Something else to look for in 2019
UFC going public
If WME takes a page out of WWE's book & puts 25-40% of the company public, they will make severe bank & the loans will even be a lesser issue
.........
Does that mean that the usual secret contracts and back room bonuses will have to see the light of day?
Does that mean that the usual secret contracts and back room bonuses will have to see the light of day?
Does that mean that the usual secret contracts and back room bonuses will have to see the light of day?
WWE has been public for a long time, and their filings don't give any insight into how the wrestlers are compensated.
Not bad for the owners.. good but not great money
Which is why the espn deal is solely streaming and not cable.ESPN is dying. They're ratings are tanking. Ufc is out of touch with where things are going. Things are moving towards streaming services and people are getting away from cable.
ESPN is a dying channel facing layoffs and losing serious cash. Not to mention pissing off their owner Disney in the process. ESPN is grasping at straws at this point, ESPN will help the UFC, as well as Reebok, did. Think about that one lol.
Tyquil Woodley will fit in at ESPN since everything is about identity politics over there too.
Which is why the espn deal is solely streaming and not cable.
Try actually reading the op
I think their own fightpass events will most certainly go to espn+I'm pretty sure the first three pages of responses failed to read any of the articles as well.
What I wonder is how the UFC plan s to schedule all of this content. If they still maintain 4-5 yearly Fox cards and 12(?) FS1 cards, plus their own fightpass events, plus 15 ESPN X cards, their product is going to be even more watered down than it is now and they'll be employing even more fighters at all times (which in present day they seem unwilling to do with a consistency of quality).
I think their own fightpass events will most certainly go to espn+
They will get the shanghai, Berlin etc
Streaming service won't be so hung up on broadcast times, people will watch when they wakeup etc
why do you assume that ESPN's events are coming from teh "22 Fox" events pool, and that Fox arent moving forward with the UFC still?
How do you know these 14 events are the old Fightpass only events, plus some brand new ones..?
and where in any of this did you read that they are leaving fox?
Ive seen your kind beforeActually, FOX ponied up more money to keep the UFC around.
Guess the UFC got a better deal somewhere else despite FOX offering more money.
Guess the UFC isn't dying after all.
I found this post by mmalogic particularly worrisome. It seems UFC execs have learned nothing at all about the negative effects of over-saturation. They'll gladly split the tv deal(in addition to the ESPN deal) and give 15-20 events per broadcaster, if each is willing to pay 150-200 million. How does 50 TV/streamed events a year sound to you? It's as if WME didn't care about the long term sustainability of the sport and wanted to go all-in on tv cash for short term profit. What happens in 5 years when TV ratings are dismal, do you think the UFC will be getting another $450 million a year contract? I expect WME will have unloaded the whole shebang long before then.
05/09/2018
.......I also believe wme/ufc would easily pick turner over fox or nbc if the bid is comparable.
that being said, there could be another split
If there’s another buyer with around 200m/yr for ufc content then you gotta sell them something right... you can’t just say no to that kind of money.
Ppv is going to take a back seat now... once the dust settles we’ll see if there will be 6 ppv’s a year, 4 or 3.
I know Lorenzo wanted 54 live events a year for “world fucking domination”
if both fox and nbc (or turner) are willing to budget around 200m/yr then fuck Ppv.
How many ppv events can you monetize better than the amount of tv money being thrown around? Not many.
maybe 3 or 4 a year. Max 6.
With The price that espn has set for a 15 event package you’re actually losing money by staging most of these ppv’s instead of monetizing them through licensing fees.