Grab a pencil and paper: I'm about to teach you what the Reebok deal is really about.

Despite all of the controversy that has surrounded the UFC's partnership with Reebok, Dana White has remained confident in the UFC's decision to make Reebok the face of MMA sponsorship.

The two main selling points that Dana used for convincing the fighters and public about the awesomeness of this deal are 1)All fighters are now guaranteed some degree of sponsorship and this is especially good for obscure fighters who will no longer have to scramble to find sponsorships. And 2) All of the money Reebok will dispense with will go directly to the fighters. Dana, Lorenzo and the other Big wigs "won't get a dime".

Ok Cool.

Now I will tell you what's really happening: Dana is both lying and telling the truth.

As most of you know, before this Reebok deal, the UFC had a sponsorship tax. If Dana and the rest of the bosses really cared about ensuring low-level fighters didn't have to fight like hell to get sponsors, they would have eliminated this tax. The fact that the UFC demanded that sponsors pay them before sponsoring a fighter ensured that sponsors would be selective about which fighters to give sponsorships too. In the end low-ranked and unpopular fighters suffered. Despite this obvious fact, the tax continued until the very end of the old sponsorship system.

So do you really think Dana won't "make a dime" from the new deal? Do you really think "all the money goes to the fighters"? Do you really think the UFC dismantled an old system that made them millions every year for a new system that makes them nothing? Of course you don't because you're not as stupid as Dana thinks you are.

So what's really going on?

The UFC/Dana/Lorenzo/Frank etc. are being compensated indirectly! It's all semantics! Dana isn't making money "from" the deal he's making money "because" of the deal. Every dollar related to the specific contract between the UFC and Reebok will almost certainly go to the fighters. But that doesn't mean Dana and company aren't being paid. No one is that stupid to believe that. Dana and Company likely have a separate contract worth millions and much more than what they were making under the old sponsorship system. They are probably paid to have phony titles like "consultant" and "advisor". Dana is probably given some useless position as advisor to the MMA department of Reebok. And so forth and so on. Point is, they got paid!

In summary: The UFC struck a deal with Reebok not out of concern for poor fighters who couldn't get a sponsorship (or else they would have squashed their old system long ago). They struck a deal because Reebok indirectly paid the bosses more money they could have made taxing the individual sponsors of the fighters.

 

TLDR, but it's about making it look like a legit sport for investors so Zuffa can sell out and make a nice profit.

 

They are getting paid indirectly.

 

Show us the books or STFU

 

A business is trying to make money - shocker! The real issue is the amount that was put in - 70 million for all the fighters is blasphemy. They need to multiply that number by 4 or 5x to make the fighters happy. Dana and the UFC will always look to make money that's what they do and that's what makes successful business. The idea of having 1 brand to legitamize everything like the all of the other pro sports in America makes sense. It needs to grow with time and a lot more $$$

 

Average Rant. But why precisely did I need this pencil and paper?

 

I agree...and reebok won't make a dime out of this "awesome" "amazing" kits...$95 / ea. I'm sure it's selling like pancakes right now...

 

I'm sure they're making some money off of this deal, but that's not why they did it.

The truth is that letting all the fighters brand themselves on the UFC's stage was likely a facilitation nightmare. For every single fighter on every card they had to make sure nobodies wearing anything that would conflict with the UFC's built in sponsors or be in poor taste for a live PPV broadcast.

In the end getting UFC branding unified under a respectable, known sponsor like Reebok is a move to create an atmosphere of legitimacy. In the future this will likely create more opportunities for the UFC and it's fighters, but they're doing this at the expense of their current roster, which is low of them.

 

What a waste of keyboard lol

 

you almost got me shill...

 

This is news to nobody.

 

You could just STFU regardless. Would probably be a good thing in general.

 

kg2.gif

 

I'll be sure to tell Reebok that their status as a large, well-known apparel and equipment brand was revoked because you don't like them.

 

yup. and we all figured reebok had specific terms for the org and specific terms for the fighters.

 

okay buddy

 

What if I don't have a pencil and paper?

 

The biggest problem with the Reebok deal is that Dana and Co didn't get enough money from Reebok. The didn't fight hard enough for the fighters b/c they don't really care that much about most of them.