hand in the pot. It comes off badly. The marketing for Fedor's debut on CBS for Strikeforce was horrible. Fox will be able to brand the product with their own pre and post shows, but the UFC still won't have bad production teams or guys who don't know the sport as well as them interfering. That does not mean things will not change. They will at some point, but it will still be by UFC's decisions and influence. Now that is not to say everything will be perfect and nothing will go wrong. It is very possible. But with how UFC has grown in the past two years and spread their brand all over the world and had big events in Toronto and Brazil, to look at this situation any other way than helping the sport grow is wrong. No other MMA brand has made a deal this huge before. CBS/Showtime never truly went all in the promotion of MMA like Fox has here.
Mark Radulich - Disagree. If MMA doesn't grow past its current level of popularity this whole FOX deal will have been a failed experiment for both sides. Think about what we're saying; widening the audience and making the product available for FREE won't attract new buyers to the product nor will it even cause new eyes to view the free product? Does that seem right to anybody? Once something is made available to the general public new people will give it a try simply because it's available and it's not costing them any money. There is always a certain amount of curiosity that accompanies something new being presented on broadcast TV. Once you add the marketing hype that FOX excels in you can't help but create an event that will cause at least a momentary increase in popularity for MMA (in the form of the UFC). Now, depending on how the actual fights go, a certain amount of people will continue to watch and thus buy the PPV and others will move on to something else new and exciting. The only way MMA doesn't become popular here is if the show on Nov 12th is so bad it actually drives not only the viewing audience away from MMA permanently but also causes already known fans to stop watching. Outside of someone getting brutally killed in the cage on live TV, I don't see that happening.
After the November 12th fight, the UFC will capitalize on their growth and continue to build the brand both domestically and overseas. More people will give it a chance because it's on FOX and therefore not costing them anything and those people will most likely turn their friends on to it as well. With the revamp of The Ultimate Fighter including live weekly fights I think more people will be likely to tune in, once again expanding the amount of eyes willing to shell out $50 dollars for the months PPV offering. Barring any unforeseen calamity the UFC will continue its growth in 2012 and beyond, eclipsing boxing as the combat sport of choice around the world. The real question is whether or not that translates into increased viewership for MMA at large. The answer is it already has.
Where the UFC goes, so to goes MMA, even if some promotions fail. Bellator has benefited and will continue to benefit from the continued success of the UFC. Strikeforce benefited from the UFC's expansion such to the point that it was bought out (in business this is seen as a good thing because if it were worthless it just would have folded with no buyers). EliteXC may be gone but the company that created it has risen again with Pro-Elite. Then there's the hundreds of other regional pro promotions around the world putting on successful events and some even getting TV exposure. A rising tide lifts all boats so when the FOX deal allows for the growth of the UFC, the growth of MMA at large will logically follow.
Posted By: Stewart Lange (Registered) on September 05, 2011 at 08:19 AM
I really think this column needs a change up or something because it feels like everyone says the SAME shit almost all the time. Truthfully its a boring read. I liked what you guys did the last couple of weeks with the column. Why not stick to that?
Posted By: TimE (Guest) on September 05, 2011 at 03:47 PM
I believe Fox and Sky are both owned by News Corp, does this mean that UFC will eventually end up on sky rather than espn in the uk?
Posted By: Ash (Guest) on September 07, 2011 at 07:37 AM
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Jonathan Solomon - DISAGREE. If you believe the new UFC/Fox deal cannot help mixed martial arts grow in any way, you must be one pessimistic human being. Although it's small, the fact that Fox has already rolled out commercials promoting the UFC already helps the sport. While the sport has been on network television several times before (EXC, Strikeforce and the IFL have each had time on broadcast networks), this is the first time that the undisputed king of the sport will be able to call it home.
Stewart Lange - DISAGREE Here is the most basic part of my disagreement laid straight out- Spike broadcasts exclusively in North America, limiting the potential viewers of not only its shows, but also their advertising. Fox, on the other hand, already broadcasts around the globe to millions of people so automatically, there is a huge increase in worldwide exposure for the UFC and while I may be biased, I think that is the real deal breaker here. 
Jeffrey Harris - DISAGREE As of now there is now way you can look at this as a sign of something other than growth. This isn't exactly ECW getting a TV deal with The Nashville Network. For starters, this means UFC getting a network deal on Fox in Primetime which is huge. The Ultimate Fighter is going live. So by those two elements right there, those are huge signs of growth for the company. They are finally getting a primetime TV slot on a regular network, and The Ultimate Fighter is being completely reformatted. I think the other good news to take for this is all signs indicate is that UFC got the deal they wanted. This is a multi-year deal with UFC getting paid up to $100 million a year. That will definitely fill the coffers and I imagine up the paydays and bonuses of the fighters. If not that, UFC can soon start a new division in flyweight sooner rather than later, do tours in Mexico, and afford bringing some of the bigger names from Strikeforce into the UFC. The UFC also will apparently get to maintain control of production of their events. I think MMA on networks previously shows what happens when guys who don't know MMA get their hand in the pot. It comes off badly. The marketing for Fedor's debut on CBS for Strikeforce was horrible. Fox will be able to brand the product with their own pre and post shows, but the UFC still won't have bad production teams or guys who don't know the sport as well as them interfering. That does not mean things will not change. They will at some point, but it will still be by UFC's decisions and influence. Now that is not to say everything will be perfect and nothing will go wrong. It is very possible. But with how UFC has grown in the past two years and spread their brand all over the world and had big events in Toronto and Brazil, to look at this situation any other way than helping the sport grow is wrong. No other MMA brand has made a deal this huge before. CBS/Showtime never truly went all in the promotion of MMA like Fox has here.
Mark Radulich - Disagree. If MMA doesn't grow past its current level of popularity this whole FOX deal will have been a failed experiment for both sides. Think about what we're saying; widening the audience and making the product available for FREE won't attract new buyers to the product nor will it even cause new eyes to view the free product? Does that seem right to anybody? Once something is made available to the general public new people will give it a try simply because it's available and it's not costing them any money. There is always a certain amount of curiosity that accompanies something new being presented on broadcast TV. Once you add the marketing hype that FOX excels in you can't help but create an event that will cause at least a momentary increase in popularity for MMA (in the form of the UFC). Now, depending on how the actual fights go, a certain amount of people will continue to watch and thus buy the PPV and others will move on to something else new and exciting. The only way MMA doesn't become popular here is if the show on Nov 12th is so bad it actually drives not only the viewing audience away from MMA permanently but also causes already known fans to stop watching. Outside of someone getting brutally killed in the cage on live TV, I don't see that happening.
