Are the UFC gearing up to drop PPV's?

[ApplesVild]

With the ESPN deal it seems like they're more interested in just making good fan friendly cards each week. With the PPV now being booked through the ESPN app and the buys being the lowest ever it's getting harder to tell the difference between an ESPN card and a PPV card, the only difference seems to be that someone with a title will be at the top of the line up on a PPV, below that you just get some good fights wether it's PPV or ESPN.

Does the UFC need PPV any more? Is that what they are trying to find out? The viewing figures for UFC on ESPN must be good, the advertisement dollars too, and all of that will only grow in ESPN as more people start to see these great fights we've been having lately.

If they don't drop PPV altogether maybe they could limit it to a few a year that are really stacked, like the fans have been saying for years. The Jones/Santos PPV is PPV worthy... But even though the Rose/Andrade was great and had good fights, was it worth the same amount you're paying Jones/Santos? I don't think so.

 

[SpoonDogg]

UFC care more about their pockets than the fans. So nope.

 

[Hotora86]

 

[boxingskills]

 

[Fahcough]

UFC is getting ready to drop.

Coulda ended it there. They are making some ignorant business decisions.

 

[Obitronix]

If they included everything like DAZN, they'd do very well with subscriptions. ESPN+ offers a lot of nice content, so including PPV would probably cost more. How about $15 for it all. Non-subscribers can pay $10 for PPV. Business is business. In an ideal world, we'd get all cards for $10 a month.

 

[NoSmilez]

PPV isn't as lucrative as it seems for the UFC. For Boxing, the distributor(Showtime/HBO) takes 10 percent but also handles the documentaries, Cable companies take 50 percent and promotion takes the rest. There is a reason UFC pays peanuts under the boxing PPV model vs two boxers who split the profit given by the promotion. It also changes when one of the boxers might have their own promotion that carries the event.

This whole thing changes when ESPN guarantees a constant payrate for the content and extra if it exceeds a certain number of PPVs. UFC might not sell as much all together but they get to keep more profit and ESPN will do the promoting for them. ESPN doesn't care if it loses money on this deal since it maintains the monopoly on sports coverage except for the NHL.

 

[Mike]

They might as well. Most of their fanbase dropped them a few years ago.

 

[Erratic]

Stop spamming that crap.

You showed a top champion boxer vs some bum. Would you also spam clips of Stipe KO'ing some hotdog stand owner? Ofcourse not.

Look at Brezeales footwork before he is KO'd, takes two steps and practically stationary. Super bum.

 

[Jerome Johnson]

Stop spamming that crap.

You showed a top champion boxer vs some bum. Would you also spam clips of Stipe KO'ing some hotdog stand owner? Ofcourse not.

Look at Brezeales footwork before he is KO'd, takes two steps and practically stationary. Super bum.

I was wondering why I never heard of the guy, outta no where title shot.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Depends on how long ESPN is willing to lose millions of dollars on every PPV they've guaranteed

 

[Bones245n4847]

Stop spamming that crap.

You showed a top champion boxer vs some bum. Would you also spam clips of Stipe KO'ing some hotdog stand owner? Ofcourse not.

Look at Brezeales footwork before he is KO'd, takes two steps and practically stationary. Super bum.

Breazeale was an olympic boxer, with only 1 loss to Anthony Joshua. He's slow but he's atleast a higher level HW boxer than most out there.

 

[SuBB]

I missed the JTv days where people use to broadcast ufc 1-100 etc and all week we d watch and recognise fighters,, now days it all feels like its underground and most new fighters go unrecognised,, UFC is dying

 

[Erratic]

I was wondering why I never heard of the guy, outta no where title shot.

Boxing is full of complete cans vs Champs while other 'champs' of the same weightclass, in this case heavyweight.. all duck each other. It is so insanely corrupt. Then when two heavyweight champs finally fight, one clearly out boxes the other, 87% of fans on this site and many other sites voted one beat the other, but yet, it is a 'draw'... so shady.. shit like that keeps happening in boxing. Same with Canelo vs GGG, 85%+ of people in the public voted that GGG won.. 'draw' because two champs.

If boxing was like the UFC, the heavyweight champs would have fought ages ago.

 

[Yacob]

I was wondering why I never heard of the guy, outta no where title shot.

You not hearing about Breazeale is more of a you not knowing current boxing issue than a Dominic Breazeale issue.

 

[grimballer]

The problem is they probably waited too long to make that move n a lot of ppl simply moved on don’t follow the sport as closely.

Personally I would’ve bought some type of ufc channel like “wwe network” where everything is included few years ago.

Doubt I would do it today.

If there’s free ufc on tv I’ll watch, otherwise I just go on wiki n see the results

 

[Erratic]

Breazeale was an olympic boxer, with only 1 loss to Anthony Joshua. He's slow but he's atleast a higher level HW boxer than most out there.

True, but my eyes don't lie. He is slow and low skilled. Looks like some random top 20 bum in my opinion. I already knew he would get KO'd easily by both of them.

Let me put it this way though man.. a couple people who don't watch boxing, watched Breazeale move around for 30 seconds, and literally said 'this guy is so shit, doesn't even move around properly, looks slow and hittable' and then boom, KO'd.

 

[vgff]

With the ESPN deal it seems like they're more interested in just making good fan friendly cards each week. With the PPV now being booked through the ESPN app and the buys being the lowest ever it's getting harder to tell the difference between an ESPN card and a PPV card, the only difference seems to be that someone with a title will be at the top of the line up on a PPV, below that you just get some good fights wether it's PPV or ESPN.

Does the UFC need PPV any more? Is that what they are trying to find out? The viewing figures for UFC on ESPN must be good, the advertisement dollars too, and all of that will only grow in ESPN as more people start to see these great fights we've been having lately.

If they don't drop PPV altogether maybe they could limit it to a few a year that are really stacked, like the fans have been saying for years. The Jones/Santos PPV is PPV worthy... But even though the Rose/Andrade was great and had good fights, was it worth the same amount you're paying Jones/Santos? I don't think so.

the new owners Endevaour/WME is probably trying to shift more towards more stable predictable income, which is TV deals globally and many smaller fight cards. because if WME actually plan on going public, investors would prefer to see a certain base of stable income. PPVs, if they even continue, will be the potential cherry on the cake. TV deals have already surpassed PPVs as UFCs biggest revenue

 

[Franklin U.]

Awhile ago, Dana White had mentioned that eventually in the grand scheme of things , was to do away with ppvs. Hes now associated with the largest sports channel in the world so I wonder what model would take over if this came to fruition.

 

[COBRA03]

I used to buy most PPV;s when I could watch it on cable, but since they changed to this streaming method I have not bought one. I have watched other fights on ESPN+ and sometimes it will stop streaming for a time and I miss things. It is aggravating when it's free, it would be infuriating if it does that when I have friends over and am paying $60! Also it is a hassle to run a cable from your computer to the back of your TV set. I don't like this at all.