Some Perspective on UFC Sale Price and Athlete Pay

[Degen Gambler]

The Dallas Cowboys are valued at roughly 4 billion by Forbes which for the sake of this comparison we will say is equal to the UFC's recent sales price valuation.

The Cowboys payroll this year will be roughly $150 million which averages out to roughly 2.83 million per athlete per year.

The UFC held 473 fights in 2015. Double this number (two fighters per fight) and you get 946. If you divide 150M by 946 you come up with roughly $159,000 per fight. This would mean the mean fighter pay per fight should be $159,000 if the UFC paid athletes equal to what the Cowboys pay their athletes.

Another point to note is that the NFL revenue streams are far more predictable than UFC since NFL have season ticket holders and TV contracts which provide most of the revenue. The UFC on the other hand does not have season ticket holders and a huge chunk of their revenue is from PPV sales which can vary widely depending on the card. Even worse for the UFC is that they have to heavily market their events when the NFL has a more consistent presence on regular sports tv/radio to promote for them.

Most fight fans only tune in to watch the stars who make the vast majority of the money the UFC pays to athletes and we aren't privy to the stars pay after PPV points factor in. So when all this is considered. An average of 159,000 per fighter per fight isn't really far off from what we see in the pay numbers that the UFC releases. It seems to me the UFC is on par with other major sports in terms of athlete pay.

 

[superpunch]

Not at all comparable. Everyone on the Cowboy's roster has made it to the NFL. Half the guys on the UFC roster are journeymen and bums brought it to feel a random spot or make random fights. They're just random guys that could be trivially swapped with anyone in B-tier orgs. Talent in MMA is shallow enough that this encompasses almost everyone outside the top 15.

It's the upper echelon of fighters in the top 10 that separate the UFC from other orgs. Those are the guys that can justifiably make Cowboys money.

 

[Ozze]

I think the problem is that in the Cowboys probably no guy is making 30k a year like the UFC entry level guys.
But yeah, the top guys at UFC get paid well enough.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Not at all comparable. Everyone on the Cowboy's roster has made it to the NFL. Half the guys on the UFC roster are journeymen and bums brought it to feel a random spot or make random fights. They're just random guys that could be trivially swapped with anyone in B-tier orgs. Talent in MMA is shallow enough that this encompasses almost everyone outside the top 15.

135, 145, 155, and 170 are stacked outside the top 15.

 

[Degen Gambler]

I think the problem is that in the Cowboys probably no guy is making 30k a year like the UFC entry level guys.
But yeah, the top guys at UFC get paid well enough.

But the UFC has ten times the number of athletes as the Cowboys. The guys at the bottom of the Cowboys roster make about 10 times per year what a prelim UFC fighter makes. It seems to make sense to me.

 

[DaveHilly]

Your numbers are a bit off cause they assume that each fighter only fights once per year, but the bigger issue is that average fighter pay probably isn't a great metric because the pay is more likely positively skewed and leptokurtic. That's a super douchey way of saying that most of the fighters are probably paid on the lower end with a smaller portion of fighters making a lot of money throwing off the mean. I'd say looking at the medium could be more useful and I bet you that it's like 40k-60k.

Anyways, about your valuation points. I think that the general feeling in media is that one of the most valuable things in the world right now is the rights to live sports. It seems to be the best positioned content in an era where more people are using netflix or whatever. The tv rights deals have been skyrocketing with the most recent being the NBA's HUGE jump. The big difference between the Cowboys and the UFC tv rights is that they don't have to share the payments throughout a league of 30+ teams.

I agree with you about PPV and I think that if the right TV deal comes along they'll drop that strategy all together.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

There are only like 70/80 players on any NFL squad, not almost 1000. Has pretty much everything to do with making more money.

 

[Ozze]

But the UFC has ten times the number of athletes as the Cowboys. The guys at the bottom of the Cowboys roster make about 10 times per year what a prelim UFC fighter makes. It seems to make sense to me.

Maybe the better comparison would be to see the UFC as a league rather than a team. Like UFC = NFL.
And Bellator and others would be inferior divisions (I don't know how it works in football, but soccer has this division breaks).

So, if you're good enough to make it with the big boys (good enough for the UFC), you're expected to make some more money. At least that's how people see the UFC. Doesn't matter your the last guy on the rakings, you're in the UFC.

And since guys only fight twice or three times an year, the 5-10k is too little when compared to other sports guys who receive on a monthly basis.

I feel like the UFC should just add this division thing. Like, UFC Division I (top 15 guys only), and Division II (rest).
They would make a different pay scheme, this way people wouldn't complain so much.