Executive compensation is as much about level of responsibility as it is about what they actually do on a day to day basis.
Dana is responsible for making decisions that affect a billion dollar company. His decisions can impact the value of the company by hundreds of millions of dollars. His decisions impact the livelihood of hundreds of fighters and thousands of employees that work directly and indirectly for the UFC.
There's a reason why executives get paid so much. If you have a billion dollars of company value on the line, how much are you going to pay to make sure that the right person is minding the store?
Also, Dana White is a part owner. The bulk of his value comes from sweat equity. Had he made poor decisions, he would have dedicated years of his life for nothing.
Let's me put it this way.
Let's say I open a restaurant and hire you as the manager. You have no money but you have experience so I offer you part ownership as incentive to perform and to make sure you have skin in the game.
Now you hire the right people, make the right decisions and turn it into a successful business. Then you negotiate complex agreements to franchise the restaurant and oversee the expansion of the restaurant into a national chain with hundreds of outlets.
Now the business is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Yes, the chefs and the waiters and the bartenders and the bus staff all contributed to that success. However, who deserves the most reward for the work and effort?
Dana White took on the role of running the UFC when it was a moribund business. It was illegal in most states. It wasn't even carried on PPV.
Now it's legal in 49/50 states, it's a billion dollar business, is carried on networks in multiple countries, employs 500+ fighters and thousands of support staff. And Dana's share of ownership is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
What does the rewards that Dana has earned over the past decade+ have to do with how much the employees, most of whom are relatively recent hires, most of whom weren't there during the hard times, most of whom were still in school worrying over the spring dance while Dana was dealing with sleepless nights, encroaching creditors, intransigent legislators and skeptical sponsors?
If you were the CEO of a restaurant franchise that helped build it into a food service empire how would you view someone who says that it's really the chefs, wait staff and bartenders that built the company and that all you do is sit in your office?
Fighters fight and are clearly the product that is consumed.
However the platform of the UFC was built by Dana and the Fertitta's by putting their own time, money and effort at risk. The success of that platform built over a decade is why Dana is worth so much more than the fighters who work for him. Those fighters are only able to become stars because of that platform.
There's nothing stopping the fighters from going somewhere else. They can work for Bellator. They can sign with ONE FC. They can join WSOF.
They stay because the UFC pays them more than everyone else, gives them more exposure and fame than everyone else, and offers more opportunity than anyone else.
Why is this the sole responsibility of the UFC? Who is holding Bellator, ONE FC and WSOF responsible for the low pay they offer? Who is calling them out for not having health insurance or professional level PED testing? Who is holding the small amateur circuits responsible for paying their fighters a pittance?
The UFC spends millions getting MMA legalized in jurisdictions. They're the ones laying the groundwork for shows in other countries. They're the ones pioneering PED test regimes and getting the sport exposed to new demographics and audiences. And promotions and fighters around the world benefit from those efforts.
The UFC isn't perfect by any means. And it would be nice if they paid the fighters more money. However, if the economics made sense don't you think another promotion would simply outbid the UFC? Don't you think the UFC would have a vested interest in keeping their fighters happy?
Don't you think that Viacom would have thrown their considerable financial might behind Bellator if it was as simple as paying the fighters more? That they would invest more money in the sport if there was really a buck to be made?
Or maybe it's obvious to Viacom that it's not that easy.
There's an old saying, never begrudge a man his money.
You may not think that Dana earned it, but the Fertitta's clearly do. And considering that the bulk of the money on the line is theirs, then Dana must have done something right.
