ESPN likely to pair UFC and Top Rank some Saturday nights
ESPN executive VP of Scheduling and Programming Burke Magnus: “I could easily see that. … I think there’s no doubt that we’ll look to pair the two.”
UFC boss Dana White and Top Rank boxing boss Bob Arum get along about as well as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and whoever he’s about to kill next. Thus the chances of the two cooperating are on par with the odds of a 500′ tall winged monkey flying out of your shorts.
However, both are now carried on ESPN and there is just one Saturday night each week. Ryan Glasspiegel for The Big League spoke recently with ESPN executive VP of Scheduling and Programming Burke Magnus who revealed that starting next year UFC and Top Rank could be doubleheadered some Saturday nights.
Ryan Glasspiegel: UFC and Top Rank are both often on Saturday night. Could there be evenings with dual promotion between the two, or will they remain distinct?
Burke Magnus: I could easily see that. What I’m fond of saying to people is if the genie came out of the bottle and granted me one wish it would be for 104 Saturday nights per year. I think there’s no doubt that we’ll look to pair the two. In both cases, because of the staging aspects to it, we could also use time zones to our advantage. Like we did this year with Top Rank coming out of an SEC football game on a Saturday night with a big lead-in, we can do that kind of scheduling as well thanks to the fact that these things can be scheduled accordingly.
RG: How does ESPN plan to utilize UFC’s library, which is part of the deal?
BM: It’s in there. It’ll be a combination of linear and digital on ESPN+. I actually love the versatility of the library for linear on a slow night where there might not be much going on. In primetime, we could throw on old or even fairly recent PPV cards or just make a compilation event. It’s in the deal. Because they have Fight Pass and that’s the one place you can get it all, our library rights will have many hours, but it will rotate so you won’t have it all at one time.
Given the amount of crossover appeal, particularly for the more casual fan, putting boxing and MMA on the same Saturday night could be of significant benefit for both, and ESPN.