Fox Nation is getting into the ring as the exclusive broadcast partner for Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Chad Bronstein’s “Real American Freestyle,” which aims to bring amateur-style wrestling to the mainstream.
The streamer will air the inaugural match-up, RAF01, on Aug. 30 at Cleveland’s Wolstein Center and has secured the rights to a second event taking placing this fall, with a venue to be announced at a later date.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the Real American Freestyle team as they build a visionary brand that redefines the future of wrestling,” Fox Nation president Lauren Petterson said in a Monday statement. “Fusing elite athleticism with unmatched entertainment, it’s an honor to be part of the new era of the world’s oldest and most iconic sport.”
The first matches for RAF01 will include Bo Nickal vs. Jacob Cardenas, Yianni Diakomihalis vs. Bajrang Punia, Darrion Caldwell vs. Real Woods, Austin Gomez vs. Lance Palmer, Kennedy Blades vs. Alejandra Rivera and Sarah Hildebrandt vs. Zeltzin Hernandez. Additional matches are in development, including a featured main card bout.
“Real American Freestyle is creating something that’s never been done before, and we needed a partner that understood that and could build with us,” league commissioner Hogan added. “Fox Nation is synergistic with our brand, they appreciate the importance of bringing this sport to the masses, and they believe in our goal.”
“Fox Nation immediately understood the vision we had for Real American Freestyle, making them the perfect partner for this historic media rights deal and the first of its kind in the sport,” Bischoff, who serves as chief media officer, continued. “Having the right broadcast partner is critical to putting on a good show for the fans and we are thrilled to be working with Fox.”
This now marks Fox Nation’s second live event partnership after striking a deal with Professional Bull Riders earlier this month.
RAF, which is a collaboration with the UFC, USA Wrestling, NIL organizations and the NCAA, allows athletes ranging from emerging talents to established stars to compete regardless of status.
The league recently welcomed wrestler and Olympian Kurt Angle, former MMA champion and renowned broadcast analyst Chael Sonnen and MMA world champion Bubba Jenkins as live event commentators to provide expert analysis during RAF01. Proceeds for each ticket sold will go to Cleveland State University.
“Our goal in creating Real American Freestyle was to make historical moves to professionalize the sport of wrestling,” Bronstein, RAF’s co-founder and CEO, said. “This partnership with Fox Nation will create a platform the athletes deserve and bring freestyle wrestling to our fans at home.”
Real American Freestyle joins the Fox Nation lineup, which includes more than 10,000 hours of content, from lifestyle and entertainment to historical documentaries. Launched in 2018 as a complement to Fox News Channel, the $7.99 per month streaming service has grown to between 2 million to 2.5 million subscribers as of March.
In addition to Fox Nation, the media giant plans to launch Fox One, a streaming service that combines its news and sports programming, ahead of football season this fall. Pricing, which has not been announced, will align with the wholesale value of Fox’s channels, executives have said, with the offering aimed at 50 million households outside of the cable bundle.
When asked about scale expectations for the new streaming service, Fox chief operating officer Steve Tomsic said that it would likely fall somewhere near the 5 million over five years previously forecasted for Venu Sports, a joint venture with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery that was scrapped. He added that the new packaging for Fox programming would be appealing for “distributors trying to modernize and get more progressive in terms of how they bundle networks and SVOD services.”
Additionally, Fox offers Tubi, a free, ad-supported streaming service that has surpassed 100 million monthly active users and accounted for 2.2% of total TV viewership for the streaming category in June, per Nielsen. The streaming category made up 46% of total TV viewership, while broadcast fell below 20% for the first time and cable was flat at 23.4%.
