Peter Rice
Who? One may ask. It’s a legitimate question if you’re an MMA fan.
Peter Rice is not an MMA figure per se, he is actually the CEO of Fox Networks Group, which oversees the Fox Sports Media Group and FX at the centre of the UFC’s broadcast deal with Fox.
UFC and Fox signed the seven-year contract in 2011, a deal which is believed to net the UFC approximately $100 million per year. It’s a deal that appears to have worked well for both parties – UFC Fight Night and UFC on Fox cards are a regular fixture for the organisation and most cards have received respectable ratings.
If anything is to go wrong with the arrangement, however, (like, for instance, if the ratings start to plummet) then there is the potential for Mr Rice to act accordingly. Conversely, if the deal works well for Fox and the UFC for the next four years then the likelihood of another lucrative deal happening is quite solid.
To put it simply, Peter Rice is the man who will essentially determine the future of the UFC being broadcast on Fox in the long-term future.
