After UFC announced its new $7.7 billion media rights deal with Paramount on Monday morning, perhaps the biggest headline came in the form of obituaries for the pay-per-view format.
And for good reason.
After all, the deal calls for UFC’s monthly numbered events to be included with a subscription to the Paramount+ streaming service, effectively eliminating one of pay-per-view’s last premier offerings. But despite TKO president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro going as far as to refer to the pay-per-view model as “outdated,” UFC president Dana White isn’t ready to close its coffin door just yet.
“There’s no pay-per-view involved in this deal,” White told the New York Post in an exclusive interview. “Let’s say there’s a scenario –– I am involved in boxing, I am involved in slapping, I am involved in jiu-jitsu and I’m involved in the UFC –– What I love about this business is, I can lay out what we think the fights are going to be for a year, and a fight will pop up that I never saw coming. A star will pop up out of somewhere. Anything is possible. And you could do a one-off pay-per-view. I am going to be on pay-per-view this Saturday. Pay-per-view is not dead.”
While White was speaking in hypotheticals, his comments stand in stark contrast to how parent company TKO and Paramount had positioned the deal in the hours after it was first announced. Speaking to CNBC, Shapiro made it clear that he views pay-per-view as a thing of the past while pointing to the lack of entities currently operating under a such a model.
“The pay-per-view model is a thing of the past. What’s on pay-per-view anymore? Boxing? Movies on DirecTV? It’s an outdated, antiquated model,” he said. “So, it was paramount to us — forgive the pun — where it’s one-stop shopping, especially for our younger fans in flyover states. When they find out, ‘Wait, if I just sign up for Paramount+ for $12.99 a month, I’m going to automatically get UFC’s numbered fights and the rest of the portfolio?’ That’s a message we want to amplify.”
Even if it sounds like mixed messaging, White’s comments don’t necessarily contradict Shapiro’s — the UFC president is more just saying “never say never.” But if next summer’s super card at the White House is going to air on CBS as White has hinted at, then it’s hard to imagine another event being viewed as so valuable that UFC feels the need to reinstall a model that it has already publicly dismissed.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.