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Originally Posted by alnorth
The sports business daily journal reported more details on the sale of the UFC. Originally there were 5 bidders: aside from WME-IMG, there was also Fox, ESPN, Time Warner, and the Chinese companies (who later partnered up with WME-IMG)
Time Warner was planning to put the UFC on HBO and Turner Sports, but they dropped out early. ESPN dropped out without submitting a bid when they saw how much the UFC wanted. FOX bid $3.6MM and when their bid was beaten they dropped out.
The UFC currently gets $115MM/year from Fox on their TV deal. WME-IMG believes that when the contract is up after 2018 they'll be able to negotiate a 10 year deal for over $400MM/year. Some in the industry are skeptical but if they can get that much then it helps justify the price they paid.
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It may escalate to over 400 per year but the first half of that ten year deal will likely be in the 250 range. Don't be surprised to see CBS as a player too. They could likely drive the price north of 200 just by bidding it up.