In a move previously unseen in professional sports, Dana White and the Ultimate Fighting Championship are taking pay-per-view events and giving them away for free on network television. Details were released earlier today regarding a partnership between the Fox Broadcasting Company and the UFC, which has evidently been in the works for several years. Boiled down to its simplest form, the agreement will allow the general public free access to four major UFC events per year.
UFC enthusiasts have grown accustomed to shelling out about $30 for each of the events, which have steadily increased in annual frequency since the league was hatched in dimly-lit auditoriums and the back rooms of bars in the 1990s. Fans won’t have to wait for long to get their first taste of the network television action, as Fox’s inaugural UFC broadcast is set to take place on November 12th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
The evening will mark the 189th UFC event, but has already been renamed in order to be more marketable as a network television program. Somewhat surprisingly, only two fights will air over the course of the 60-minute broadcast. This is likely a strategy that is aimed at easing the general public into the high-paced and high-stakes world of ultimate fighting. The combatants have yet to be announced.
It has come to light that the UFC has been looking for a network television partner since the turn of the century, but a major sticking point in the ongoing negotiations was creative and directorial control. Fox has agreed to allow the UFC to produce and present their events to the public on their own terms, while the UFC has promised to unleash a product that benefits from a complete metamorphosis of their broadcasting approach.
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