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On Aug. 18, theUltimate Fighting Championship signed a landmark seven-yearagreement with Fox Sports Media Group.

The deal -- which will reportedly pump $90 to $100 million a yearinto the UFC in broadcasting rights fees -- begins with a one-hourlive fight special on Fox, asJunior dosSantos challenges championCainVelasquez for the UFC heavyweight crown on Nov. 12 in Anaheim,Calif. In 2012, fans will see four network specials broadcast onFox, as well as “The Ultimate Fighter” and UFC Fight Night eventson FX and ancillary programming like “UFC Unleashed” and“Countdown” on Fuel TV.

In this interview with Jack Encarnacao of the Sherdog RadioNetwork’s “Rewind” program, Fox Sports Co-President Eric Shanksdiscusses the network’s broadcasting deal with the UFC and what itportends for the future.

Encarnacao: We know the tremendous upside forthe UFC in this deal. From the FOX perspective, what’s theupside?
Shanks: I think for Fox it’s really the opportunity to get intobusiness with [UFC President] Dana [White] and [UFC CEO] Lorenzo[Fertitta] and the sport that we’ve been trying to get intobusiness with, literally, for the past decade. Rights deals -- theydon’t come up all the time. It just so happened that there was theopportunity here. And the sport has ... probably the story of whatthose guys have done with the UFC is unparalleled in the history ofsports. They’ve been able to do it, literally, in one decade. Soit’s a mainstream sport; those guys have proven it. And it isextremely popular among the demographic and the audience that everynetwork is looking for.

Encarnacao: You took over Fox Sports lastsummer after a career that tracked closely with the UFC, from beingone of the creators of the “Best Damn Sports Show” on Fox SportsNet that aired a live UFC fight in 2002 to DirecTV, a keypay-per-view partner for the promotion. Is it any coincidence thata year after you ascend to the co-presidency of Fox Sports that theUFC has a deal with Fox?
Shanks: You know, I hadn’t actually thought about it, but now thatyou kind of go over the last 10 years, I haven’t been able to getaway from these guys. It was one of the things that was brought tomy attention by [sports agent] Ari [Emanuel] over at [the] WilliamMorris Endeavor [sports agency] soon after I got here. And he knewmy love affair with the sport and with what these guys have doneand it just ... it was a great coincidence that the rights wereavailable and that all of the stars aligned here at Fox to be ableto make it happen.

Encarnacao: Did you have to sell anyone at Foxon the idea? We’ve heard that the higher-ups at some networks overthe years have had reservations about accepting thesport.
Shanks: I think that there’s always been, even before I came back,there’s been this kind of undercurrent of great support for thesport. And I think that, again, kind of the stars aligned.Everybody was able to take a step back and really recognize whatUFC has done over the past decade. The advertising support thatthey’ve gotten, the ratings on Spike [TV], the fact thatpay-per-view in other sports, in other genres, has declined, whilethese guys continue to increase globally their share of thepay-per-view market and are the global leader in pay-per-view. AndI think once you really reflect, then that undercurrent of supportand interest in the sport, coupled with the opportunity that was infront of us, everybody just started to rally around it, rallyaround it again. So it was not really trying to sell anybody; itwas finally taking the time to kind of reflect and say, “OK, now isthe time.”

Encarnacao: It must have been refreshing, too,to see concerns about MMA maybe being something less than a sportkind of melt away over the years.
Shanks: Yeah, I think it’s amazing. As much as this country likesto kind of look towards the future, this one sport, a lot of peoplestill have in their mind what this sport was over a decade ago:only fighting in states that actually didn’t even have an athleticcommission, no rules and regulations around safety. And then Danaand Lorenzo come in and completely turn the sport from going into ablack hole to having fighter safety, paying the fighters a fairwage, giving bonuses above and beyond the contracts. Now, they onlyfight in states that have really strong athletic commissions. Sopeople still have this kind of memory of the controversy of over adecade ago, but if you look at the past decade, there’s no sportthat could be more mainstream than the UFC.

Encarnacao: As a young producer, you helpeddevelop the virtual yellow line on the NFL football field thatmarks where the first down line is, and you were involved in theFoxTrax hockey puck that glowed on the screen as it flew around.Not to say you’re committing to anything this early, but have youkicked around any similar production ideas for UFC broadcasts onFox?
Shanks: All of those best ideas -- and I’m not taking credit forthe idea for any of those, [as] I was [just] part of the team thatworked on it -- but all of the good thinking happens in the showerbefore you come to work. And I’ve been spending some time whileshaving, in the shower, thinking about things for the UFC. Sonothing’s come to mind yet, but between Dana, Lorenzo and all ofthe great producers that we have over here -- [Fuel TV ExecutiveVice President] George Greenberg and everybody -- I’m sure that wewill be talking about what type of enhancements would make sensefor the UFC on Fox.

Encarnacao: Is it a unique challenge for youguys to produce, in that it’s a man-on-man combat sport as opposedto a team sport?
Shanks: That’s an interesting question. I think that [in] teamsports you always have to try and pick out stars on a team. You tryand let people connect with a particular story of a star, and “Whyshould I care about that individual?” I think because sportsbroadcasting is all about telling the story, telling the narrative,help me decide who I think should win and who I think should notwin, in a team sport, you have to kind of decide, who do you wantthem to care about? The quarterback? Do you want them to care aboutthe linebacker? In the UFC, in a man-on-man sport, that’s prettysimple. When you come on the air on Nov. 12, you’re going to beable to tell people, “OK, here’s fighter and here’s where he camefrom and here’s why you should care about him -- and Fighter B.”It’s actually great for storytelling, because it simplifies thingsand you do have that pure kind of global language of man-versus-manin a ring and only one person can win.

Encarnacao: Can we expect a special UFC themesong, like the one I have stuck in my head after every footballgame?
Shanks: The theme song is such an unbelievable theme song that whatwe’ve done over the past year is we’ve used the “NFL on Fox” themereally as the Fox Sports theme. We went into an edit bay and welaid the “NFL on Fox” theme over baseball footage and then overNASCAR footage, and we said, “You know what? I don’t care whatsport it is, that theme gets me pumped up and gets me ready towatch, whether it’s baseball, NASCAR or football.” So that themehas now transformed itself into the Fox Sports theme, and that isthe theme that you’ll hear on Nov. 12 to introduce “UFC on Fox” tothe world.

Encarnacao: Some are looking at this Fox dealas something of a restart in terms of reaching people who haven’tgiven the sport much of a chance in the past. Do you think it’simportant from Fox’s perspective to explain what the techniques areand what the sport is to these new viewers? Dana White has said welive in the bubble, we know what a triangle is, we know what anomaplata is, while most people at home don’t. Do you see a role forsort of explaining the intricacies of the sport again, as if it’sreally on TV for the first time?
Shanks: I think you have to recognize that your audience is abroader audience on the broadcast network. And if you watch our NFLon Fox pregame show, if you watch our games, our philosophy isthat, first and foremost, sports is entertainment, and we’re not ahuge Xs and Os network. We like to think we’re more aboutstorytelling and we’re more about letting you enjoy the game. Ithink if you want hardcore Xs and Os, you’re going to watch the NFLNetwork or “NFL Live” on ESPN to get that fix. So we also like tothink that you kind of coat the information pill with a little bitof sugar and a little bit of entertainment, so the approach of UFCon the Fox network is going to be the same. If you come on the airand you do full-page graphics and animations on what is a triangle,I think you’re going to hear the TVs click off all around thecountry. So through the course of the broadcast, you educatepeople, but I think the main thing is, OK, number one, I think onNov. 12, why should I care about this sport? Why is it here? Why isit so popular? And then, who’s going to win the fight? Why should Icare about these two fighters? And then I think that [UFC coloranalyst] Joe Rogan and [play-by-play announcer Mike] Goldberg, asthe fight goes along, that’s when you start to get a little bitmore of that information and technique, is in the course of thebroadcast, in the course of the fight itself, in the analysis of afight.

Encarnacao: Will you or Fox want any inputinto what fights appear on your network or will you let the UFCdecide matchmaking unilaterally?
Shanks: (Laughs) They’re the experts in matchmaking. I don’t thinkyou can argue with their ability -- Dana and Lorenzo’s ability todo matchmaking. Look, I’m a fan, so I’m a fan that happens to be inbusiness with them on the non-pay-per-view side. So I just happento be a fan that can actually have the debate with them. Whetherthey actually care what I think or will actually give creed to aguy who’s coming in and now all of a sudden thinks he’s amatchmaker, we’ll see. We were at dinner the other night and Danawas, like, “You know, some guys, they get to know us, and thenwithin a week they think they’re a matchmaker.” And I said, “Well,Dana, it probably will only take me a day or two for me to thinkI’m a matchmaker.” We’ve been talking about [whether or not] there[can] even [be] a show [built] around that on Fuel [TV], right? Canyou put together a show that has Dana, Lorenzo, other experts andmaybe even fighters and actually kind of debate the pros and consof certain matches that you might actually put together? I actuallythink it would be a really fun show.

Encarnacao: The Nov. 12 show is going to beone hour long, but how long do you envision these Fox specialsbeing? Two hours? Three? What day and time? Anything likethat?
Shanks: There’s going to be a little bit of a learning curve, andthe guys at UFC, all the way up and down the line, whether itsDana, Lorenzo or [Executive Producer] Craig Borsari, they get it.They get the TV side of this, and it shows with the strategy thatthey’ve taken both in the U.S. and internationally. So we’re goingto see; we’re going to evaluate how well we all think that aone-hour show starting at nine o’clock does on Nov. 12. We’vejointly agreed to say, “Alright, look, can it do better in adifferent time slot? A different length? Did it work for us?” Andwe’re going to make changes if necessary to bring the absolute bestproduct to the fans on television. So that’s going to be theguiding principle -- is what’s the absolute best product in thebest timeslot that we can make?

Encarnacao: The absolute best product issomething I’m sure fans will expect, considering how big the fightswill have to be to live up to that stature. The UFC will continueto do pay-per-views, and a big part of the Spike deal was that theyplugged their PPVs all over all content that broadcasted all dayand night. From your perspective, is that part of the give and takeof the relationship with the UFC -- that you agree to allow them toplug their PPV events on Fox? Or do you want the focus to be solelyon what they offer to Fox, as opposed to maybe help them make moneywhen they’re not on Fox?
Shanks: It’s really the circle of life in that [if] pay-per-viewdoes well, we think that UFC on Fox and on FX and Fuel will do welland vice versa. I think that gets back to the earlier comment aboutjust how much these guys get it and the strategy that they’vetaken. If the UFC on Fox pulls a huge number and creates new fans,it means more pay-per-view [dollars]. And if you have more hardcorefans for pay-per-view, that just means they’re going to have a hugeappetite for what is on FX and what’s on Fuel and what’s on thebroadcast networks. So it’s really ... I don’t think anybody canargue that there is a circle here that’s been created that willjust feed from one thing to the other. And at no time during thenegotiation or the conversation was there really any conversationabout, “Well, this is going to benefit your pay-per-view too muchand so we need you to pull back, or this is going to benefitbroadcast too much.” And it’s just been -- up until now, and wehaven’t even done fight one -- it’s been a match made inheaven.

Encarnacao: Does Fox, in making such along-term commitment to the UFC with a seven-year deal, see thepotential for MMA as a true sport in the long-term? And what I meanby that is people will look at the UFC as a sport they follow tosee who’s the best, instead of a product that they expect some sortof defined entertainment value out of? People review UFC PPVs andfights on the basis of how entertaining or exciting they were,almost like a movie review. People love an exciting football orbaseball game, but they don’t complain or resolve to stop watchingthe sport if they see a game that’s boring. Will there come a timewhere the sport is stable enough that they don’t have to worryabout “selling” every fight and can count on a stable audience andnetwork revenue like the other sports?
Shanks: I think from a pure business perspective being able todiversify your revenue streams is really important. I mean, lookwhat’s happening in the broadcast world and the pay TV world, andthese guys kind of have the ultimate diversification. Not only dothey have pay-per-view, they have pay TV, they have ad-supportedbroadcast. And, you know, their pay TV is across multiple networksnow. But I think that sustainability is really all about creatingstars. And these guys, through “The Ultimate Fighter,” [are]creating stars that people care about, and not just one star at atime but multiple stars that people actually care about. And that’swhat sustains the interest in the sport, I think, first andforemost, and then the fact that you put on really consistent,really upscale matches and performances and fights from all thosestars. Look, I think nobody can argue that this is head andshoulders above what boxing does, which is maybe one fight a year,one fight every 14 months that people even know who the fightersare and get interested in, and then there’s absolutely nodiscussion about boxing whatsoever. So I think the quality and theconsistency of the product that you’re going to have across Fox andthe pay-per-view, I think that there is what you’re talking about,that interest level. And it’s not just going to be about kind ofscrutinizing a pay-per-view and then waiting for the next one.

Encarnacao: What level of promotion do youenvision that UFC fighters and shows will receive during other Foxprogramming, like NFL games?
Shanks: Well, nothing’s going to get in the way of a game. That’sdefinitely not our philosophy. Nothing gets in the way of actuallydoing the best football broadcast that you can do. But, forexample, the very day that we announced this deal, we had apreseason NFL football game and we ran two 10-second promos for theUFC on Fox coming this fall in those games that night. So we wereprepared to put our money where our mouth is. And in thehighest-rated telecast of the night in the country, we startedpromoting a deal that we just announced that day. So we’re going towe have unbelievable entertainment assets, whether it’s the launchof probably what will be the number one show in America,“X-Factor,” obviously “American Idol” [and] all of our sportsproperties. This will get the full treatment from Fox for a launch,and we’re excited about some of the ideas that have been kind ofpercolating here internally about taking the Fox attitude andmarrying it with the UFC in a marketing fashion.

Encarnacao: A lot of the excitement is in whatthe pre- and post-fight shows might look like. Any plans for thattype of coverage on Fox, like we see for football?
Shanks: It’s still too soon, but we will sit around and make surethat we have all the right decisions made before we let the cat outof the bag.

Encarnacao: The UFC’s television ratings oncable have dipped a bit from 2005-09. On Spike, UFC live eventsaveraged a 1.7, but that average was 1.26 in 2010 and is at about1.37 this year. We’ve seen mixed martial arts on network TV before.On CBS in April 2010, the last time we saw an MMA event on CBS, itwas a 1.8 rating and averaged 2.9 million homes. The highest MMAhas reached on CBS on average was 4.3 million homes. Are thoseacceptable ranges for Fox? And was there any concern over whatlooked to be a dip in cable ratings for the UFC in recentyears?
Shanks: I think, first of all, CBS is probably the wrongdemographic to be trying to make MMA work. I think that, again,when we made the announcement, I’m sure that, and we’ve seen itright in social media in all the fan responses, people arewondering why it took so long for Fox and the UFC to get married.Because it seemed like we should have done it a long time ago. So Ithink there’s a huge difference between what Fox, FX and Fuel bringto the table compared to CBS and Spike. Now, you remember, “TheUltimate Fighter” was once the number one show in all of cable. Andstill, today, it’s a Top 30 show, and I think it’s even higher thanthat when you just take a look at men, [ages] 18 to 34. So as theentertainment landscape has fragmented over the past 10 years, thishas continued to be one of the top performers. Now you can alwayslook back and say, “What happened to this and what happened tothat?” I don’t really care. What I care about is when Dana andLorenzo came up and started pitching the idea of what they want todo to freshen up “The Ultimate Fighter” that got us more excitedthan what had happened in the past; especially when you compare theexcitement that [FX President] John Landgraf and his team at FX,just the overwhelming excitement they have to be able to work with“The Ultimate Fighter” and kind of bring that into the FX fold. Whoknows, maybe you’ll see the “Sons of Anarchy” have an episodeinvolving going to a UFC fight. I mean, the stuff that we can do isjust unbelievable. I think that we’re looking forward rather thankind of looking at what has happened over the last few years.

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