But TKO may be in a different boat, and demurred when those streamers made their pitch for UFC rights. Yes, it obviously helped that David Ellison and Paramount eventually offered a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal for U.S. rights alone—too good for UFC to refuse. But TKO also had confidence that IMG, its portfolio company with deep experience negotiating international deals, could secure significantly more revenue by managing those regional negotiations internally. “Philosophically, the key to global distribution is localization,” said Hillary Mandel, a senior IMG executive, speaking at this week’s IMG x RedBird Summit. “That’s where most properties have seen growth, so it feels more difficult to put your property on one platform to go and cover the world.”

The internationalization of the U.S. sports economy was very much the topic du jour at the IMG x RedBird Summit in the Cotswolds. Perhaps it’s because executives were marooned in the English countryside, or maybe it was on account of the fact that F1, the internationalist racing series, is finally closing in on its Apple TV+ deal. Either way, days of panels and fireside chats revealed that various companies in the ecosystem are considering the opportunities through competing perspectives.

Indeed, as the sports media market balkanizes, executives are quick to point out that there are many royal roads—and each league and platform often has a slightly different priority based on their business model. Justin Connolly, YouTube’s global head of media and sports, made the case that properties without IMG’s international sales experience would be more likely to pursue a global strategy with a U.S.-based streamer. Of course, he was talking his own book (it’s a conference, people!), but various trend lines do point in that direction, particularly when looking a decade out. At that point, though, the question will be whether the world’s largest streamers are willing to pay more than the legacy companies that view sports as an existential programming issue. “That’s a decision that the rights-holder ultimately has to make. But if they wanted to turn on a global rights solution, there are ways to do that today that didn’t exist 10 years ago,” he said.

The market for U.S. sports rights has become so mature that it drives the business abroad. WME Group and TKO president Mark Shapiro, Mandel’s big boss, pointed to the growth of the English Premier League, which NBC has through the 2027-28 season. (U.S. mediacos are already eyeing the renewal…) NBC’s EPL coverage boosted the growth of other soccer events, like the Euros and World Cup. Would it make sense for one media company to hoover up all these rights? Domestically? Internationally? As my partner Julia Alexander has pointed out ceaselessly, each mediaco has its own objective—tonnage versus events; churn alleviation versus advertising—and the result is that the viewing experience reflects the splinterization of the rights marketplace. But, whatever, the money is flowing all around, at least for now. “Having said that, we have a billion TKO fans, and the majority of those fans are outside the U.S. The majority of our economics are in the U.S., but outside is where our superfandom is,” Shapiro said, clearly comfortable in his decision to take a guaranteed domestic check and hunt for foreign dowries.

WWE president Nick Khan highlighted the potential for growth in international markets, noting that when he learned Salt Lake City was paying TKO around $3 million to host an event, he realized WWE was leaving money on the table. (Khan also works for Shapiro.) “I looked at our current WrestleMania deal, and we were getting around $150,000 for WrestleMania, and what I call ‘posters around the city’—otherwise known as value-in-kind,” Khan said. “So we got an economic impact report, and got into the subsidy business.”

Since then, WWE has held events in Cardiff, Wales; London; and Paris, with Italy on deck for next year, and then Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for WrestleMania in 2027. But scheduling remains a hurdle because of the discrepancies with all the different time zones. “The bottom line is you’re never going to get a time zone that works for everybody,” Shapiro said. “One of my biggest mistakes at ESPN, when we first got the NBA [China], was convincing David Stern and Adam Silver that we had to move the NBA Finals earlier. The 9:06 p.m. starts were killing us. … We went back to 8:30, and we got pummeled in the ratings. When you start talking about events being global in nature, it just gets even harder on the time zones. But you have to adjust.”

On cord-cutting: “I’m 43 and grew up on Long Island with only an antenna on the roof of my parents’ house. I didn’t have cable until my college dorm room. So in my lifetime, I’ve watched sports via antenna exclusively, then cable exclusively, then satellite exclusively, then cable again, and now streaming exclusively (just canceled YouTube TV in favor of stand-alone apps). I watched Giants–Cowboys this weekend like I have since I was a child, but I did it on Fox One. I think keeping sports on broadcast ensures both reach and youth, as it allows it to be delivered by all three methods (broadcast, cable/satellite, apps) and get the most eyeballs possible.” —A Varsity subscriber

On Man United’s financial woes: “I think the Glazers care about the club, but this isn’t the NFL, where the draft can save you. They bled the asset dry, appointed non-football admin people to run the football side of things, and let the infrastructure age badly, something Sir Jim Ratcliffe is hoping to address. Still, United remains the biggest name in town. Turn on any sports channel, read any news, listen to the radio or podcasts—incredible amounts of time and negativity are spent on the club. The Cowboys comparison always feels lazy to me, as Jerry Jones courts publicity more aggressively, and the Glazers hate the attention (one of the reasons they were happy for the investment). I am stunned there was not more interest in the club, because the path to a $10 billion valuation is there and can be achieved sustainably with the right plan, and it’s still one of the crown jewels in the sporting world.” —A British Varsity subscriber

On Jimmy Kimmel: “What has happened to Bob Iger?” —A journalist

Have a great weekend. See you Monday.

John