The PFL is Moving to ESPN
The Professional Fighters League (PFL) announced today that all their events would air on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+. The season format, which begins May 9, will introduce a new 155-pound women’s division, which gives Judoka Kayla Harrison a shot at a title in 2019. Once again, winners of each title bout will be crowned PFL World Champion in their weight class and earn $1 million.
A press release from the PFL had Burke Magnus, ESPN Executive Vice President, Programming and Scheduling say, “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.” Burke referring to adding UFC programming at the beginning of the year and now the PFL makes ESPN the only network to carry more than one MMA promotion’s events.
PFL CEO Murray told ESPN in addition to the events they will, “have shouldered programming year-round that will be distributed across all of ESPN’s platforms.” Content to accompany the 2019 season will include “Road to the Playoffs,’ ‘Road to the Championship’ and the PFL ‘Best of Season” according to the press release from the PFL.
Breaking: ESPN & ESPN+ now the official home of @ProFightLeague in the 🇺🇸 (via @arielhelwani) pic.twitter.com/YqRSpT3v6y
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) February 25, 2019
More news regarding the 2019 roster and weight classes should be out in the coming weeks but considering the PFL only having one season brought in new investors and a move to a new network, it would seem the format has caught on and feature the events primarily on Thursday nights for the regular season.
With both the UFC and the PFL on ESPN, does this make you want to subscribe to ESPN+?
