So does fan attendance not really matter to UFC's bottom line?

[Drain Bamage]

UFC are putting on events with zero fans in the audience for several months now and (I presume, or else they wouldn't be doing it) still making money. Traditionally, pre-covid what percentage of their revenue comes from fan attendance? Anybody know? And if they needed to I guess they could just keep doing events without fans.

 

[The Chosen]

A lot of events aren’t sold out anyways, it would be stupid to rely on fan attendance in the modern day. For huge events like a Izzy or Conor super fight they want that cash for sure though.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

The ESPN deal is where they get the majority of their money from. It absolutely makes a financial difference to them, though.

 

[C0NCH3TO]

Do they make money on gate? After all the expenses like venue rental, security, logistics and many other things I’d be surprised if they made anything significant. Not that I prefer an empty event, I actually miss the crowd and attending an event myself.

 

[RemyR]

Their ppvs are crazy overpriced, doesn’t surprise me. I mean you have to pay a subscription fee just to be able to buy one on top of that. Get fucked Dana I’ll resort to alternative methods.

 

[RockyLockridge]

I'm pretty sure it does, but the ufc has been very stingy on giving people raises. there has been a lot of drama about that lately.

 

[BFoe]

Do they make money on gate? After all the expenses like venue rental, security, logistics and many other things I’d be surprised if they made anything significant. Not that I prefer an empty event, I actually miss the crowd and attending an event myself.

It absolutely makes a difference. In pro wrestling, in the days before PPV, a percentage of the live gate is how wrestlers got paid. I don’t know what it cost to rent a venue, but I can’t imagine it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, let alone millions. I did a quick Google search, and Ortiz-Matyushenko way back in 2001 had an $816,000 gate. That’s a pretty small gate, but there’s no way that operating expenses are more than that.

 

[Reach4theSky]

Everyone in the UFC has had to make cutbacks. Poor Dana may or may not be able to have snow in his driveway this Christmas..

Sad I know. But thats the reality we're living in..

 

[Jackonfire]

They're probably making all kinds of money this year. They don't have to rent out any venues. They don't have to travel or ship their production equipment from state to state or country to country. UAE literally paid them a huge sum to come to Abu Dhabi and covered all the costs of room/board and covid testing.

 

[Herwald]

Doing the events at the Apex and the island means they don't need to book, rent and manage the venue. No need to rebuild the stage for an octagon after a basketball game or some such thing. Setting up the crew and everything is easier. They lose out the gate - which of course hurts them - but they also ditch some standard process hurdles.

But don't get it twisted - they'd prefer to get crowds back, but the legit version, not some half baked compromise.

edit:

They're probably making all kinds of money this year. They don't have to rent out any venues. They don't have to travel or ship their production equipment from state to state or country to country. UAE literally paid them a huge sum to come to Abu Dhabi and covered all the costs of room/board and covid testing.

Yes, this^.

 

[I Lie To Girls]

If they didnt put the fights on there wouldnt be much of a bottom line, crowd or not. Gotta work with what they got.

 

[johnnybeebob]

Doesn’t matter for wwe either

 

[TheWave111]

They miss a lot of money.
Dana was out of character last week and he called this year a shit year.

They miss gate plus a lot of merchandise.

 

[fzoid4454]

UFC are putting on events with zero fans in the audience for several months now and (I presume, or else they wouldn't be doing it) still making money. Traditionally, pre-covid what percentage of their revenue comes from fan attendance? Anybody know? And if they needed to I guess they could just keep doing events without fans.

What's fortunate for them is that they at least have a steady, reliable, assured revenue stream through their ESPN and European TV contracts. I'm sure they've taken a hit, but at least they can plan and not lose money.

 

[knock_you_out]

Any income is better than no income.

 

[JustAkidFrom209]

It matters but not to a big extent. They did pretty good this year in terms of PPV revenue. Of course for big events the gate would be $5M+ which would help with the fighter payout but for normal events it don’t really matter that big imo.

 

[markys00]

Of course it does. But if they didn't put on events they could get a breach of contract case which would mean even less money for ufc. Why would they not put on events?

 

[EVIL WAR GOD]

Gate was never a huge factor, most of the money is made from add revenue and that is based on ratings.

 

[CTE_Fan]

they have been selling worn fighter gear.
https://ufcstore.com/collections/fi...rg-autographed-event-worn-jersey-from-ufc-232

 

[MikeyB]

If they didnt put the fights on there wouldnt be much of a bottom line, crowd or not. Gotta work with what they got.

Fedor gets it. Going dark would be a lot worse. No doubt they're losing something.

I do not believe they're losing money. Which given the current state means they're doing pretty well.