Fox exec: Creating stars key to sustainability
Fox Sports Co-President Eric Shanks joined Jack Encarnacao on the Sherdog Radio Network’s Rewind show to discuss who will handle…
Fox Sports Co-President Eric Shanks joined Jack Encarnacao on the Sherdog Radio Network’s Rewind show to discuss who will handle matchmaking, the promotional push Fox will give the UFC and more.
On whether he’ll have a say in matchmaking (a topic he laughed and joked about): They’re the experts in matchmaking. I don’t think you can argue with their ability, Dana and Lorenzo’s ability, to do matchmaking. Look, I’m a fan. I’m a fan that happens to be in business with them on the non-pay-per-view side. I just happen to be a fan that can actually have the debate with them. Whether they actually care what I think or will actually give [credence] to a guy who’s coming in and now all of a sudden thinks he’s a matchmaker, we’ll see
We were at dinner the other night and Dana was like, ‘You know, some guys, they get to know us and then within a week, they think they’re a matchmaker.’ I said, ‘Well, Dana, it probably will only take me a day or two for me to think I’m a matchmaker.’
On how UFC pay-per-views will interact with the Fox shows: If pay-per-view does well, we think that UFC on Fox and on FX and Fuel will do well and vice versa. … If the UFC on Fox pulls a huge number and creates new fans, it means more pay-per-view. And if you have more hardcore fans for pay-per-view, that just means they’re going to have a huge appetite for what is on FX and what’s on Fuel and what’s on the broadcast network. I don’t think anybody can argue that there is a circle that’s been created that will feed from one thing to the other.
On how to keep a good product going: I think that sustainability is really all about creating stars. These guys, through ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and the new format of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ — which I am so excited that they even thought of the idea of the new format for ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ — but creating stars that people care about and not just one star at a time but multiple stars that people actually care about, that’s what sustains the interest in the sport first and foremost. Then the fact that you put on really consistent, really upscale matches and performances and fights from all those stars.