Dana White has become a very rich man thanks to the UFC. Of course, this would not be possible without some impeccable dealmaking. In order for your league to make money, you need television rights, and the UFC has those. For instance, UFC is currently in a broadcasting deal with ESPN.
Interestingly enough, the ESPN deal wasn’t ever supposed to go through. This is because in 2017, ESPN’s President John Skipper was very much against the UFC as a whole. However, as White told Grant Cardone in a recent interview, Skipper ultimately stepped down from the network due to a cocaine problem.
Dana White Tells All
“You ever hear of John Skipper?” White began. “John Skipper ran ESPN. Now, I think he runs DAZN. Runs ESPN, beloved, looks like the squarest dude on the planet. Older guy. Hates UFC. Hates it. Hates UFC. Big soccer guy. For whatever reason, people like different things. And I’m not s***ing on John Skipper. But this is a fact, this happened and this is a true story.”
White went on to note that the person who replaced Skipper was a very good friend of his. This ultimately allowed ESPN and the UFC to negotiate in good faith. Subsequently, both sides agreed to a five-year deal worth a whopping $1.5 billion.
“Who do they make president?” White asked. “Jimmy Pitaro, who ran Yahoo! Sports for years. I’ve known him a long time. He’s a great dude, and he loves the UFC. Now you got him, you got a guy named Kevin Mayer, who is really close to [Endeavor CEO] Ari [Emanuel], and we ended up doing the ESPN deal when our deal was up.”
This is certainly an interesting story, and a huge what-if for the league. Originally, the UFC had been partnered up with Fox, although it’s clear that ESPN is the better option when it comes to sports coverage.
Let us know what you think of White’s story, in the comments below. Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for more news from around the sports world.
[Via]