Are MLS (soccer players) better paid than UFC fighters? Salaries inside

[TinoSpezza]

that's cuz UFC takes a chunk of money and then the rest to fighters

franchised sports leagues doesn't really work like that anymore, a lot of NBA teams for example are just breaking even or lose money, but there's revenue sharing to help. Plus the actual value of the franchises are also growing.

on top of that normal sports teams have collective bargaining agreements and player's union, what does UFC have, every fighter have to negotiate themselves

Mostly true, but the MLS seems to have a revenue of 550 million dollars, and growing.
It's certainly peanuts compared to the 12 Billions the NFL makes (mlb 9B, NBA 6B, NHL 3B), but, if I'm not mistaken, it more or less mirrors the revenue the UFC had in some very recent great years (so, not 2017).

Now, the "bigger than soccer" thing is kind of inside joke, but many would at least expected the UFC to be noticeably bigger than the MLS.
You could argue it isn't.

 

[One MMA Fan]

MLS is where former top / good players come to finish their careers way way past their primes just enjoying USA and collecting a pay check.

No one takes MLS seriously it's like D level.

 

[One MMA Fan]

@Myrddin Wild knows i'm right.. post 22 the one right up xD.

 

[NotSoSure]

Are you on mushrooms?

Conor is from Ireland and Aldo is from Brazil. They sold out their show with the second highest recorded gate in UFC history. Two 'foreigners' fighting in the USA. Nobody cares about country of origin in fighting.

Regarding MLS, its far and away the least popular professional sport here. If you showed up at my office tomorrow and offered $10,000 cash if anyone could name a SINGLE professional soccer player in the MLS, no one would win. We have an MLS team nearby and I honestly can't even recall the name of the team.

Americans are obsessed with the NFL and college football.

One huge advantage of sports viewership in america: we care about the game, the combat, not so much who is in it.

One huge disadvantage: we don't get to have those lunatic soccer audiences that chant and sing even if their team is losing.

 

[rjmbrd]

They don't base it off that, would it be fair for Cerrone to Benefit from Conor McGregors draw? No they go by the events not at the end of the year base fighter salaries off the years profits. Like I said the ford dealership does not base a salesman's salary off the Gross profit margin they base it off how many cars he sales. Basically the same thing

Respectfully, you are way off base. The car sales analogy is misguided when considering professional sports.

UFC fighters are not paid relative to their ability to sell a good gate in random cities they book in their 30+ event schedule.

Zuffa makes their money primarily from broadcast rights, and to a lesser and lesser extent, PPV sales. The new deal with Fox, rumored to already be done, should be in the neighborhood of 3-4x the previous deal.

The hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed revenues from broadcast rights is the business model. The only thing the UFC has to charge broadcast fees for are fighters.

MLS sells a lot more tickets than the UFC, likely an order of magnitude more. They lose over 100 million a year, and the UFC makes well over 100 million a year. The reason is people will pay to watch it on television.

 

[bad seed]

this is a packed stadium for an MLS game, in a country that supposedly doesnt care about soccer. Meanwhile, UFC can't even fill tiny venues inside of casinos

"neck and neck"

 

[bad seed]

Man MLB gets no love around here.

because for the most part, MLB has subpar athletes. There are few A-level guys like Cespedes and Puig, but if they were raised in the USA they'd be playing football. Baseball does take a lot more SKILL and technique than most football positions though, and therein lies the difficulty of making the majors. But then again, so does golf, and no one thinks they're elite athletes.

 

[Ube]

Yeah let's go ahead and compare apples to oranges

 

[bad seed]

Yeah let's go ahead and compare apples to oranges

so what should we compare UFC salaries to then if not other 2nd tier sport leagues? We sure as hell cant compare it to NFL, NBA, Premier League, or any other top orgs. UFC actually was bigger than MLS at one point, but MLS's popularity kept growing while UFC stagnated- hence why the wise Fertittas sold at the right time.

 

[Ube]

so what should we compare UFC salaries to then if not other 2nd tier sport leagues?

3rd tier cmon man

 

[Dreaming Dead]

MMA is ugly and violent. A niche sport for us, bloodthirsty savages. It's no surprise there isn't a lot of money around it.

All comparisons with mainstream sports are silly to me. Even with the MLS.

 

[MrWiggles36]

MLS is like Bellator/WSOF

 

[Workaholic]

Not surprising. Soccer players are the most talented athletes on earth, even on a not so traditional football country like the USA.

Kaká for instance is a legit A-level athlete, blessed with god-tier genetics and skills. He could definitely make a UFC title run, if he were so inclined

Kaka is like Erick Silva's better looking more athletic brother. Right down to people thinking they're younger than they are and having a sharp decline seemingly out of nowhere

Two months of training and he'd wash his little bro in the cage inside a round

 

[Workaholic]

MLS is like Bellator/WSOF

Nahhh MLS is like whatever that regional promotion Sage was champion of

 

[BigCharlie_GNP]

The MLS generates 10 x the income of the UFC. Why does this surprise you?

Lawyers, investment bankers, hedge fund managers, C level Corp exects, and many others professions pay more that the UFC. I don't get the point.

 

[rjmbrd]

this is a packed stadium for an MLS game, in a country that supposedly doesnt care about soccer. Meanwhile, UFC can't even fill tiny venues inside of casinos


"neck and neck"

MLS loses hundreds of millions of dollars.

They can't get anyone to watch it on TV, the ratings are atrocious for professional sports. I live in Philadelphia, and we have a professional soccer team - unless I googled it right now, I cannot tell you the name of the team. I have no idea what it is.

If I walk to the center of Philadelphia tomorrow and interview people walking to work on a busy street, I don't think any of those folks will be able to tell you the name of our team either. I don't mean the names of key players, or where the stadium is. I mean they literally don't know the name of the team.

 

[philweed]

Oh God...some knucklehead actually took the time to research this pointless subject that has been done to DEATH.

Who gives a f*ck what another man makes? Mind your own f*cking business. Ya wanna get mad at low salaries in mma? Blame the fighters for signing those one-sided f*cking contracts.

Now let's get back to talking about the fights.

 

[CatchnShoot]

One huge advantage of sports viewership in america: we care about the game, the combat, not so much who is in it.

One huge disadvantage: we don't get to have those lunatic soccer audiences that chant and sing even if their team is losing.

Ridiculous.
US sports viewing is very much star driven.

MLS is like AA ball, I'm shocked that those dudes are getting paid that well.

 

[12ga.]

Oh God...some knucklehead actually took the time to research this pointless subject that has been done to DEATH.

Who gives a f*ck what another man makes? Mind your own f*cking business. Ya wanna get mad at low salaries in mma? Blame the fighters for signing those one-sided f*cking contracts.

Now let's get back to talking about the fights.

Word never understood talking about another mans money. And its not like these fighters give a fuck what you make.

 

[justbetter]

Those guys have to perform 90 minutes a game 30 times a year.

Therefore they get paid for roughly 2700 minutes a year.

So compare the top guy, who got 7 million, for 2700 minutes of work

versus Ronda Rousey who got 3 million for 48 seconds of work