What is the most negative thing to come out of UFC’s relationship with FOX?
Cole Henry, Live Event Reports
The Reebok deal? I can’t claim this answer for myself but lots of people seem to think that the visibility of being on Fox led to the Reebok deal which ultimately led to lots of fighters losing money. Whatever the reason for the Reebok deal, it hasn’t worked out for many fighters and if Fox was the reason that’s a shame.
Sean Covington, Columnist – Covington’s Corner
UFC proved that they don’t have what it takes to put up a quality product over an extended period of time (barring November and December of this year). Just take a look at the abomination that the first ESPN era PPV has become. The UFC held out putting on good cards on FOX for whatever goofy reason and WWE better be careful or they will follow in their footsteps.
Frank Hyden, Columnist – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Their relationship with FOX didn’t seem to clarify their overall television strategy at all. Instead of making a decision and committing to it, it seems they would rather straddle the fence and try to have their cake and eat it too. UFC either need to fully commit to television and work towards getting all their shows on cable or network television or go all-in and create a UFC Network that charges $10 a month or something and has all or almost all of their programming on it. They can’t cling to the pay-per-view model and the television model at the same time. They need to commit one way or the other.
Their relationship with FOX should have brought clarity one way or the other. It should have encouraged them to either embrace television or pay-per-view. No half measures.
Michael Hiscoe, MMATorch Managing Editor
The biggest drawback of this seven-year run on FOX is that it really was the era of excess. UFC ran a manageable 27 events in 2011. This number went up each year before peaking at 46 in 2014. This was the year Fight Pass launched and they attempted several doubleheaders and shows on back to back nights. UFC mercifully dropped the double-header practice but shows nearly every weekend and often on back-to-back nights are the norm and this is unlikely to go away. FOX and the money that TV rights bring in these days are responsible for this.
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