How did they botch the fox thing so badly?

[Mcnugget]

in your opinion what went wrong and what could they have done differently?

I feel like there was so much potential but they never made the ufc buzz worthy. Shit I’ll check out anything if enough people are tweeting about it. Whether it be soccer or an award show or whatever. With the ufc on fox fights they just threw anybody on there .


I think they should go to Netflix. Or put the first round of the main event of ppv’s on fox :l

 

[SKITZADACTYL]

botch?

 

[BC]

Never forget

 

[Cold Front]

botch?

It's a word that means "make a mess of".

 

[SKITZADACTYL]

It's a word that means "make a mess of".

i know what botch means, thread title said bitch and TS just changed it.

 

[Otto!]

Never forget

I remember them trying to fill the entire show with replay of that 2 min fight. That’s what they get for putting only one fight on the show.

 

[SuperNerd]

How have you concluded they "botched" this? What would be a success in your mind and how would being on netflix help?

 

[linvillegorge]

They routinely put shit cards on Fox with names that don't draw in the casuals. If I'm Fox, I'm putting a guaranteed McGregor headlined card in the next contract qnd if the UFC doesn't like it they can go fuck themselves and go beg Spike TV to take them back.

 

[tdluxon]

They routinely put shit cards on Fox with names that don't draw in the casuals. If I'm Fox, I'm putting a guaranteed McGregor headlined card in the next contract qnd if the UFC doesn't like it they can go fuck themselves and go beg Spike TV to take them back.

This. They took the strategy of putting mediocre/crappy fights on fox and top fights on ppv, not thinking that if they put some really big fights on fox it could expand their overall fan base, and the $ lost on those free fights would eventually be made back and more by future ad revenue and increased sales of future ppv s

 

[smart.feller]

It started with the first UFC on Fox broadcast, by only putting the Velasquez/Dos Santos fight on, when they had a great card with the potential to showcase high volume/exciting fights like Bendo vs. Clay Guida, and finishes in the three fights prior to that, but instead they gave us a long ass run up to the HW championship fight, getting people fired up, and that fight was finished faster than a teenage boy dry humping in the backseat of his mom's toyota camry after a dinner date at the local pizzeria.

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

I'm not sure we have enough information to know whether or not this was botched.

I think what really has happened is that we've learned that MMA will remain a niche sport for the most part, with very few fighters garnering mainstream attention: Rousey, McGregor, etc. Those fighters will be hated on Sherdog, because they'll never quite deserve the accolades casual fans and media will give them. No FOX deal will turn the UFC into the NBA in terms of popularity.

That said, it might be lucrative for both the UFC and FOX. I guess we'll see whether both sides want to reup.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

what has been botched?

Fox opened negotiations with a number that - although is much lower than WME wants - is higher than they paid last year. and now they're negotiating. and so far that's all we know.

so i'm curious to know more about your argument or opinion, TS. elaborate please.

 

[chitoortiz]

botch?

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

They routinely put shit cards on Fox with names that don't draw in the casuals. If I'm Fox, I'm putting a guaranteed McGregor headlined card in the next contract qnd if the UFC doesn't like it they can go fuck themselves and go beg Spike TV to take them back.

You think Fox would want to pay for a McGregor fight? It's tens of millions extra right there for televised card. Seems like the PPV model still works best for the biggest draws.

 

[Cold Front]

To answer the threadstarter's question, it was a combination of things. The UFC had a bit of bad luck and it put out a bad product.

The bad luck included potentially great fights like Cain versus Velaquez 1 that fell flat because they ended too quickly. Jacare/Brunson 2 had the same kind of outcome. As did Johnson/Bader. Maia/Condit and Gus/Johnson, too.

Everyone likes to see knockouts and submissions, but when they happen in the first round of a much-touted and supposedly competitive fight, they can be deflating to ratings.

And then there was the problem of the bad product. Waterson/VanZant is a headliner? Shevchenko/Pena? Johnson/Reis? Tex/Evans? You're not going to win huge ratings with those kind of headliners.

A change of venue, however, will not help. What difference will Netflix make to the bad luck and bad product?

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

I remember when he botched up Okami.

 

[Cold Front]

You think Fox would want to pay for a McGregor fight?

If they can sell the commercials for it. why not? Some of the biggest sporting events in the world are sold on commercial TV.

 

[chitoortiz]

I remember when he botched up Okami.

Botched up Brad Tavares too.

Also botched up David Heath right into the cage.

 

[Drenalin]

I refuse to pay for cable because I rarely watch tv. So I don't have FS1. I do get fox with my HD antenna. The fox card I watched last Saturday was the first UFC event I've ever watched at home. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope they stay on fox & offer more fights. I won't bitch about those free cards being watered down.

 

[SuperNerd]

Waterson/VanZant is a headliner? ...

2.7 million viewers for that event.