The UFC and ESPN made a huge announcement Monday and it didn’t go over well with fans.
Dana White said all pay-per-views will go through ESPN+ from now on and they extended their deal with ESPN another two years to 2025.
Here’s what that means: Starting with UFC 236 in April if you live in the US you will only be able to purchase the PPV through ESPN+, meaning you’ll need to be a subscriber to ESPN+, which costs $4.99 a month. You won’t be able to get it through any other service, including DirectTV and more.
Our friends at MMAJunkie had more details:
New ESPN+ subscribers will be able to purchase a yearlong subscription for $79.99 that includes one pay-per-view event. Current ESPN+ subscribers will be able to purchase pay-per-views for $59.99 each.
According to a news release, additional packaging options may become available in the future.
The ESPN+ base subscription package is $4.99 per month, or $49.99 per year. ESPN+ will be the home for 20 UFC “Fight Night” events in 2018.
PPV’s for the most part are normally $64.99, so they’ve included the $4.99 in the new deal. But it does make it harder for casual fans to get into it and it also annoys hardcore fans who now have to give money to ESPN to gain access to PPVs.
Here’s White’s announcement:
Fans weren’t happy at all:
