UFC Antitrust Lawsuit: Damages Set (By Plaintiffs) at $1,600,000,000.00

[AronaBeatsJones]

$1.6 Billion with a "B"
What quickly caught my attention was the size of the damage estimates by the Plaintiffs' experts. Prof. Andrew Zimbalist came up with a sum of $981 million for the period December 16, 2014 through December 31, 2016, while Dr. Hal Singer came up with an estimate of $811 million at the low end and $1.6 billion at the high end during the period of December 16, 2010 to June 30, 2017, which would place 1,214 Fighters into the affected Bout Class. A third expert for the Plaintiffs, Guy Davis, didn't work on an estimate for damages but instead on how much more Zuffa could have compensated their fighters without impacting their financial obligations. His hypothetical concluded that they could have paid an additional $706 million from December 16, 2010 until the end of 2016 without additional borrowing or equity raises.​

SOURCE: https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2018/2/...mages-ufc-class-action-suit-up-to-1-6-billion

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On a completely unrelated note, I have decided to start my journey as an Ultimate Fighter, and want to get into the UFC ASAP.

Paid Zuffa zombies on Sherdog, please make the introduction (would prefer to fight as cheap as possible).

 

[AronaBeatsJones]

 

[executionermma]

 

[AronaBeatsJones]

Time to sell back to the Fertittas for $3.50!

 

[Kingz]

 

[EndlessCritic]

Dr. Hal Singer’s estimate is derived from creating a model based on the share of revenue going to pay as compared to: 1) Zuffa from when it was less dominant in the market as compared to more recent, after it foreclosed on competition; and 2) the share of revenue that Strikeforce, a competing promotion, paid its fighters. (Apparently it was 63%.)

What on earth is this clown referring to?

So how important are Headliners to Zuffa? Well according to Singer, the “Top of the Card was comprised of Headliners in nearly 80 percent of Zuffa events between 2010-2016. Moreover, at least one Headliner was at the Top of the Card in 91 percent of Zuffa events from 2010 to 2016.” More specifically, “at least one of the Fighters at the top of the card was ranked first or second. And in 63 percent of these bouts, at least one of the Fighters at the top of the card was ranked in the top five of his or her division.”

UFC tries to sign as many top 15 fighters as possible. Those monsters.

 

[Credo]

 

[Moral Victory]

 

[Not A Real Fan]

Short attention span fools think the class action lawsuit was no longer a thing because it's not referenced in social media every hour.

Imagine the impact in this new TV deal negotiation period and beyond if the UFC is hit a with billion dollar verdict.

 

[OrigFan255]

We don't need an expert to figure out that the workers were underpaid.

All you need to know is basic math.

NO ONE would have paid $4.2 Billion for something that wasn't worth that....Without ALL the fighters that performed time and time again, Lorenzo and Frank would still be walking around the casino and Dana would still be a Bell Hop.
THIS lawsuit is exactly what is wrong with capitalism. The people up top believe it is possible to work 300X harder than another human.

Regular people have no problem with higher ups getting paid more money. It is when it gets into Dana,Frank and Lorenzo territory, does it become totally lopsided and unfair.

Both sides need each other.

 

[JoeRoganade]

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Good, hopefully this puts WME out of business

 

[ticho123]

Stupid question maybe but if you buy a company does that also mean you "buy" all their legal involvements? Perhaps depends on what the involvement is concerning?

 

[executionermma]

What on earth is this clown referring to?

Some years ago UFC used to pay a higher % of the revenue to its fighters. Also, back then their competitors like PRIDE, SF were much better promotions than Bellator or ACB (or whatever promotion you rank like the 3rd biggest), the market is much more dominated by UFC right now.

 

[emema]

Bet Dana is blowing Donald Trump as we speak

 

[Soul On Ice]

 

[Flokk]

Stupid question maybe but if you buy a company does that also mean you "buy" all their legal involvements? Perhaps depends on what the involvement is concerning?

Usually the new owner would stand in the old owner's shoes. But it probably depends. I'd imagine there are a range of notice requirements and potential opt-out (etc) clauses triggered by the transfer of ownership, depending on the type of contractual obligation involved and the prevailing jurisdictional requirements. What to do with confidential customer lists, etc.

This would all be vetted at the front end by a law firm doe. Transactional law is a mystery to me so just patchy guesswork here.

 

[cooks1]

$1.6 Billion with a "B"
What quickly caught my attention was the size of the damage estimates by the Plaintiffs' experts. Prof. Andrew Zimbalist came up with a sum of $981 million for the period December 16, 2014 through December 31, 2016, while Dr. Hal Singer came up with an estimate of $811 million at the low end and $1.6 billion at the high end during the period of December 16, 2010 to June 30, 2017, which would place 1,214 Fighters into the affected Bout Class. A third expert for the Plaintiffs, Guy Davis, didn't work on an estimate for damages but instead on how much more Zuffa could have compensated their fighters without impacting their financial obligations. His hypothetical concluded that they could have paid an additional $706 million from December 16, 2010 until the end of 2016 without additional borrowing or equity raises.​

SOURCE: https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2018/2/...mages-ufc-class-action-suit-up-to-1-6-billion

Fascinating.

This was what really stuck out to me:

Zuffa was consistently able to keep Fighters bound by the exclusionary provisions in its contracts—and thus unavailable to other MMA promoters—while simultaneously promoting an insufficient number of bouts given the number of Fighters on its roster. Record evidence indicates that Zuffa was able to suppress the number of events that Fighters would participate below what Fighters would otherwise prefer,and that Zuffa consistently maintained significantly more Fighters under contract than it could use in bouts. In his deposition, Joe Silva testified that, from at least 2010 to 2015, he had “been complaining to managers and fighters and others” that Zuffa “had more fighters under contract than [Zuffa] had fights to give them.”Silva also testified that he kept Fighters under contract who he otherwise would have cut; his rationale was to keep these Fighters away from Bellator. Kurt Otto, President and founder of a now defunct MMA promotion called the IFL, testified that it was his perception that Fighters at Zuffa were “collecting dust.” Record documents discuss the “shelving” of Fighters by Zuffa.

Sign fighters to an agreement that pays them by the bout, knowing that you won't be able to give them the bouts. Now they are stuck.

It would seem this litigation might be behind some of the UFC's seemingly bizarre decisions to let top shelf talent slip away to Bellator and punch out absurd numbers of watered down cards.

I wonder what language is in the WME/Zuffa purchase agreement regarding this kind of litigation should it be successful.

 

[gunlok]

Dana - friend of Trump. Trump will give UFC a trillion dollar loan to recover. The debt will be paid by someone else in 2098. Isn't this how the "dollar economy" works?

 

[Verace]

So, they are fucked?

How likely are they to have to actually pay that?