Talpa pulls plug on PPV card, other events during pandemic.
The UFC has come under heavy fire for its decision to push forward with UFC 249 in just over a week’s time. While the coronavirus has shut down nearly all of professional sports, the fight card is just about the only event planned across the entire globe at the moment (in professional wrestling, both the WWE and AEW have pre-recorded material set to air in the coming weeks). Now, one of the UFC’s broadcast partners has officially opted not to support the promotion.
Dutch broadcaster Talpa will not air the PPV card, or any other UFC event that should transpire during the coronavirus pandemic. MMADNA.nl was first to report the news. Per their report, Talpa did not feel it was ethical to air live events during a lockdown.
Severe MMA’s Andy Stevenson later obtained a statement from Talpa. In it, an official from the broadcaster wrote that “In consequence of the coronavirus and the measures of the RIVM, we have adjusted the programming of SBS6, Net5, Veronica and SBS9. We are temporarily not broadcasting any live sports events on our channels due to the current health measures and the cancellation of live sports events all over the world. We do not think the live UFC matches are a good fit within this custom programming. This is why we have also decided not to broadcast them.”
The RIVM is the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (in Dutch, Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu). The institute has issued guidelines for the nation that include only venturing outside when absolutely necessary, and limiting guests to one’s home to no more than three. They have also set in place a requirement to maintain a distance of 1.5m between others; groups of more than two people who do not practice social distancing are subject to a fine.
Over 95,000 deaths have resulted from the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Total infections globally have surpassed 1.5 million, while over 1,700 deaths were reported in the U.S. alone today.
UFC 249 is set to air on April 18, reportedly on tribal land in California.
