BT Sport is set to lose the TV rights for the UFC after choosing to walk away from the bidding process.
BT first partnered with the UFC in 2013 when they launched their BT Sport platform, and in 2016 they announced an extension to their contract with the mixed martial arts organisation, but it now seems that their relationship with the UFC has come to an end.
A BT spokesperson stated, “We won’t bid any more than the rights are worth to us,”. After this announcement, Marc Allera, Head of BT Consumer explained to the Financial Times that the direction and vision have changed and developed since its initial “emotionally driven start-up mentality”.
“It’s like a big football club in the transfer window. If a striker is worth £50m I won’t pay £70m for him. At the wrong price, everything is expendable,” he said.
The favourite to win the bidding process for the exclusive live UFC rights within the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland is Eleven Sports. Eleven Sports have already outbid BT on the rights to Italian Serie A football games and they also acquired Spanish football in May after outbidding Sky, they later added Dutch, Swedish and Chinese football rights to their catalogue in July.
It is unclear how Eleven Sports will use the UFC content. The current structure allows BT Sport customers to watch UFC fight nights and pay-per-view events free of charge. The MMA fanbase in the United Kingdom will be hoping that this structure stays the same, and that is doesn’t change over to a structure that requires fans to pay a fee for each pay-per-view event (similar to the structure in the United States).
What are your thoughts on BT Sport losing the TV rights for the UFC?
