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https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulgi...er-antitrust-testimony-mma-news/#494453294d2f
Paul Gift and John Nash are some of the few professional economists in the mma media space.
they're worth a follow.
they have a regular show on Bloody Elbows youtube and podcast called "Showmoney"
here are some highlights:
most common questions were those trying to get Silva to confirm or deny – depending on which side was doing the questioning – the existence of essentially a pay scale in the UFC.
According to Silva, he had discretion for making most of the early fights on a card, then President Dana White or former CEO L. Fertitta would need to sign off on “main events, co-mains, things like that.”
Sage Northcutt’s Potential
While explaining that fighters signing their second UFC contract would not always receive similar show and win money payments since it depended on what happened in their earlier fights and how exciting they were, Silva was asked for an example of a fighter who had losses but who might’ve received more than someone with a better record.
“Off the top of my head, I'm not sure,” Silva replied. “There are so many that — to remember, had they that early on in their career, if they lost and come up. But we certainly had more popular people. There's examples like Sage Northcutt, who was signed to a multiplied deal, and way before his deal was up received a huge jump in pay simply because Dana just saw a lot of potential in him.”
Wage Share
As a UFC attorney was questioning Silva, she transitioned into the topic of wage share leading to an immediate objection from the plaintiffs’ side. The judge, not wanting “essentially a free-for-all,” sustained the objection and the UFC attorney moved on to the following questions:
Q: So when you were negotiating contracts with athletes, did you know Zuffa's event revenues?
Silva: I did not.
Q: Were you ever told that you had a budget for negotiating with fighters?
Silva: I was not.
Q: Were you ever told that you were spending too much for compensation on fighters?
Silva: I was not.
Q: Now, plaintiffs have suggested that Zuffa tried to maintain a certain set of its revenues as compensation —
The judge, believing the UFC attorney was asking the same prior questions just in a different way, struck Silva’s testimony as it related to revenues from the record.
The UFC has since filed a motion for the judge to reconsider his ruling and wants a Silva declaration related to his three answers above as well as the fact that he “never heard of the concept of paying athletes a share of revenues until he learned of this lawsuit” and “During the class period, no mixed martial arts athlete ever asked Mr. Silva for a contract where the athlete would earn certain percentage of the event revenue as payment” included in the record.
How Locker Room Bonuses Worked
When Silva was asked by a plaintiffs’ attorney about the “goal” of fight night bonuses, he agreed that they attempted to align fighters’ actual performance with their pay, an idea also supported by my prior research in the area.
Silva then moved into discretionary bonuses, also known as locker room bonuses, and the process used by the UFC to determine their size.
“Now, there was other bonuses, too, that were not discussed that were not fight of the night, and that's what I believe this chart references, that for a long period of time what would happen is after a show would end, the next day, for Monday, I would summarize the card to Dana, Lorenzo, Sean, and I'd say, here's what happened in every fight, and here's money that's not knockout of the night or fight of the night, here's extra bonuses that I think these guys are worth. And I would make suggestions, this guy lost, but it was a good fight, he did that, I think he should get 3,000 extra; I think that that guy should get 10,000 extra. And I'd go down the whole card.
“Then Dana and Lorenzo would look at that, and they would decide did they agree with me, do they want to give more or do they want to give less. But that had nothing to do with knockout of the night or performance of the night, that was different bonuses.”
Paul Gift and John Nash are some of the few professional economists in the mma media space.
they're worth a follow.
they have a regular show on Bloody Elbows youtube and podcast called "Showmoney"
here are some highlights:
most common questions were those trying to get Silva to confirm or deny – depending on which side was doing the questioning – the existence of essentially a pay scale in the UFC.
According to Silva, he had discretion for making most of the early fights on a card, then President Dana White or former CEO L. Fertitta would need to sign off on “main events, co-mains, things like that.”
Sage Northcutt’s Potential
While explaining that fighters signing their second UFC contract would not always receive similar show and win money payments since it depended on what happened in their earlier fights and how exciting they were, Silva was asked for an example of a fighter who had losses but who might’ve received more than someone with a better record.
“Off the top of my head, I'm not sure,” Silva replied. “There are so many that — to remember, had they that early on in their career, if they lost and come up. But we certainly had more popular people. There's examples like Sage Northcutt, who was signed to a multiplied deal, and way before his deal was up received a huge jump in pay simply because Dana just saw a lot of potential in him.”
Wage Share
As a UFC attorney was questioning Silva, she transitioned into the topic of wage share leading to an immediate objection from the plaintiffs’ side. The judge, not wanting “essentially a free-for-all,” sustained the objection and the UFC attorney moved on to the following questions:
Q: So when you were negotiating contracts with athletes, did you know Zuffa's event revenues?
Silva: I did not.
Q: Were you ever told that you had a budget for negotiating with fighters?
Silva: I was not.
Q: Were you ever told that you were spending too much for compensation on fighters?
Silva: I was not.
Q: Now, plaintiffs have suggested that Zuffa tried to maintain a certain set of its revenues as compensation —
The judge, believing the UFC attorney was asking the same prior questions just in a different way, struck Silva’s testimony as it related to revenues from the record.
The UFC has since filed a motion for the judge to reconsider his ruling and wants a Silva declaration related to his three answers above as well as the fact that he “never heard of the concept of paying athletes a share of revenues until he learned of this lawsuit” and “During the class period, no mixed martial arts athlete ever asked Mr. Silva for a contract where the athlete would earn certain percentage of the event revenue as payment” included in the record.
How Locker Room Bonuses Worked
When Silva was asked by a plaintiffs’ attorney about the “goal” of fight night bonuses, he agreed that they attempted to align fighters’ actual performance with their pay, an idea also supported by my prior research in the area.
Silva then moved into discretionary bonuses, also known as locker room bonuses, and the process used by the UFC to determine their size.
“Now, there was other bonuses, too, that were not discussed that were not fight of the night, and that's what I believe this chart references, that for a long period of time what would happen is after a show would end, the next day, for Monday, I would summarize the card to Dana, Lorenzo, Sean, and I'd say, here's what happened in every fight, and here's money that's not knockout of the night or fight of the night, here's extra bonuses that I think these guys are worth. And I would make suggestions, this guy lost, but it was a good fight, he did that, I think he should get 3,000 extra; I think that that guy should get 10,000 extra. And I'd go down the whole card.
“Then Dana and Lorenzo would look at that, and they would decide did they agree with me, do they want to give more or do they want to give less. But that had nothing to do with knockout of the night or performance of the night, that was different bonuses.”
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