NY Law Firm tries to recruit fighters for union talks

http://mmajunkie.com/2016/08/new-york-law-firm-attempts-to-recruit-fighters-for-union-talks

A New York-based labor law firm is reaching out to UFC fighters to gauge interest in forming a union.

“They’re being terribly exploited,” Daniel Bright of Lichten and Bright told MMAjunkie.

The firm, which often represents city government workers in employment disputes, sent out a letter this past month promising to contact “several hundred” UFC fighters. It said MMA’s legalization in New York and the industry-leader’s sale motivated their efforts.

Bright declined to detail the firm’s plans on the record but said there’s been interest from several fighters and managers. He said the firm plans to arrange an informational meeting if there’s sufficient interest in a union. The letter, obtained by MMAjunkie, includes a confidential response form and promises to alert fighters discreetly of the potential meeting.

The letter also cites the UFC’s claim of a $600 million take this past year and states fighters receive between 5 and 15 percent of revenue on a median purse of between $17,000 and $23,000, figures likely derived from independent reports on the split. The attorneys claim a 50 percent share of revenue – in the ballpark of the splits seen in the NBA and NFL – would lead to an average annual payout of $500,000 for every fighter on the UFC’s roster. It also touts the benefits of unions in other sports, including health insurance, pensions, and the ability to negotiate other terms of employment, which in MMA might relate to drug testing, appeals and grievances filed with the promotion.

The UFC has previously claimed it shares revenue with fighters in the “neighborhood” of other professional sporting leagues. The promotion does not make public its financial information, and fight purses released to state athletic commissions don’t necessarily represent a fighter’s total compensation. But independent reports have claimed the split was between 13.6 and 16.3 percent between 2005 and 2011, when the promotion experienced explosive profit growth on the success of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show.

As MMAjunkie previously reported, efforts at creating an MMA fighters association have faced a myriad of challenges, mainly convincing fighters with varying pay grades, stature and career longevity to unite for better treatment.

Bright’s firm claims its experience with labor litigation sets it apart from other efforts to unionize.

“We are labor lawyers with a combined 40 years of experience representing unions and people seeking to organize unions,” the letter states. “We are not associated with past efforts to unionize UFC fighters. We believe that legalization in New York, together with the explosive growth in the popularity and revenues of the UFC in recent years, and recent sale of the UFC, present a unique opportunity for the UFC’s athletes to join together and create a union or association that will put them on par with other professional athletes competing in major sports leagues, both financially and in terms of the influence they have over how their sport is run and its athletes are treated.”

 

Aldo said that he thinks Belfort is the man to lead it.

 

Finally

 

Honestly Vitor would be perfect

 

Sounds like a fighters guild from some sort of RPG game

 

About damn time. Maybe with Zuffa on the way out it could finally be upon us. Bullshit like USADA and the chump ass Reebuck deal never would have happened with a fighters' union.

 

That actually sounds pretty serious. If this gathers steam then the Fertittas couldn't have conceivably sold at a more perfect time.

Kinda suspicious actually, Lorenzo handled a lot of the NY effort, could he have caught word of it?

 

I hope Dana wins.

That is all.

 

Thanks for posting chito. Fantastic news. Dana is sweating bullets right now. Probably regretting his new 5 year contract.

 

And zuffa just happens to have the right timing to exit...

 

Lawyers looking to ruin shit to make a dollar??? Say it isn't so.

 

oh well, it is what it is

if it gets rid of USADA, at least something

 

The UFC would lose money paying out that % of revenue to fighters. They're obviously not as business savvy as other sports league as to where they can still profit while paying out 50% of the revenue to their talent.

They made 600 mil in revenue, but only had 160 mil in profit. If they paid out 15% to the fighters that mean they paid out 90 mil to fighters, and at 50% they would have to pay out an additional 210 million, which results in a net loss of 50 mil.

 

Unions don't do anything to help the strong, they're made to protect the weak. I hope a union never gets made. All the fans that support a union are the same people who would sell their car for gas money.

 

How is it ruining? The OP is right these guys have bee exploited for years while Dana and the Frittatas have stuffed their pockets with millions and lined their Vegas driveways with snow.

 

Cry me a river about the UFC losing money. Fighters have been getting hosed for over a decade it's time for change.

 

Read the other posts here. They are not being exploited. They sign contracts. You do know they are not mandatory? Like, the fighter can take or leave it???

The union will do shit to make the union money and not give a fuck all if the UFC survives or not.

By sinking the company that pays them the most????
You have some very stupid posts.

 

Without the support of the top earning fighters it won't work. Those are the fighters with the least to gain from unionizing.

Top fighters could still be sold on things like getting the rights back on their image/likeness, rules for promotion requirements, the ability to add sponsors to their shorts ...