A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Sport newsletter with Alex Sherman, which brings you the biggest news and exclusive interviews from the worlds of sports business and media. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. The big sports business news this week was Paramount’s surprising $1.1 billion-per-year acquisition of UFC rights, starting in 2026 and running for seven years. Deal talks formally began with Paramount on June 3, but really heated up in a 48-hour period between Thursday and Sunday after Skydance closed its deal to acquire control of Paramount Global, according to Mark Shapiro , the president and chief operating officer of UFC parent TKO Group. “Their deal closed, and things changed,” said Shapiro. Initially, TKO considered breaking up the UFC package for at least three media companies, selling the premium live events separately and splitting up the league’s 30 Fight Nights to two or more other partners, Shapiro said. Paramount’s bid was so strong that TKO Group changed course, selling all 43 events (13 premium numbered events and 30 Fight Nights) together to one buyer. Paramount is paying more than double the $500 million ESPN has spent annually for UFC rights the last five years. The success of the deal for Paramount will depend largely on how many subscribers come to its streaming service Paramount+ and decide to stick around. Even if Paramount overpaid, there’s a symbolic message behind Paramount’s bid. Paramount CEO David Ellison wants to show employees and investors the company is willing to spend while simultaneously identifying more than $2 billion in “cost synergies” (certain to include layoffs). Paramount will unveil the details of that plan during its next earnings call in November, executives told me at an on-the-record get together for a small group of reporters last week. The UFC deal pairs nicely with the company’s recent decision to pay $1.5 billion for five more years of “South Park.” From a messaging standpoint, those two big announcements right out of the gate are easily juxtaposed with Warner Bros. Discovery’s immediate shut down of CNN+ and elimination of shows and movies from both its streaming service and theatrical slate – all in the first months after it merged Discovery and WarnerMedia in 2022. Those decisions put CEO David Zaslav on the back foot with investors and employees, and it’s clear Ellison doesn’t want to take the same approach. “You can’t cut to grow,” Ellison told me. “We have to invest into growth areas. That’s studios, sports and streaming. You’ve now seen it with ‘South Park’ and UFC. We will invest in growth areas.” But there’s another sneaky reason Paramount spent so much here, to the delight of UFC executives. Major League Baseball will soon announce which media partners are taking over its Sunday Night Baseball package, which also includes the Home Run Derby and Wild Card playoff games, vacated by ESPN earlier this year. I’m told an announcement will likely come in about two weeks, but I’ve also heard that timeline at least twice before. In an interview with me on July 14, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said he hoped for a decision “within the next month” — and here we are still waiting. The U.S. Men’s World Cup media rights after 2026 will come up for renewal soon. Deep-pocketed Netflix is a potential buyer, given it nailed down the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031. After that, we’re about to enter a multiyear period of U.S. sports media rights doldrums. MLB and NHL rights are locked up until 2028. NFL rights are secured until at least 2030, unless the league decides to move up its renegotiation deadline. The NBA and WNBA’s new 11-year media rights deal begins this coming season. F1 is likely heading to Apple TV+ . The WWE has long-term deals with NBCUniversal and Netflix, and it just added a new five-year agreement with ESPN for its premium live events. English Premier League has a deal with NBC Sports until 2028, and the MLS’s deal with Apple is a 10-year contract that began in 2023 … Heck, even Versant – the soon-to-be parent company of CNBC, when it gets spun off from Comcast at the end of the year – just inked its first major media rights deal with the USGA through 2032. That made getting UFC extra important for Paramount. CBS Sports has a decent slate of sports already, including NFL Sunday afternoon games, The Masters, Big Ten football, NCAA March Madness, and the UEFA Champions League. But if Ellison wanted to showcase his willingness to spend on sports, UFC was basically his only chance. “As an operator, you can’t wait,” said Shapiro. “You’ve got to be ready to spend. If we’re gone, what’s left?” When I asked Ellison if the scarcity of sports rights factored into his thinking, he said, “Absolutely.” “It’s a unicorn asset that comes up once a decade,” he said. On the record With Versant’s new head of sports, Matt Hong … Speaking of Versant, I spoke with Versant’s new head of sports, Matt Hong , for his first interview since taking the job. I talked to him about Versant’s sports acquisition strategy, which is unique among the major bidders for media rights because the company doesn’t plan to have its own steaming strategy. He told me Versant would like NBCUniversal’s Peacock to be its streaming partner when it makes sense, but it will also happily pair with other services depending on the deal. “All other things being equal, we’d like to continue to work with and partner with NBCU and Peacock going forward,” said Hong. “I think one of the unique things about being separate public companies here soon is we’ll be able to potentially partner with Peacock, but we’ll also be able to partner with other third-party streamers in situations where a set of rights may or may not work for Peacock but we want them at Versant. We’ll have the freedom to partner with some streamers that previously we didn’t necessarily have the freedom to partner with.” Hong also told me the company isn’t interested in merging with another media entity that has sports rights. So you can forget about Versant joining up with Discovery Global, the company that houses TNT Sports, when Warner Bros. Discovery splits into two next year. “I don’t know that we will merge with an entity that has sports rights, only because we have plenty of programming to help drive our linear business,” said Hong. “I think the future will be inorganic acquisitions, which help diversify our revenue streams. And so it’ll really be, continue to invest in our core linear business, and then looking for inorganic opportunities that complement that business.” You can watch our entire conversation here . Or listen here and follow the CNBC Sport podcast if you prefer the audio version. This week’s podcast comes with a bonus conversation with ESPN’s Seth Wickersham, whose new book “American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback” goes on sale Sept. 9. Wickersham spoke with John Elway , Steve Young, Tom Brady , Patrick Mahomes , Andrew Luck , Warren Moon , Caleb Williams , Arch Manning , and members of their families (and many others) about the mindset of the American quarterback and how it sometimes doesn’t jive with regular life. It’s a fascinating book full of psychological insights about people that play the most important position in professional U.S. sports. CNBC Sport highlight reel The best of CNBC Sport from the past week: Ellison also discussed what he called CBS Sports’ “great” relationship with the NFL and the company’s commitment to being partners with the league moving forward in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber. USGA CEO Mike Whan discussed his league ‘s $95 million-per-year agreement with NBCUniversal and Versant in another TV interview with CNBC’s Scott Wapner . The Portland Trail Blazers have a new owner . The NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon confirmed to CNBC he’s “very excited” to buy the team from Paul Allen ‘s estate, according to CNBC’s Jess Golden . Dundon wouldn’t reveal how much he’s paying, but CNBC’s latest Official NBA Team Valuations listed the Trail Blazers at a value of $3.65 billion. Brooks Running reported global revenue that surged in the second quarter, but the company is still very concerned with tariffs. CEO Dan Sheridan joined CNBC’s Brandon Gomez to discuss the quarter, consumer spending, fitness trends and how tariffs will lead to price hikes in 2026. ESPN and Fox announced a streaming bundle of their new direct-to-consumer services – both launch next week – for $39.99 per month. The bundle will be available on Oct. 2. Separately, Fox One and ESPN will cost $19.99 and $29.99 per month, respectively. CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo has the details. New Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is backing a startup that’s trying to facilitate the connection between athletes and potential sponsors and charities. Fanatics is starting a membership program , offering subscribers points for purchases across the company’s various businesses that can be exchanged for apparel, merchandise and game tickets. Boardroom CEO Rich Kleiman stopped by CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to discuss all of the big sports media news of the week and our upcoming co-sponsored September event in Los Angeles. Sign up for tickets now ! The big number: 37% I guess Paramount is a meme stock now? Maybe it’s the UFC deal, maybe not, but the stock jumped a shocking 37% Wednesday. The float on the stock is a lot lower than it used to be now that Skydance Media (and the Ellison family) has acquired control. That makes it easier to see big swings in a given day. If it lasts, it also makes paying $1.1 billion a year for the UFC a lot easier to swallow! Quote of the week “I am a big UFC fan. I’ve been a fan of boxing since I was a kid.” — Ellison told me he’s a personal fan of both the UFC and boxing. Front Office Sports reported this week that Paramount is also the frontrunner to acquire the media rights for Zuffa Boxing, a startup boxing league co-founded by UFC CEO Dana White and Saudi official Turki Alalshikh . The first Zuffa Boxing match is scheduled for Sept. 13 , headlined by a match between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford. Around the league Unlike the NBA’s Blazers, MLB’s Minnesota Twins won’t be selling . Instead, the Pohlad family is selling minority stakes to two “significant limited partnership groups.” Comcast has launched an NFL Sunday Ticket-like product for soccer fans. Dubbed “World Soccer Ticket,” Xfinity customers can pay $85 a month for about 60 broadcast, cable news, and English- and Spanish-language sports channels and a subscription to Peacock Premium. This will give soccer fans a way to watch more than 1,500 matches from leagues around the globe, including Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Major League Soccer, LALIGA, and Liga MX. The US Open begins Aug. 18, and Venus Williams will be playing . She received a wild-card invitation Wednesday to compete in singles at 45 years old, making her the oldest competitor since Renée Richards was 47 in 1981, according to the International Tennis Federation.
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