News How is anyone not talking about the UFC Antitrust lawsuit?

[Kryptt]

So we will know more in what 6-8 years?

 

[Dreyga Hates You Sherbums]

Anyone surprised that the two biggest shills on this site, @Dreyga2000 @kflo , have been all over this thread from the first few pages?

What makes you say I’m a shill?

I believe I have been pretty fair about representing the merits of deficits various perspectives.

I’m trying to be neutral and stick with the facts.

I believe both sides of the case have presented compelling arguments. And I have neither disparaged either the fighters or the company.

I think it’s possible to have nuanced conversations about this topic with resorting to name calling.

If you have disagreements. Line them out and I will politely address them.

 

[dragonsfly]

The new admin will give the W to the otherside unless Dans contacts Biden quickly to get him on his side since Trump is gone

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

I’m aware of that obviously. The point is the ufc can’t be compared to an entire sports league.

You're right. It cant.

In a sports league you have different teams and ownership groups that compete for the best players. In the NFL, if the Cowboys don't want to pay a top receiver more money, then maybe the Seahawks will. That intra-league competition for players gives the players some leverage.

In the UFC, the ownership group is monolithic as far as the fighters are concerned. It is them against the whole org, and they have negligible leverage.

A fighter's union or some sort of professional association makes sense, otherwise some sort of external government intervention will ultimately be needed.

 

[Dreyga Hates You Sherbums]

If they settle it soon, it could be "over" as soon as a month from now. But the settlement process takes a while with class actions. They'd need to mail checks to all the fighters etc and that would take a year or two to finish.

If the case proceeds to trial (in theory) it would probably take two more years. But class actions almost never, ever, ever go to trial. So this will probably settle in the next year or so if I had to guess.

Thank you again, sir. This brief insight has been helpful

 

[kflo]

You're right. It cant.

In a sports league you have different teams and ownership groups that compete for the best players. In the NFL, if the Cowboys don't want to pay a top receiver more money, then maybe the Seahawks will. That intra-league competition for players gives the players some leverage.

In the UFC, the ownership group is monolithic as far as the fighters are concerned. It is them against the whole org, and they have negligible leverage.

A fighter's union or some sort of professional association makes sense, otherwise some sort of external government intervention will ultimately be needed.

fans are complicit by not following fighters who go to other orgs or come up through other orgs and by stealing content
fighters are complicit by not insisting on signing elsewhere

many fans complain that they sign fighters who are no better or worse than fighters in other orgs yet insist they have to be paid much more than those other fighters. they don't want to watch them, but they are underpaid.

if the fighters were the only product, we wouldn't care the delivery system of that product. we do.

i'm sure i'll get flamed by many for this but this is part of the reality of a complex topic.

until fans are willing to put themselves into the mindset of the company, they'll never appreciate how to address the why's of the situation.

with a union, fighters have to be willing to strike, and they have to have realistic asks relative to the financial targets of the company.

golfers and tennis players have an association and their majors still pay out 15% or so of revenue to the players.

 

[johndhi]

pretty sure they can't unilaterally decide the ali act applies to mma or them though.

Why not? Anyone can decide any law applies to anyone if they want. Ufc could make a promise to the court to do anything.

 

[johndhi]

A judge said it's OK for a bunch of ex UFC independent contractors to sue them. Now UFC will make their move. This will go on for years and probably amount to nothing.

Not true. As I noted before I used to be a class action lawyer. It's 95% likely at this point to amount to something. Small chance judge changes his mind and de certifies the class. But generally once a class is certified, the plaintiff has basically won.

 

[kflo]

Why not? Anyone can decide any law applies to anyone if they want. Ufc could make a promise to the court to do anything.

alot of the language in the ali act refers to sanctioning organizations that don't exist.

i agree that the ufc can electively choose to adhere to some of the language in the ali act. but if they don't adhere to it, it's not illegal.

 

[dc007]

Not true. As I noted before I used to be a class action lawyer. It's 95% likely at this point to amount to something. Small chance judge changes his mind and de certifies the class. But generally once a class is certified, the plaintiff has basically won.

What I mean is it wont amount to much for the individual fighters even if they win. No one is going to get what they feel they deserve.

 

[kflo]

Not true. As I noted before I used to be a class action lawyer. It's 95% likely at this point to amount to something. Small chance judge changes his mind and de certifies the class. But generally once a class is certified, the plaintiff has basically won.

the plaintiff's lawyers have won. they will likely get some return on their investment into the case.

but there is still a very wide range between what the plaintiffs are asking for and what they may be willing to ultimately settle for.

 

[Do The Evolution]

There really isn’t anything to talk about yet. UFC is going to appeal. That’s gonna take months/years.

If the class holds up after that then shit gets real

Agreed. There can't be any preliminaries into the merits, right? Is the question of whether it's a class action considered prejudicial to the determination of the merits of the cause of action?

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

fans are complicit by not following fighters who go to other orgs or come up through other orgs and by stealing content
fighters are complicit by not insisting on signing elsewhere

many fans complain that they sign fighters who are no better or worse than fighters in other orgs yet insist they have to be paid much more than those other fighters. they don't want to watch them, but they are underpaid.

if the fighters were the only product, we wouldn't care the delivery system of that product. we do.

i'm sure i'll get flamed by many for this but this is part of the reality of a complex topic.

until fans are willing to put themselves into the mindset of the company, they'll never appreciate how to address the why's of the situation.

with a union, fighters have to be willing to strike, and they have to have realistic asks relative to the financial targets of the company.

golfers and tennis players have an association and their majors still pay out 15% or so of revenue to the players.

Nah, fans aren't complicit. That's an attempt to guilt trip people into liking second rate MMA orgs like Bellator.

 

[careto]

There really isn’t anything to talk about yet. UFC is going to appeal. That’s gonna take months/years.

If the class holds up after that then shit gets real

If the judge had denied the class action then the UFC would be in the clear to continue with their practices. I agree its going to take a couple of years, perhaps by 2023-2024 for this to reach a conclusion but the fact the judge certified the class action is huge news, it means the UFC will be in the middle of a shit-storm in the years to come. Or maybe they will settle out of court, which I doubt, but it means the UFC will be spending a lot of money to battle this lawsuits.

 

[careto]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/10/sports/ufc-lawsuit.html#click=https://t.co/eMt8VW9NBU

"If the U.F.C.’s expected appeal of class certification fails, and the judge doesn’t grant summary judgment, the U.F.C. will be highly motivated to settle the case..."

"It will be too risky to go to trial,” he said in an email, “the $5B would hang over their head like the Sword of Damocles.”

A few cliff notes of the article, this could potentially cripple the UFC in the coming years. Settling a $5B lawsuit is no joke, but more than anything of structural changes come due to the lawsuit then the fighter contracts will be less constricting and we could potentially see some cross promotion fights.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/10/sports/ufc-lawsuit.html#click=https://t.co/eMt8VW9NBU

"If the U.F.C.’s expected appeal of class certification fails, and the judge doesn’t grant summary judgment, the U.F.C. will be highly motivated to settle the case..."

"It will be too risky to go to trial,” he said in an email, “the $5B would hang over their head like the Sword of Damocles.”

A few cliff notes of the article, this could potentially cripple the UFC in the coming years. Settling a $5B lawsuit is no joke, but more than anything of structural changes come due to the lawsuit then the fighter contracts will be less constricting and we could potentially see some cross promotion fights.

It's catch 22 really. If they can't hold fighters to exclusive contracts and see less point in building stars, then we'll probably move into an era where fight cards have 5-6 fights on them and no prelims.

 

[Willy Knuckles]

You are spot on with all your points but most guys but your fighting an uphill battle. Sherbros don’t care about actually being informed or listening to reason. You’re wasting your time here

Lol yeah he's spot on. By saying we cant compare UFC to other leagues yet he's the only one bringing up other leagues lmao

 

[Willy Knuckles]

Please enlighten me. How long do you believe it will that?

At most till the end of the year. The only way it goes on longer than that is if the UFC goes to trial which is unlikely considering how much they could end up having to pay out

 

[careto]

It's catch 22 really. If they can't hold fighters to exclusive contracts and see less point in building stars, then we'll probably move into an era where fight cards have 5-6 fights on them and no prelims.

Yes, it could have unintended consequences. Right now the idea is for the fighters to have less restrictive, one-sided contracts, on top of a big payout for the plantiffs. However, it could turn into a shitshow, too. Not trying to turn this into a political debate or anything but the political trend right now favors the plantiffs and the supreme court will likely side with them.

 

[Prologue]