Dana White was the biggest winner Thursday when he fulfilled a long-time dream by signing a deal with Fox to put live UFC events on network television. Fox reportedly is paying the UFC an annual license fee of approximately $100 million for the right to air four live fights per year as well as to put a slew of programming on its cable channels, FX, Fuel and Fox Sports Deportes.
Fox will benefit by attracting the highly desirable 18-to-34-year-old male demographic, which the UFC rules and advertisers crave. And fans will benefit by the increase of exposure for the sport.
No one, though, will benefit more than those who have turned the sport into what it is: its fighters.
?Fox is a bigger stage than Spike, a bigger stage than Versus, a bigger stage than any outlet the UFC has,? said former UFC fighter Frank Trigg, a broadcaster who once hosted an MMA magazine show on Fox?s regional sports cable channels.
?Fox is the No. 1 network in the United States and this is a huge deal for the fights to be live in prime time. This is mainstream coverage and it?s going to reach an infinitely larger audience than they?ve ever reached. It?s what is going to propel them over the top and that is going to make the fighters major stars.?
The UFC will rake in nearly $750 million over the seven-year lifetime of the exclusive deal it signed with Fox, which should lead to an increase in fighter pay. But the visibility the fighters will receive on Fox will lead to far more lucrative endorsement contracts, as well as open other business opportunities for them.
