ESPN, TSN Ink Deals for Professional Fighters League Broadcast Rights

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The Professional Fighters League (PFL) has signed multiyear agreements with ESPN and TSN to make them the official homes of the league in the U.S. and Canada, respectively.

The PFL—the first organization to present MMA through a regular season, playoffs and championship format—will see all ten of its events air live across ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and streaming service ESPN+. Further, up to three hours of exclusive action will air live on ESPN+, and up to two exclusive hours will air live on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.

TSN now holds similar broadcast rights in Canada for the regular season, playoffs and championship PFL events.

“We are pleased to add the PFL to our combat sports roster,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN’s executive VP of programming and scheduling. “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. 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.”

Donn Davis, co-founder and chairman of the PFL, commented: “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. 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.”

Peter Murray, PFL CEO, added: “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. 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.”