Dana White wants to bring the UFC to the global market like the NFL, and he thinks one factor can help him through it. The in-person stadium experience is something which can set them apart.
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“As a fan, the television product of the NFL is incredible,” Dana White said on the Nightcap. “Every game is on TV on Sunday, when nobody has anything to do. You’re lying around, and you’re flipping to games that you don’t even care about. But, you know, it’s a great television product.
“I don’t share the same view on the live product. When I go to a game, traffic is crazy. You get there, and it’s kind of weird because half the field has the sun on it, and the other half doesn’t. If you want to use the bathroom, it’s a nightmare. It’s not a great live experience, in my opinion.”
The first NFL regular-season game in Australia between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams is a perfect example. The NFL field was much farther away from the stands than it normally is at an NFL stadium, as it was set in the middle of the circular Melbourne Cricket Ground. The latter sport is always played in those dimensions and requires the entire field to be utilized.
According to sports reporter Arash Markazi, the first row at the MCG was more than three times farther from the field than the first row at most NFL stadiums.
But live game experiences are not great if one is in the bad parts of the stadium. Views can be obstructed (like in the brand-new, $2.2 billion Highmark Stadium), fans are subjected to harsh weather if the stadium is not domed, and the lines to restrooms and concession stands can get very long. Fans come to these venues having spent quite a lot, but they have to sacrifice their comfort for the experience.
At home, they can just sit back and relax with their choice of snacks by their side, with perfect camera views capturing the game for them.
During the 2011 Super Bowl at Cowboys Stadium, some fans could not sit in the seats they had paid for because temporary seats were not ready. Around 850 fans had to be moved to different seats, while about 400 others received refunds. Some fans were even offered monitors to watch the game instead.
The issues are there, but what means more to fans is loyalty. In 2024, about 69,555 fans attended each game on average, while the cheapest available tickets cost around $132. The numbers dropped in 2025 to 69,055. This is the lowest the average has gone since the NFL resumed live attendance after the pandemic in 2021.
Is the difficulty of catching a live game now bearing down on the league?
On the other hand, UFC and Dana White have capitalized on the league’s popularity and secured a $ billion deal with Paramount. Paramount+ will now show all 13 major UFC events and 30 Fight Nights, while some big events will also air on CBS.
But the competition won’t be that easy. NFL clearly dominates the US market. In 2025, each regular-season game averaged 18.7 million viewers, up 10% from 2024. As per S&P Global, in 2024, NFL games made up 72 of the 100 most-watched television programs in the U.S, averaging 17.5 million viewers per regular-season game.
Beating the NFL on TV is nearly impossible. Sunday Night Football averaged 23.5 million viewers, CBS hauled in 21.25 million, while Monday Night Football posted 15.8 million, according to S&P Global reports.
But Dana White believes UFC offers some advantages that the NFL doesn’t.
“Fighting works everywhere, and everybody gets it,” he said. “And what I’ve proven over the last 25 years, for example, boxing in the old days, you had to have Vegas or Atlantic City, because that’s where all the money was, right? … I was in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago with a Russian Muslim and an Irish kid as the main event. We broke the record at the arena.”
The UFC held a standout event in Washington DC this year, called UFC Freedom 250. The event saw 34 million viewers across the globe, which is a commendable feat.
Even though the sport is not as big as American Football, UFC has a bigger international appeal than the NFL. That is one area the latter league is still trying to work out.