Should they stay or should they go? UFC set for TV deal announcement

WITH just days to go before the end of the UFC’s current TV deal it won’t be long before we learn which channel we’ll be turning to for live UFC coverage here in the UK and Ireland.

It would appear the choice has come down to the two major players in UK sports broadcasting and a decision to either remain with BT Sport or switch channels and partner with Sky Sports.

Both broadcasters offer significant benefits and would represent a strong, consistent home for the UFC moving forward.

As the largest dedicated sports broadcaster in the UK, Sky Sports would offer the largest reach and arguably the biggest potential for mainstream growth.

Bandwidth will never be a problem with Sky boasting six 24-hour sports channels (Sky Sports 1-5 and Sky Sports F1) plus a 24-hour rolling sports news channel, Sky Sports News HQ.

The prospect of seeing UFC events promoted on Sky Sports News HQ looks like a promoter’s dream, with the potential to show clips from media days, open workouts and the weigh-ins alongside Sky’s rolling coverage of the Premier League offering the chance to cross-sell the UFC to a wider sporting audience.

Sky have a track record of doing a good job of promoting events, whether it’s Premier League football, PDC darts, Matchroom boxing or Formula 1, and could do a similarly good job with the UFC.

BT Sport offers a different set of benefits, however. For starters, they’ve delivered the best UFC TV coverage we’ve had in the UK and Ireland, surpassing the coverage previously provided by ESPN and Setanta.

They also offer the opportunity to provide continuity for the UFC, who have worked in partnership with the broadcaster over the course of the last three years.

But, perhaps more importantly, any decision to stay with BT would mean no upheaval for the UFC’s existing UK and Irish fans who have already bought subscriptions to the channel to watch the events under the current deal.

We’ve seen the UFC’s TV rights jump from Bravo to Setanta to ESPN and to BT Sport. A second term for BT would give fans some much-needed stability, while a move to Sky could potentially raise the bar to new levels in terms of awareness.

It’s an interesting quandary that UFC vice president and general manager James Elliott has had to consider, and the EMEA boss explained to me this week that he has to balance the need for growth and education with the need to provide the existing fanbase with the coverage they deserve.

"For us it’s about choosing the partner who’s going to help us with that education process, who’s going to help support and service the fanbase we currently have, and help us to get more fans involved in the sport," he said.

“It’s not just about getting out (to) as many different places as we can. It’s about getting it somewhere where people can access it and getting it in a place where people will feel the sport is people properly supported and we can help push it on and make this thing as big as we possibly can.”

One of the keys to any prospective partnership is the ability to attract new fans to the UFC, and both channels offer a significant opportunity for the sport to be promoted to football fans.

Under the new Premier League rights deals that come into effect this season, BT Sport has rights to 36 Saturday Premier League matches, with 28 of them at the 5:30pm timeslot, which would provide a perfect platform from which to promote UFC events later that evening.

Sky, meanwhile, has 28 Saturday games in the 12:30pm lunchtime kickoff slot, which would also provide a similar platform to promote live UFC coverage.

So, with options for promotion available on both sides, it seems the UFC has been in the luxurious position, perhaps for the first time in the UK, of having a choice between two viable, credible, sports-specific broadcasters.

And with Elliott confirming to SunSport that the decision has now been made, all that remains is for the contracts to be signed and an announcement to be released.

Looking at the two potential options one thing seems clear. Whoever gets awarded the contract, UK and Irish fans should be able to enjoy the best UFC coverage we've seen on this side of the pond.