UFC's PPV numbers are at an all-time low. I Have Some Ideas.

[HeffDoesWant]

I can't recall the last time I paid or chipped in a ppv. Must be a couple of years at least.

Previously my mates would get together for maybe every second or third big card and buy it. Now maybe 1 card a year is worth organising something for.

 

[joy2day]

This business model will never work in the long run if they want to grow the sport. The UFC is going to have to find a way to pay fighters better for its long-term health.

Right now, it is moving from being a semi-commercial success to a total niche sport. You can only go so long promoting a brand when people ultimately don't care that much about brands- they want personalities and storylines regarding the fights, they want spectacular stars and grudge matches.

What they are moving towards is really a nameless and faceless league with people like Ank and Belal as champs that only hardcore fans (and people from their region) care about. You don't have any real participation from the many great athletes of the world who have personality and charisma to build the sport on because they are competing in other sports, and who could blame them.

Look at Cain, BJ Penn, Chuck, Stipe, and many other CTE victims- if you were a budding young athlete, would you want to risk that for low pay? Fuck no.

 

[CrackedRib]

UFC is a nearly unwatchable product. It’s almost entirely mid cards now, with a couple "big" fights at the top. The ufc isn’t fostering talent anymore, they want cheap DWCS fighters not stars, they’ve said so themselves. Dana and Co can blame ESPN all they want for lack of viewership. But they keep putting on dog shit apex cards full of underpaid fighters and awful pay per views.

Price keeps going up and product isn’t improving. Low fighter pay provides no incentive for old and new talent. Perhaps the UFC should start paying more for finishes. double the payout.
I don’t have a problem with UFC signing entry fighters to low pay scales but when they aren’t even getting their high value assets into the cage 3X+/Y, we have a problem with the product.


- Increase the extra bonus from 50k to 150k.
- Lower the win bonus to minimize coasting.
- Introduce a 200k KO/TKO bonus in the first half of the fight.
- 80k bonus for submissions in the first half.

Share your ideas.

TBH, I don't understand how the UFC is still alive anyways. I never paid for a card, but did sometimes contemplate, when they managed to put on a good card, once or twice a year maybe. I did wait for events with anticipation though and would (as a filthy european) sometimes stay awake till morning to watch.

Nowadays I have to contemplate if I'm even going to watch the card for free, lmao. Which makes me wonder who in the hell would regularily pay to sit through a whole event. It's so boring, lol.

 

[dazzao01]

Dana has said that if he pays his fighters more then they won’t have the hunger down the road.

I agree. It’s far more important to play 100k hands on blackjack than pay your employees, sorry, your contractors.

Don't forget when he went on pawn starts and paid 6 figures for swords

 

[dazzao01]

They even have Saudi cards and instead of giving the fighters a big payday like they do in boxing they keep it themselves

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

The PPV price of $80 for a very average PPV card is absurd... and remember you also have to have an ESPN+ sub $10.99 on top of that.

I remember I brought UFC 40 for $24.95 and they had 5% off if you booked before the day of the PPV.. so 5% off 24.95 (23.70)

UFC 40 was brilliant, well worth the money and great event, the prelims were like the main cards of todays PPVs (if not better). They put so much effort into the show, the way it was all set up, the lighting, the promos, the interviews, everything.

I rarely ever buy a UFC PPV now because so many of them are watered down and not worth the price, I just can't justify paying so much for a lacking card. I now skip watching a lot of the PPVs, and just watch the Fight Night events. upping it to $80 is outrageous. It goes up and up and up every year, so where are we going with all of this? soon it will be $100 for UFC PPV

 

[Dbreiden83080]

This business model will never work in the long run if they want to grow the sport. The UFC is going to have to find a way to pay fighters better for its long-term health.

Right now, it is moving from being a semi-commercial success to a total niche sport. You can only go so long promoting a brand when people ultimately don't care that much about brands- they want personalities and storylines regarding the fights, they want spectacular stars and grudge matches.

What they are moving towards is really a nameless and faceless league with people like Ank and Belal as champs that only hardcore fans (and people from their region) care about. You don't have any real participation from the many great athletes of the world who have personality and charisma to build the sport on because they are competing in other sports, and who could blame them.

Look at Cain, BJ Penn, Chuck, Stipe, and many other CTE victims- if you were a budding young athlete, would you want to risk that for low pay? Fuck no.

I am old school and I’ve been bored with the sport for 3 to 4 years easily. The big stars that I used to love GSP, Anderson, Silva, rampage, Jackson, etc. when they left, they weren’t replaced with anybody that is interesting to me. I honestly thought the ESPN deal was going to be a great thing for the sport because I was expecting them to put major fights on the ESPN channel. I quickly realized it was just a big scam for their app. Prices are ridiculous and we never get any good fights on regular television anymore. Like ever.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

The PPV price of $80 for a very average PPV card is absurd... and remember you also have to have an ESPN+ sub $10.99 on top of that.

I remember I brought UFC 40 for $24.95 and they had 5% off if you booked before the day of the PPV.. so 5% off 24.95 (23.70)

UFC 40 was brilliant, well worth the money and great event, the prelims were like the main cards of todays PPVs (if not better). They put so much effort into the show, the way it was all set up, the lighting, the promos, the interviews, everything.

I rarely ever buy a UFC PPV now because so many of them are watered down and not worth the price, I just can't justify paying so much for a lacking card. I now skip watching a lot of the PPVs, and just watch the Fight Night events. upping it to $80 is outrageous. It goes up and up and up every year, so where are we going with all of this? soon it will be $100 for UFC PPV

UFC 40 my man. That was the event that got me back into the UFC. Ken Shamrock versus Tito Ortiz vendetta. I think I paid $20 for it. Those were the days.

 

[cws80us]

SOURCE?

I guarantee.. You don’t have one.

This is all fantasy. Which makes you disingenuous at the least. More than likely, just a liar.

Is that you Dana?

 

[jeskola]

Everyone in this thread sounds like an old folks home, talking about the glory days of UFC 17 through 40 and $23 PPV. Do you really think you are the target demographic? They want to attract people who will live for more than 10 years and will buy merch and attend events as well as PPV. A guy who is 18 to 30 years old doesn't care about Carlos Newton vs Pete Spratt or Tito vs Ken or Frank Shamrock vs Jeremy Horn.

Gas cost $1.44 a gallon and first-run movie tickets were $5 too.

 

[Joshua8531]

Jones isn't a part of this generation. I don't agree that it has more talent top to bottom.


I'm not impressed by four title defenses. That seems average or below average. But I'm also using the champions like Jones, Aldo, GSP, DJ as the golden standard. And thats just if we're strictly talking UFC.

4 title defenses doesn't impress you? Who the fuck are you maybe need an ego check?

 

[Thesnake101]

Why would you care about PPV views or viewership if you're not involved with the company? I'm just here to watch fights, if they turn a profit or not (spoiler: they are making money) is not something I concern myself with.

 

[Tito Tapped]

Why do these threads always come down to "pay them millions more dollars and it'll be way better"?

Look at Jon Jones demanding a gazillion dollars right now. Now imagine half the roster is doing this. Also, how you going to fund it when none of you buy PPVs?

If your interest is down, maybe stop watching events you don't care about. You superfans watch every second of this shit and do nothing but complain about how you're bored. They literally made slap boxing a thing for you people.

 

[payton]

Why would you care about PPV views or viewership if you're not involved with the company? I'm just here to watch fights, if they turn a profit or not (spoiler: they are making money) is not something I concern myself with.

PPV numbers actually affect the quality of the product we all enjoy. Welcome to reality.

 

[Jarilo]

Here's an idea ditch the PPV model. I doubt anybody under 30 has even ever ordered one.

Under 40*
We started this gangsta shit, and thats the motherfucking thanks we geed.

 

[Tweak896]

You guys forget about UFC 304? Dana doubled the 50k bonus before the event then there was 9 decisions on the card. I think sometimes people here think if you throw money at the sport then all of a sudden fighters will be exciting and fighting all the time. I think even PFL million dollar tournaments are a good example where the money on the line doesn't turn into classic fights.

Actually if you think about the most classic fight and top fighters were in an era where guys were paid the least. Then you look at boxing where the guys are paid so much the events can't turn a profit and you still have boring fights and they box even less in a year.

 

[Foghorn Leghorn]

It's crazy that the UFC/ESPN deal was seemingly simply a way to try to sell ESPN+. I think this insane, asinine model has been imported to Canada now with Sportsnet+.

It's difficult to speculate without knowing their internals. The flat rate of buys agreement they had with ESPN, if true (I think it is?), is probably a big part of the problem. What incentive does it provide for the company to better the Ppvs?

It also feels like at some point in time, the UFC kind of stopped caring about trying to arrange big cards because there were so many injuries and fight cancellations that it probably cost them a ton of money in marketing building hype for fights that never happened.

 

[Ozze]

But those bonus KOs idea wouldn't solve the main problem you cited that it's the lack of talent.

Still would be mid fighters fighting for an extra bonus.

I think the UFC is just really shitty at selling their fighters, creating importance or storylines. Not talking about fake beefs, but every fighter seems expandable. So why would anyone care.

And fighters fighting once every 8-9 months does not help at all.

 

[Clark Rogers]

Dana has said that if he pays his fighters more then they won’t have the hunger down the road.

I agree. It’s far more important to play 100k hands on blackjack than pay your employees, sorry, your contractors.

You realize paying fighters more changes nothing about his blackjack hands, yeah?

I mean i kinda get what you're trying to get at, but it's a bit of a false comparison.

 

[Streeter]

Just speaking for myself here.

I used to purchase almost all cards but the really bad ones. I CANT BUY THEM ANYMORE. The qaulity of ESPN + has gotten so terrible i can't watch a fight without sound cutting going in out an buffering an I got Comcast blast internet service. First few years espn + was fine n fee freezes but mostly okay. NOW ESPN+ is un watchable I have yo go to bar to watch when I would rather stay home smoke a joint an enjoy better.

I wo t order anymore simply because I can't trust the qaulity.