Media Dana White Doesn't Love the $10 PPV Price Increase

[Deleted member 110072]

Okay. Cool.
Maybe ESPN will get sick of the UFC and sell it to the right people.

Really the Fertitta's bought the UFC because they saw the potential to grow a sport with relatively low pay, after the boom I think they ran it like a cash cow and then sold up when issues with lack of investment in talent started to become clearer.

Most of the money from the years they were involved went straight into their pockets(or rather the banks pockets to pay for their casino invest debt post 2008), didnt go back into the sport.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Dana says neither he nor the UFC are responsible for to PPV price increase. I know Uncle Dana fibs fairly frequently, but his explanation sounds plausible.

"According to UFC president Dana White, the promotion has no input in the price of its premium events since it gave pay-per-view rights to ESPN as part of its broadcast deal.

“We don’t have any say in that,” White said at the UFC on ESPN 32 post-fight press conference. “We gave the pay-per-views to ESPN, so that’s their decision.

“You know how I feel about that stuff. I don’t love when prices get raised, but it’s not my decision, it’s their’s.”

https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/D...ew-Price-Increase-Thats-ESPNs-Decision-184183

I have a very good BS-detector in regards to Dana, and if he actually wanted to raise the profits through price increases he'd both raise PPV prices and ticket prices.

Has there been any word of ticket prices going up?

That's an open question. If anyone could give a link to prices rising please post a link.

Until that's confirmed I'm betting Dana is being conveniently truthful in this circumstance.

 

[Credo]

Snowydriveway.jpeg

 

[NationWideNinja]

Wait Dana isn’t responsible for every decision the UFC makes? From PPV prices, to title shots, to decorations in the UFC HQ toilets?

 

[BigDanStudd]

Dana says neither he nor the UFC are responsible for to PPV price increase. I know Uncle Dana fibs fairly frequently, but his explanation sounds plausible.

"According to UFC president Dana White, the promotion has no input in the price of its premium events since it gave pay-per-view rights to ESPN as part of its broadcast deal.

“We don’t have any say in that,” White said at the UFC on ESPN 32 post-fight press conference. “We gave the pay-per-views to ESPN, so that’s their decision.

“You know how I feel about that stuff. I don’t love when prices get raised, but it’s not my decision, it’s their’s.”

https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/D...ew-Price-Increase-Thats-ESPNs-Decision-184183

Typical Dana, throwing everyone under the bus. Great guy to do business with

 

[Dana's Moonface]

 

[Vespasian70AD]

I’m inclined to believe him. But I think it’s less a case of him telling ESPN “We have the best fans in the world. It’s not fair on them to keep raising it”.

And more a case of him telling ESPN “Everytime you put the prices up, more and more of these fucking goofs are just going to stream it”.

 

[ILIKEROCKHOLD]

It’s true but still screw you dana

 

[hitcher]

Such a retarded argument. Contracts were signed between both parties, and ppv prices autonomy according to him was given away. That alone should tell you all you need to know how he feels about it. He simply does not give a fuck now as he did not give a fuck when the contracts were signed.

 

[NationWideNinja]

Still cant believe that they ask 75 bucks for 2/3 hours worth of entertainment that might turn out to be boring and not entertaining at all. That price is beyond insane.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

Dana is a compulsive liar, so its impossible for me to believe a word of what he is saying

 

[IDGETKTFO]

I remember fights use to be $39.99 and $10 extra for HD.

Dont forget also on CableTV and DirectTV and Dish Network. Not this garbage ESPN+

 

[aldeniro78]

People have been paying $65 for UFC?

 

[podsox]

The price increases indicate to me espn isn’t happy with the sales and looking to recoup some losses as from my understanding they are paying UFC for 500k buys every Ppv. Hopefully when the current deal expires both ESPN and UFC will finally learn the ppv model is outdated trash. 3 hours of television is not worth $75.

I think the opposite. They had a great year selling ppvs and they see what top rank is charging. Like any large business greed always takes over. Hope it backfires

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Dana’s actually pretty far down the totem pole these days with WME, shareholders, investors, ESPN, and Disney.

 

[kflo]

I think the opposite. They had a great year selling ppvs and they see what top rank is charging. Like any large business greed always takes over. Hope it backfires

The fertitta’s were equally as greedy and arguably moreso as they had far more power to change dynamics and they didn’t. They ratcheted it up to max sale price.

 

[ocfightfan]

I'm sure he hates it

 

[cws80us]

The price increases indicate to me espn isn’t happy with the sales and looking to recoup some losses as from my understanding they are paying UFC for 500k buys every Ppv. Hopefully when the current deal expires both ESPN and UFC will finally learn the ppv model is outdated trash. 3 hours of television is not worth $75.

Yes, it's my understanding that ESPN pays UFC a flat fee for each ppv regardless of the number of buys. So, it's pretty much a hedge against the low selling cards. ESPN apparently thinks raising the price will make them more money but it could backfire and lead to fewer buys. Some people may just decide they aren't going to pay that much.

 

[EYEKICKFACES]

I just found out in the US it was actually $70 USD for UFC 269 and prior.

I think sales numbers dropped for ESPN because viewers have to have their app to be able to order, and that's why the price increase is only on the ESPN app which we don't use in Canada anyway.

They could also be trying to make up for the lost revenue from the live gate. Of course, I have no evidence to support this though.

 

[GORO]

It his idea fuck liar