UFC President Dana White this morning restated that the MMA promotion "is not up for sale" after ESPN reported last night the company was on the market, but he did say execs are "working on a deal." Appearing on "The Dan Patrick Show" today, White was asked whether a portion of the company could be for sale. He replied after several seconds of silence, "If I'm in the middle of a deal right now, there's a lot of confidentiality involved in it. But we're working on expanding, we're working on growing the company and moving into other territories like China and Japan, Korea. So we're always working on deals." He later acknowledged there are "confidentiality agreements in place" regarding a deal, though he did not provide any more details ("The Dan Patrick Show," 5/11). In Las Vegas, Adam Hill in a front-page piece noted White last night "vehemently denied" the ESPN report. He said, "The UFC is not for sale. The ESPN story is overblown" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 5/11).
INITIAL REPORT: ESPN.com's Darren Rovell in the initial piece reported at least four bidders are "believed to have submitted bids" for the organization, including WME/IMG, China Media Capital, The Blackstone Group and Dalian Wanda Group. Sources said that Dalian Wanda is the "leader in the bid." Sources added that the winning bid, should things proceed, is "expected to be for a valuation" between $3.5-4B. Zuffa LLC bought UFC in '01 for $2M. Rovell reported Goldman Sachs is "representing" Zuffa in the sales talks. Sources said that Goldman Sachs had "represented UFC's last full year earnings" in the $200-250M range, before EBITDA. Rovell noted investors "were advised" that a new television rights deal, which would begin in '19, could add an additional $25M "in annual revenue to the bottom line" (ESPN.com, 5/10). MMA reporter Ariel Helwani last night wrote he was told "last week that China's Wanda Group was the current front-runner in these talks and the sale could be announced as soon as July." However, he noted "nothing is finalized." Helwani: "This has been a rumor for some time & hard to separate fact from fiction" (TWITTER.com, 5/10). YAHOO SPORTS' Kevin Iole noted Goldman Sachs "served as the UFC’s investment adviser" in '10 when Flash Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi government, purchased 10% of the company. Given the price tag, ESPN's story "makes it appear as if the entire company is being sold." White and UFC co-Owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta "have previously brought on a partner, so it is not out of the question that another company could be looking to buy a piece of it" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 5/11).
ROLE IN RAIDERS COMING TO VEGAS? ESPN’s Rovell last night discussed how a potential sale of UFC could affect the Raiders moving to Las Vegas. He noted the Fertitta brothers, who are from Las Vegas, are “big football fans,” and there has “always been this angling of, ‘Do you think he would want to be an NFL owner?’" Raiders Owner Mark Davis "isn’t selling pieces" of the team right now. However, Rovell said as the team "gets into Las Vegas, you’d have to think that fresh money” from the Fertittas “would be very appealing” (ESPN.com, 5/10). White today said, "It’s very well known the Fertitta brothers are lunatics about football, they love football. ... They’re definitely football guys, but they are not looking to buy a team right now” (“The Dan Patrick Show,” 5/11).
