In addition to the mystery of who will close out UFC’s grand event on the White House lawn this summer, there is intrigue about how much of the event will air on CBS.
UFC’s highly anticipated show on June 14 is part of President Donald Trump’s “America 250” celebration and the MMA giant is pulling out all the stops, with the spectacle projected to cost “upwards” of $60 million, TKO president Mark Shapiro said this week.
Sources told Front Office Sports there’s an expectation the event will have a CBS window. How long it will be, and which portion of the spectacle it will entail, remain tightly guarded secrets.
A spokesperson for CBS parent Paramount declined to comment. A UFC spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
UFC and Paramount, now led by David Ellison, are in the first year of a seven-year, $7.7 billion rights deal. The fights primarily air on the Paramount+ streaming service. Nevertheless, when the deal was announced, UFC boss Dana White dropped heavy bread crumbs about the possibility of the White House event getting the broadcast distribution.
“Imagine a massive fight on the lawn of the White House on CBS,” White told CBS News last August.
He had a similar message on The Pat McAfee Show. “That might be on CBS, you know what I mean?” White said. “How about that? Fight card, from the White House, live and free on CBS the network. Come on.”
Speaking generally after the Paramount-UFC deal was finalized, Shapiro also touted the synergy with CBS as a major factor.
“CBS’s broadcast network is steeped in sports tradition and history—I mean, I grew up watching The NFL Today on CBS—and they’re still a big player in that space, whether that’s the Final Four, the Masters, NFL Super Bowl, UEFA,” Shapiro said on FOS Today. “They’re around and going to be around for a long time, and we wanted to maximize reach while at the same time maximizing our rights.”
The first announced two-hour window of a CBS simulcast will occur during next week’s UFC 326 event, from 8 to 10 p.m. ET. The final two hours, plus three hours of prelims, are exclusive on Paramount+.
There’s a balance UFC and Paramount must strike with making sure the product drives millions of subscribers to the streaming service while the wide reach of broadcast TV brings new audiences into the tent. An event the magnitude of the White House bonanza would be among the most marquee exposure opportunities to get an audience to sample the product on CBS.
Paramount said that nearly 5 million people across the United States and Latin America watched UFC 324 in the promotion’s debut on Paramount+ in January. Business Insider reported that a Paramount executive told employees in a town hall that Paramount+ gained almost one million subscribers from the event.
Meanwhile, Paramount has beaten out Netflix in the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, agreeing to pay $31 per share in an effort to create a sports and entertainment behemoth.
