UFC exec says English TV deal nearly done, teases launch of weekly magazine show

STOCKHOLM – For years, UFC President Dana White has pinned the potential for U.K. expansion on key factor: the “right” TV deal. Now, it seems, the company may finally be on the verge of signing such a contract.

“What we’ve worked hard on is finding a TV partner that just doesn’t pay money for our rights but actually gives us the opportunity to produce and develop a magazine program that tells the story and creates awareness about the sport,” UFC Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Europe, Middle East and Africa Garry Cook told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “So we’ve worked with a TV partner. We’re very close to having a deal.”

The UFC currently airs its U.K. programming on ESPN in a contract the promotion previously announced runs through August.

The channel has been home to the UFC since 2009, but the U.K.’s version of the all-sports option works considerably different than in the U.S. and is currently available only a premium subscription channel to British customers. The model hasn’t proved financially viable for ESPN, which recently sold its assets to upstart company BT Sport.

Cook declined to disclose what channel was leading the way in negotiations but said he feels confident the new home will provide an ample platform with which to build the UFC brand in the U.K.

“There’s one major issue, and that’s always consumption and access,” Cook said. “It’s like any business: The harder it is to get it, the more niche it becomes. Right now 96 percent of our broadcasts are after 2 o’clock in the morning in the U.K. When you are confronted with that challenge and building a business for the future, my job is to change that dynamic. The U.S. is not going to have 9 o’clock in the morning fights live on television, so we have to consider that, as well.

“We’ll be able to explain that in more detail at a later date, but one of the key elements is every week, on a Thursday night, for the next three years, we’ll have a magazine show in-studio, in the U.K., telling the story of the UFC. So we feel that that’s a major leap for us as a business. That will increase the awareness.”

So it appears the UFC may be close to signing a deal that has long proven difficult to close, much to the dismay of UFC boss White, who has famously expressed his shock at the lack of progress in recent years.

“The television deal we want hasn’t been as easy to acquire as we thought it would be,” White said one year ago. “We thought we could get that thing done. If you’d have asked many years ago and said, ‘Do you think you’ll be on FOX before you secure a big deal over here in the U.K.?’ I would have said, ‘There’s no way in hell. We’ll probably get the U.K. deal done first.’

“But it hasn’t happened. We’re still invested in that whole market out there, and we will get it done. We’re not going to give up on it.”

Cook believes once the deal is in place, it will begin the launch of a new phase of European growth for the world’s largest MMA promotion.

“We’re also involved in engaging in areas where kids and where youth are touching and consuming sport,” Cook said. “As we all know, they are gaming. So we’re about to embark on a rather large commercial product with a major global brand, and that, we think, will be a game-changer. On top of that, we shouldn’t detract from the elements of fitness. Everybody wants to aspire to be as fit as the fittest athlete. These are the fittest athletes. If we can develop a fitness business, a fitness product, through gymnasiums, through training, all of the elements – nutrition – if you round yourself outside of the core competency, which is fighters and fights, and build fans through TV networks and fitness through a training regime, you’ve got women engaged, you’ve got kids engaged.

“All of a sudden the future and the outlook for the sport is built more than just around the fights and the fighters.”

UFC on FUEL TV 9 takes place Saturday at Stockholm’s Ericsson Globe Arena. While no official announcements have been add, the organization is expected to return to Europe in 2013's fourth quarter.

For more on UFC on FUEL TV 9, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.