First it was the Wall Street Journal reporting that Zuffa (parent company to the UFC) was closing in on a deal with Comcast/NBC. Now Sport Business Daily says FOX has stepped up to grab the mixed martial arts giant in a package that could be worth as much as $90 million per year.
In what would represent a major push into the mainstream for the UFC, Fox has agreed to a deal that will see the broadcast channel air as many as four MMA events per year, according to several sources. The multiyear deal would mark the first time the UFC will have consistent airtime on a broadcast network. Fox execs refused to comment on the deal, but sources with knowledge of the negotiations said bidding had gone as high as $90M per year. The Fox deal is believed to be for seven or eight years.
UPDATE: John Ourand from SBJ tweeted that FOX has a major announcement on the way later this week.
UFC president Dana White wouldn't confirm the deal to MMAjunkie.
"You guys will know when we have a TV deal," said White.
White appeared with Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole on Friday's "MMA Insiders" on ESPNRadio1100/98.9 FM in Las Vegas.
"We do not have a deal. We're out there talking to everybody. When you're out there talking to everybody there's going to be lots of rumors," White said (19:10 mark). "In a perfect world, what would really work out great is if you could be on CBS and FOX and Comcast/NBC. Just like the NFL is. That would be the perfect world, but this sport has a lot of room to grow."
White has been very selective over the years with the UFC's programming partners.
"I will not do a dumb deal. We're not going to do a deal that doesn't make sense. We could've been the first mixed martial arts on network television, but none of the deals made sense," White said. "And as you saw all those guys [that were on network TV like EliteXC on CBS] ended up going out of business."
The UFC has been looking for a multi-platform deal. The promotion would like programming on network TV and several cable channels. Currently, it's running live fights and additional programming with preview shows and past fights on Spike and Versus. That will change in a deal with FOX.
Michael Bay's robot flick will hit theaters again on Friday and run for two weeks.
By Terri Schwartz
Bumblebee in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
Photo: Paramount
The moon will go dark again as Paramount gears up to re-release "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" in IMAX this Friday.
The third "Transformers" flick is currently the second-highest-grossing film of the year in the U.S., coming in second to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" with $348.5 million. "Dark of the Moon" will get a second life in 246 IMAX theaters in North America beginning on Friday, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and will run in IMAX through September 8.
In most cases, that means the Michael Bay flick will screen alongside already running movies like "Deathly Hallows, Part 2," "Cowboys & Aliens" and "Final Destination 5," given that Steven Soderbergh's soon-to-open "Contagion" doesn't hit IMAX until September 9.
Last year, "Avatar" made a similar move at the end of the summer, attempting to recapture moviegoers' interest before the end of the blockbuster movie season. The major difference between re-releases for "Avatar" and "Dark of the Moon" is that James Cameron stuffed "Avatar" with nine more minutes of previously unreleased footage to entice moviegoers.
While "Dark of the Moon" doesn't have new footage, the newest releases haven't been big draws at the box office and that may make it a good time to try to nab any stragglers who still want to see giant robots blow things up.
Christopher Nolan's Batman flick also benefited from this strategy. After its initial July 2008 opening, Warner Bros. gave "The Dark Knight" a February 2009 IMAX re-release. And even though the studio bypassed the summer movie season for the second release, the stunt still worked. There was plenty of residual interest in the flick following its Academy Awards success, and the second run helped push "Dark Knight" onto the list of the highest-grossing films of all time.
It will be interesting to see if this becomes a trend in summers to come, with blockbuster films like "Prometheus," "Men in Black III," "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "The Dark Knight Rises" all set to hit theaters in 2012.
Check out everything we've got on "Transformers: Dark of the Moon."
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