ESPN and ESPN+ New Home of the Professional Fighters League in U.S.
A new multi-year deal has been made with ESPN and ESPN+ to make it the new home of the Professional Fighters League (PFL) in the United States. ESPN+ is the multi-sport, direct-to-consumer video service from The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer and International (DTCI) segment and ESPN. The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is the first organization ever to present MMA through a regular season, playoffs and championship format.
Live Events
All ten PFL events will air live across ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+. There will also be up to three hours of exclusive action live on ESPN+. Viewers will also enjoy up to two exclusive hours live on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.
TSN holds similar rights and will exclusively air all PFL events in Canada. The rights include the regular season, playoffs and championship event.
Six, five-hour PFL Regular Season events will take place on Thursday nights from May to August. Three PFL Playoff events will take place in October, with coverage also carried across ESPN+, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. PFL Playoff events will feature the top eight fighters in each of the competition’s six weight classes. Viewers will watch as they attempt to fight—and win—twice in the same night to advance to the PFL Championship.
The season culminates with the PFL 2019 Championship on New Year’s Eve. Viewers will experience world title fights in every weight class live exclusively on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. Winners of each title bout will be crowned PFL World Champion in their weight class and earn $1 million.
Pre- and Post-Event Coverage
In addition to the live events, ESPN platforms will bring fans pre- and post-event coverage and additional exclusive PFL content, including an inside look at the league through a ‘Road to the Playoffs,’ ‘Road to the Championship’ and the PFL ‘Best of Season.’ The agreement starts with the telecast of the 2018 PFL Season Review and 2019 Roster Selection Show this spring.
Specific details about scheduling and surround programming will be announced in the coming weeks.
Fans can look forward to some firsts this PFL season. This includes the debut of MMA’s first-ever 155-pound women’s division. The division features two-time American Olympic Gold Medalist Kayla Harrison. Viewers will also experience SmartCage and Cagenomics. Both of these proprietary PFL features deliver real-time data and analytics to bring fans “inside the cage.”
What They’re Saying
“We are pleased to add the PFL to our combat sports roster. This unique and innovative competition structure provides MMA fans with a great option to see some of the best fights and content in the sport,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN Executive Vice President, Programming and Scheduling. “ESPN is the home of combat sports, and we look forward to delivering thrilling live PFL events and powerful storytelling to fans, across all platforms.”
“The PFL was created to offer the 300 million global MMA fans the sport-season format that other major sports like the NFL and NBA have, which is the transparency and meritocracy of a regular season, playoffs and championship,” said Donn Davis, Co-Founder and Chairman, Professional Fighters League. “Fans can now follow the stories, and business partners can engage in the journeys, of the PFL fighters throughout the season. This agreement to bring PFL to ESPN and ESPN+ further validates our unique and innovative product and will accelerate the PFL’s growth.”
“We are thrilled to bring the PFL to ESPN, the undisputed leader in sports. ESPN is a ground-breaking pioneer that has fundamentally changed the way fans consume sports, and we at the PFL are reimagining MMA for fans and fighters,” added Peter Murray, CEO, Professional Fighters League. “PFL will be the technology leader revolutionizing the way MMA fans experience watching live fights, using PFL’s proprietary SmartCage platform and Cagenomics system, to display real-time fighter data and take fans inside the cage.”
To subscribe to ESPN+, visit www.espnplus.com
SOURCE Professional Fighters League
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