UFC this weekend will air its first primetime broadcast on Fox as part of its seven-year, $100M with the net, and that partnership “could determine if it can make the leap to mainstream sport,” according to a sports section cover story by Klemko & Non of USA TODAY. Univ. of Oregon Warsaw Sports Marketing Center Managing Dir Paul Swangard said, “Has any other sport risen as fast as UFC? I think most people would say no.” He added, “The next phase is broader distribution of their product and the Foxes of the world embracing it. … So this is an important period in seeing how much more runway they really have.” Klemko & Non note former U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the late '90s "backed a crusade against 'no-holds-barred' fighting, leading more than 30 states to ban the activity and causing cable TV providers to drop UFC programming." However, 45 states currently sanction MMA, and UFC has “made its debut in several cities this year,” including DC. UFC's “popularity among young men became undeniable in 2006, when the promotion eclipsed pro wrestling and boxing in U.S. pay-per-view sales.” SNL Kagan reported that UFC in ’06 “generated $220 million vs. $177 million for HBO boxing and $131 million for WWE.” Baker Street Advertising Exec VP & Exec Creative Dir Bob Dorfman: “You look at what’s happened with the pay-per-views, and you can’t deny that it’s bringing in the male 18-34 demographic.” Klemko & Non noted that demo is what “draws advertisers such as Bud Light, Miller Lite and Burger King,” with each having “planted its flag on the UFC in the last four years.” Dorfman said moving to Fox also brings the “power of the promo.” Dorfman: “They can cross-promote and make the UFC more legitimate than it already is” (USA TODAY, 11/8).
CULMINATION OF WORK BY FERTITTAS, WHITE: YAHOO SPORTS’ Kevin Iole noted the UFC-Fox deal is “an affirmation of the brilliant work done in the last decade” by UFC President Dana White and UFC co-Founders Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta “in building a sport from a pile of rubble.” This Saturday’s broadcast will “essentially serve as a one-hour commercial for the UFC, and there could be no better way to showcase the sport at its best than by putting the two top fighters in the sport’s marquee division on network television in front of the largest possible audience.” White said, “We are thinking long-term for the future of this sport. It is an investment in the future of the UFC.” White is “banking on the Fox deal to help bring the UFC into the mainstream” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 11/7).
