Illegal streams of UFC PPVs potentially costing fighters millions in payouts per PPV

[Myrddin Wild]

It's curious why they've never really cracked down on it. Would be simple enough to hire a talented Sherdogger to send a list to them each week that they can shut-down.

I think there might be something to it though in regard to having that expanded fan base, that gets teh buzz going on teh streets. So you lose a bit here to pirates who are stoked & excite their richer friendz who then buy teh PPV & become fans.

I dunno... that's just my theory... but it's very obvious that they could crack down if they wanted to.

 

[mudrubble]

I don't know how many people illegally stream PPVs but there is a estimate that 100 million+ people illegally watched Mayweather vs McGregor. Mayweather-McGregor fight most pirated in history (yahoo.com)

Given, that the amount of PPV buys for Mayweather McGregor did around 5 million, you could try to apply a 20X multiple to amount of illegal streams.

That's a lot of money left off the table, even if UFC fighters are only getting 15%-20% of revenue, having revenue jump by increasing PPV buys by that much would substantially increase PPV buy.

Obviously, not all illegal streamers will buy the PPV, so it's hard to determine how many will pay, but I'd bet it'd be enough people to make a dent in fighter pay.

How much do you think illegal streams are costing fighters in terms of their share of the revenue?

If all illegal streams stopped, do you think fighters would at least double their pay?

$0.

It's not "costing" them anything. Nobody is stealing their paycheques. These illegal streamers ("whoever they are") were not about to shell out $60+ for these PPVs to begin with.

What would happen, with your 20x multiplier metric would be that MMA would have 1/20 of its current viewership and would be way more fringe than it is currently.

You can argue that SOME of those 20x might have bought a PPV here and there, possibly. Maybe it wouldn't be a full 1/20 of its current viewership. Maybe it would be closer to 1/15 of it's current viewership. Who knows?

Fact is, without illegal streaming MMA is waaaaaaaaaay less popular, known, discussed, or cared about. Without illegal streaming, who even knows who Kamaru Usman or Paddy the Baddie is??

New thesis: Illegal streaming is keeping MMA alive.

Ponder that.

 

[chiefwiggum]

There are a lot of issues with fighters having their own sponsors.

1) What happens if a UFC fighter sponsors a product that ESPN doesn't approve of? Once UFC partnered up with ESPN the content they put on is much more controlled. Who you sponsor can heavily affect the product's image. Getting the UFC involved with contracts from various sponsors between individual fighters and sponsors is just a legal nightmare waiting to happen.

2) What happens if a sponsor is competing with another sponsor? There are reasons promoters don't promote both Nike and Adidas. Does brands want their fighters fighting with other brands for them to lose to that brand?

How do you think Nike would feel about it if Jon Jones is wearing Adidas, while Cormier is wearing Nike, and Cormier gets wiped out by Jones.

3) It's a regulatory nightmare to allow UFC fighters to have their own sponsors. Your sponsors have to be vetted. UFC isn't going to put the time and money and effort into vetting that many sponsors potentially across so many fighters.

Fighters having their own sponsors were a problem, that's why it got dealt with.

you know espn was putting on prize fighting for decades before the ufc right?

 

[knowsitall]

Don't put snow on your driveway Dana.

 

[knowsitall]

If I actually had to pay for UFC is simply wouldn't watch, so they lose nothing from me, bs argument.

 

[KnowIsTheGo]

I think many of those illegal stream watchers wouldn’t pay for it if they didn’t access it free.

Your assumption that sales would increase to the number of illegal viewers is crazy wrong. Not only that but I imagine many of those viewers are in countries that can’t even buy it on PPV.

I can confirm what you said. I love MMA but if I am not able to watch it for free then I wouldnt watch MMA cards. I am both poor and cheap and I also have a dislike for Dana so those two things are the big reasons why I would never buy a PPV. I have bought MMA merchandise though from Tapout, 2 shirts of JDS and Machida but I will never buy a PPV cause I know it wouldnt matter much since Dana will just find a way to screw fighters just like he is doing with Costa.

 

[jeff7b9]

UFC pocketing 83% of profits is costing the fighters millions.

UFC charging $80 for 5 fights with 1-2 being WMMA or regional talent/journeymen can go fuck themselves.

 

[KnowIsTheGo]

There are a lot of issues with fighters having their own sponsors.

1) What happens if a UFC fighter sponsors a product that ESPN doesn't approve of? Once UFC partnered up with ESPN the content they put on is much more controlled. Who you sponsor can heavily affect the product's image. Getting the UFC involved with contracts from various sponsors between individual fighters and sponsors is just a legal nightmare waiting to happen.

2) What happens if a sponsor is competing with another sponsor? There are reasons promoters don't promote both Nike and Adidas. Does brands want their fighters fighting with other brands for them to lose to that brand?

How do you think Nike would feel about it if Jon Jones is wearing Adidas, while Cormier is wearing Nike, and Cormier gets wiped out by Jones.

3) It's a regulatory nightmare to allow UFC fighters to have their own sponsors. Your sponsors have to be vetted. UFC isn't going to put the time and money and effort into vetting that many sponsors potentially across so many fighters.

Fighters having their own sponsors were a problem, that's why it got dealt with.

Youre making it more complicated than it needs to be. I am sure they can ask Dana about approved sponsors and Dana can check with ESPN. ESPN can also have a list of Approved sponsors to make it more easier for everyone. If they dont want both Nike and Addidas both sponsoring fighters than just can leave one on the approved list and leave out the other. This isnt rocket science we are talking about buddy, I am not a rocket science and I've already solved your legal problem LMAO...

 

[KnowIsTheGo]

If I actually had to pay for UFC is simply wouldn't watch, so they lose nothing from me, bs argument.

Are you me Knows?

 

[jeff7b9]

Right my friends brother's cousin only streams. He says that he won't pay for lack luster product with a bloated price. He might pay for an event if it's worth of buying but it's been a long time since that happened. Also at 80 bucks they likely will never have an event worth that price.

When PPV was 40 bucks and stacked with great fighters I knew, I bought the PPVs. All of them. From probably UFC 60 until around Anderson vs Weidman 2 which I recall was the price increase where I said, ok fuck off. ($64.99 or $69.99)

$80 plus $120/year subscription service and the UFC can kick rocks.


UFC is selling $7 water bottles next a Walmart. Only a retard would buy their shit or someone so absurdly rich they don't care about burning money. If that's how they want to operate, ok, but they can fuck all the way off if they want to blame us for not buying their $7 water bottle.

 

[jeff7b9]

I can confirm what you said. I love MMA but if I am not able to watch it for free then I wouldnt watch MMA cards. I am both poor and cheap and I also have a dislike for Dana so those two things are the big reasons why I would never buy a PPV. I have bought MMA merchandise though from Tapout, 2 shirts of JDS and Machida but I will never buy a PPV cause I know it wouldnt matter much since Dana will just find a way to screw fighters just like he is doing with Costa.

There are numerous orgs you can watch for free online. Some with really good fights.

 

[Starman]

They're losing millions because they're overcharging for PPVs.

The NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS, and NASCAR all earn more money than the UFC, and their athletes all earn more money, and the consumer doesn't have to pay one penny to watch their events.

The problem with the UFC is that they're using an outdated business model started by boxing more than half a century ago. Get your product on network TV or a national cable station and earn your money through revenue, sponsorship, streaming rights, etc...

Stop trying to gouge your customers with $90 PPVs and you won't have to worry about pirates, who would never pay for the fights anyway, regardless.

 

[humdizzle]

i won't pay until they address a couple things:
- we need a 4k stream.
- i should be able to pay per fight, if the card is garbage and i just want to see the main i shouldn't have to pay $80. This would probably help the ufc make more.
- get rid of paywalls. stop making me sign up for crap that i only have to cancel later.
- pay fighters better.

 

[KnowIsTheGo]

There are numerous orgs you can watch for free online. Some with really good fights.

yeah I mostly watch on the pirate. There have been a few rare times when I stream but sometimes the disconnect is annoying and also the popups as well so I just wait a few hours to download the entire PPV free of popups and disconnections. Also if guys like me would buy the PPV the problem still exists that Dana and the UFC would take 83% of the profits and giving the main attraction of the sport the crumbs.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Like someone else said; even if illegal streams weren't a thing, chances are those people won't pay for the pay-per-view anyway

But there's no guarantee the UFC will pay fighters more regardless. Just look at the past 3 years with UFC's record-breaking revenue generation. Why haven't they increased fighters pay with all this growth

 

[Number11]

I don't know how many people illegally stream PPVs but there is a estimate that 100 million+ people illegally watched Mayweather vs McGregor. Mayweather-McGregor fight most pirated in history (yahoo.com)

Given, that the amount of PPV buys for Mayweather McGregor did around 5 million, you could try to apply a 20X multiple to amount of illegal streams.

That's a lot of money left off the table, even if UFC fighters are only getting 15%-20% of revenue, having revenue jump by increasing PPV buys by that much would substantially increase PPV buy.

Obviously, not all illegal streamers will buy the PPV, so it's hard to determine how many will pay, but I'd bet it'd be enough people to make a dent in fighter pay.

How much do you think illegal streams are costing fighters in terms of their share of the revenue?

If all illegal streams stopped, do you think fighters would at least double their pay?

white betls and shit threads.

 

[jeff7b9]

yeah I mostly watch on the pirate. There have been a few rare times when I stream but sometimes the disconnect is annoying and also the popups as well so I just wait a few hours to download the entire PPV free of popups and disconnections. Also if guys like me would buy the PPV the problem still exists that Dana and the UFC would take 83% of the profits and giving the main attraction of the sport the crumbs.

There are few things in this world more annoying than when you are just trying to appreciate nature and out of nowhere someone starts blasting music and screaming at you about an online casino.

 

[Post 2 Decision]

I would pay for every PPV if they were $20

As long as it wasn't some dogshit like a WMMA main event

 

[ComfortablyNumb55]

I only stream because I'm broke.

I'd gladly pay if I wasn't a loser.

Have mercy on me, based Dana.

 

[markg171]

I don't get a portion of the fighter's pay so why would I care about that?

The choice to stream or not stream is entirely dependent on:

• Access to streams
• Access to streams of similar, or the same, quality as the official stream
• Good internet/computers that can handle the load of a 3+ hour video with thousands of others watching it
• An unlimited internet plan for that 3+ hour video a few times a month
• (Optional) ad blockers / chat box deleters

vs

• Cost of PPV
• Reliability of PPV
• Accessibility of PPV

The model has completely swung in favour of streaming. Back in the day we all remember that the streams were utter shit because someone was mirroring / literally cam taping the official stream for you, and internet and computers would struggle actually showing that much content and traffic. Everybody remembers some grainy as fuck, laggy stream that buffered every 30 seconds in some frat basement/living room. For $50 you could instead get a perfect feed right into your cable box, that was the original and official quality, was cable so had zero lag, and all you had to do was confirm the buy and it'd just show up on your next bill. It was whatever, especially for the big fights.

Nowadays the PPV is mostly digital anyways so your stream likely IS the original stream too. Or it's at least extremely easy to find a version that is as the sites tell you the quality instead of you just clicking a link hoping it's not a virus. Computers and internet can easily handle this load. Meanwhile the PPV model? It's up to like $80, the PPV is ordered through your computer/app instead of cable and so is subject to any delays your internet would be anyways, and you have to first buy ESPN+ to even get to the order section. And you have to pay for it immediately on your card instead of it showing up on the monthly bill later.

I honestly don't understand why anybody is buying PPVs. There was a time and a place for it, but that's not 2023.