Paramount is in the beginning stages of their massive billion dollar deal with UFC. While it’s still too early to tell whether the deal will ultimately be a success or a failure, one prominent MMA personality believes that there is no path to profitability for the media company.
Longtime MMA voice Luke Thomas was a guest on Pablo Torre Finds Out this week to discuss UFC, combat sports, and their increasing ties to the current administration and the political world.
And in talking about the Paramount-UFC deal, Thomas believes that there’s no way financially that Paramount can make their money back. However, they may have signed off on the massive investment because of the other benefits that will come along the way.
“There is no way Paramount is going to make their money back on UFC,” Thomas said. “Not only are they not going to make their money back, they’re going to take a bath.”
Thomas then walked through the particulars of the deal including the reporting at the time that the UFC was looking to potentially split their premium numbered events with the rest of their inventory that takes up plenty of airtime. Then Paramount shocked the media world by coming in with an enormous $7.7 billion offer to win the entire rights package. At the time, it was seen as an overpay, but one that could be worth the risk as Paramount looked to increase further in live sports. But there’s another elephant in the room that Thomas and Torre addressed.
It just so happens that Paramount UFC purchase has thereby brought several influencers in the conservative political world together. Dana White has been a longtime Trump supporter (as much as he may believe his own version of reality that he is a politically neutral figure) as has Paramount Skydance billionaire Larry Ellison. The new media mogul has already begun to shape CBS News in a more Trump-friendly direction and in turn the administration is putting all its weight behind supporting broadcast networks in their upcoming negotiations with the NFL.
It’s no coincidence that all these forces are uniting at the upcoming UFC White House event planned for this summer. And Thomas told Torre that some of those benefits are what Paramount is really paying for.
“The Skydance merger happens with Paramount and all of a sudden here come the Ellisons who are regime-allied, regime-friendly. Of course Dana White is regime-allied, regime-friendly. And they give them $1.1 billion a year for seven years. I just don’t understand, even with how many subs they can pull or what the ads are they can show how they can possibly make their money back,” Thomas said.
After a question from Torre about the ulterior motives that could be present, Thomas elaborated further on the political and cultural ties that go beyond the numbers. And that the upcoming Zuffa boxing launch could bring another boom if all sides work together to boost that end of the business. And wouldn’t you know, legislation is suddenly making its way through congress to assist the boxing industry.
“They can scale up to a significant degree and you’re going to get to go and have an event at the White House and you’re going to get potentially laws passed in your benefit to make that boxing even more lucrative. There’s a lot of reasons, certainly why you would want to be aligned with people at this particular moment in time who are going to have, let’s put it euphemistically, the regulatory wind at their back.”
UFC fights are one of the very few places in the sports world that still treat Donald Trump like the king that he wants to be. Even with his unpopularity reaching new heights by the day, White and UFC are still all-in on being the most Trump-friendly sports league on the planet. With billions of dollars of support coming from the Ellisons, it increases the likelihood of government support for whatever UFC and Paramount want to do next. And that may be worth more than any rights deal. At least for this moment in time.
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