The UFC is expected to sign the most lucrative broadcast rights deal in company history in 2025 but is the organization actually seeking over $1 billion per year as part of these negotiations?
That’s the question TKO Group Holdings president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro addressed on Monday during an appearance at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference. While there’s little doubt that the UFC is expected to exceed the parameters of the current deal at ESPN, which started back in 2018, reports surfaced that the company was seeking a huge increase by comparison when the new deal kicks in starting in 2026.
The original five year deal with ESPN was worth $1.5 billion with the two sides eventually tacking on two more years along with pay-per-view broadcasts added into the contract.
“All I would say on this — this isn’t so folks can get hot under the collar or get cold or take it as ‘he’s encouraged, he’s optimistic, but he’s not bullish.’ We don’t have to read between the lines here,” Shapiro said. “It’s simple. Of course, we’re going to maximize value. Of course, we think we’re undervalued — not because we did a bad deal — because seven years is a long time and the decks shuffle. But I think, name your analyst, there’s a lot out there.
“I’m not saying we’re not going to get two-times [as much], whatever it might be, that’s generally just word of mouth. That’s not coming from the company.”
That said, Shapiro recognizes the notion that the UFC could potentially be worth that much in a new broadcast rights deal probably stems from a few different factors.
First and foremost, sports rights packages are still huge business, especially with streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video getting involved in the bidding. The NBA struck a deal that kicked off in 2025 worth $76 billion across 11 years — more than double the previous deal at $24 billion over nine years.
“I think people are just looking at various other leagues and thinking the UFC is hot and growing and diverse and young and half our audience is 18 to 34, and we’re full year round, we have no offseason, we’re taking place every single weekend and we’re growing globally,” Shapiro said. “We’re in 170 countries with huge opportunity for growth. Europe, LatAm (Latin America), APAC (Asia-Pacific region), MENA (Middle East, Northern Africa), all huge areas of opportunistic growth and they’re just thinking the sky is unlimited here. These guys can go to outer space!
“But they’re also balancing that with reading about MLB and reading about F1 and so I would just tell you there’s no early inning information. We cherish our relationship with ESPN and Disney. By the way, they have a lot to do with our success and our growth and we’re in our [exclusive negotiating] window and we’re trying to figure out a way with them to renew. We may or may not come out of the window, we’ll see what happens.”
The two deals Shapiro mentioned referenced ESPN opting out of its broadcast deal with Major League Baseball and not striking a deal to keep Formula-1 racing either (although talks are reportedly still ongoing).
Right now, the UFC is still in an exclusive negotiating window with ESPN through April 15 but after that date expires, the company can begin fielding offers from other prospective partners.
Shapiro knows there are going to be no shortage of offers trying to land the UFC’s broadcast rights but he also recognizes that the company has to take a look at long term success rather than a short term cash grab.
In other words, a streaming service or even a network could offer a ridiculous number to land the UFC’s broadcast fights but if that outlet doesn’t provide the same kind of exposure as say ESPN, it might not be worth the extra money.
“Our job is to grow the brand,” Shapiro said. “This is a nascent sport, it’s mainstream now but it’s nascent. It’s early days. It’s turned into a major but when you compare it to MLB, which has been around for 100 years, an NFL, which has been around 100 years, we have a long way to go here. So we have to gauge reach, engagement, brand strength with dollars. We’re playing the long game here. That’s how we kind of size up our negotiations and the different suitors that are out there.
“Because there are some folks, some platforms, some channels that would pay more but aren’t necessarily the best fit for our brand. At the end of the day, we have to live for the next deal. We have to grow this, grow our audience, monetize our audience, but make sure we are in the most competitive position so when this deal is up seven years from now, five years from now, 10 years from now — likely when myself or Ari [Emanuel] are long gone — we’re set up for success with the next group, the next level.”
