No One in MMA Makes 50 Most Influential in Sports Business List
by Luke Thomas on Dec 14, 2009 1:00 PM EST
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I won't say it's routine, but I often hear more than I'm comfortable with the idea that what Dana White and the Fertittas accomplished with the UFC sports property "will be taught in business schools" for some time. Honestly, it's very difficult to think of a more hardcore delusion than this. One has to sit down and really try desperately to ignore the history of far more influential financial success stories or block out the magnitude of other financial (sporting or otherwise) properties to make a claim this outrageously off the mark. And one has to invent reasons to make it so, as if the understanding of business or finance was somehow made more complete with the turn around of a failing fight company. The accomplishments of Dana White and the Fertittas are, in fact, tremendous, but relative to the size of other ventures or success stories both current and historic, the Zuffa undertaking is impressive if small. Take note MBA students: your textbooks won't have any Zuffa addenda added to them any time soon.
But White and the Fertittas can't be ignored either. They operate a reported billion dollar business in a sport with still plenty of growth curve that's rapidly expanding its domestic and international partnerships with media, sponsors and other important stakeholders. And as is widely known, they did it from a two million dollar deficit in a hostile business and regulatory climate. That's nothing to sneeze at. So, why, then did neither Dana White nor Lorenzo Fertitta make the list of the Sports Business Journal's 50 most influential players in sports business?
Take a look at the list and take a look at the breakdown of what roles these entrants occupy. Some are team owners, some are sports media, some are "agency types" and some are in marketing and advertising. All, however, have nothing to do with combat sports. Notably, no one in European or American boxing made the list either. I wonder if this is less a snub of MMA and more a wake-up call about the magnitude or image of combat sports within the larger sporting community.
My personal sense of matters is that there are a variety of factors why White and Fertitta, despite their impressive accomplishments and despite moving financial figures that rival or surpass the efforts of the bottom ten on the list, are excluded. Chief among them: they are involved in a closed-off sports property. The MMA world is at once surging and aloof. And remember, White is the same CEO who said the UFC didn't need Coke, Coke needed them. That depends how one defines "needs". Coke is deeply embedded in a larger sporting community with access to dollars and demographics that trounce anything MMA has ever produced. If there is access to something the UFC offers that Coke can't get elsewhere, I've yet to see what that is.
The growing internationalism of MMA and the UFC does help raise and open the UFC's profile, but generally speaking, the MMA world isn't fully integrated into the larger sporting conversation. The Sports Business Journal, sports executives and other opinion leaders in this market tend to view matters through a prism of acknowledging the biggest financial or impact players (Nike, International Olympic Committee, NFL) and then the orbiting satellites around them. The UFC, while an impressive well-run machine, either by design or by accident hasn't moved into the space where the orbiting or central players have welcomed its arrival or mutually partnered with them for any end. They've reached partnerships with some key players, e.g. Anheiser-Busch, but that has not translated into entry of the community of sports property players of significance.
Does this list truly matter? Should the UFC change what it does to accommodate editors at the Sports Business Journal? Probably not and probably not. This list isn't going to shave off PPV buys for UFC 108 or force the UFC to change their practices. And a reasonable case can be made for either White or Fertitta to be included on this list. But their absence shouldn't produce a call from MMA fans that there is media bias. Instead, it should be the acknowledgement that despite the tremendous success of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and despite how well they've secured their financial success in the worst economic climate since the Great Depression, many of the acknowledged movers and shakers of sports business operate in a world almost completely independent of them. Perfect integration into that community seems absurd and pointless, but so does perfect absence. There must be some reasonable middle ground.
Just like Dana White says, we're barely scratching the surface of this thing. There are miles to go before we sleep.
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This really isn’t shocking when you compare the amount of money in MMA vs. the NFL, MLB, NBA, European Soccer, all the sponsorships that go with them, television deals and all the major media companies that follow them and their subsequent ad revenue.
Its like comparing the GDP of Armenia to the G20
watchkalibrun.com
I wonder what Dana White’s reaction would be to this news?
for all intents and purposes, just consider all my posts as works of satire.
rec'd for sarcasm
http://mixedmartialartsblogger.wordpress.com/
by Cory Braiterman on Dec 14, 2009 2:08 PM EST up reply actions
SBJ
I read SBJ every week and it seems that almost every week there is a write up over what new branding opportunities, new sponsors and new initiatives the Fertittas and White are making.
MMA will be around for a looong time…these guys are just scratching the surface of all the amazing opportunities that lay ahead.
They will be on the list next year. For sure…
Dana is 40, he is in the last year of eligibility for the Top 40 under 40 awards…(you can be 40) – I wonder if he will be on the list this year…
I see the UFC as about the size of one NFL team. Its worth about as much and they don’t own there stadium so its a lesser team. The UFC is nothing remarkable from a business turnarounds standpoint, but from being banned to growing at its current rate has to be a model for something. Its the debt combined with the laws specifically banning the business that make the UFC a good model. A model for what, I have no idea. They best I could come up with was maybe legalization of pot or gambling, but those would be more or less like prohibition being repealed.
So this isn’t shocking or surprising. Its like the owner of a middle of the road NFL team not being on the list.
Some people think I am a dumb, ugly human being, but really I am a beautiful ape, with exceptional verbal skills.
The Zuffa Mafia is a very curious omission from this list indeed. I will leave it up to the more statistically-minded to compare UFC earnings and growth with some of the other names/organizations that made the list. I just wanted to point out a similarly curious omission in a very different domain—namely, the philosophy of sport. During the past twenty years, the philosophy of sport has become a free standing field of inquiry that spans disciplines ranging from sociology and philosophy to history and media studies. One of the main areas of interest is the morality (or lack thereof) of issues that arise in the sporting context—e.g., gender inequality, PEDs, the compensation of college athletes, etc. One would think that with all the fuss generated in the 1990s by John McCain and others about the barbarism of so-called “human cock fighting,” scholars would have paid a lot of attention to the moral permissibility—both at the individual and group levels—of combat sports. And yet, only a handful of scholarly things have been written about combat sports and what has been written is almost universally either misinformed or misguided.
Perhaps there is no relationship between the exclusion of MMA from the list of influential sport businesses and the dearth of scholarly attention. But I suspect that it is partly based on the fact that lots of people still find the sport to be too bloody and too brutal for mass consumption. Even though MMA has tried to clean up its act by instituting rules and the like, the main organizations still trump up the gladiatorial nature of the sport. A bloody ass-beating like the one Penn gave Sanchez the other night—as fun as it may have been for fans to watch—just adds more fuel to the fire of detractors of MMA. Just a thought…
"Der freie Mensch ist Krieger" -- Nietzsche
I stopped reading after Zuffa Mafia.
by NinjaRehab on Dec 14, 2009 1:48 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
hah
I read Zuffa Mafia, stopped reading, saw these posts and decided to give him a chance. Then stopped reading after “philosophy of the sport.”
Sorry buddy, just don’t have the time.
He’s using big booklearning words.
Keep firing Assholes!
Fedor has accomplished nothing until he fights Kimbo.
Well this is the PhD-philosophy guy, this stuff probably makes a lot more sense to him than it does to us.
The only thing Jon Jones does better than Matt Hamill is hear.
(And smash faces)
by ufc4 on Dec 14, 2009 2:24 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
There, is that better?
The Zuffa Mafia is a very curious omission from this list indeed. I will leave it up to the more statistically-minded to compare UFC earnings and growth with some of the other names/organizations that made the list. I just wanted to point out a similarly curious omission in a very different domain—namely, the philosophy of sport. During the past twenty years, the philosophy of sport has become a free standing field of inquiry that spans disciplines ranging from sociology and philosophy to history and media studies. One of the main areas of interest is the morality (or lack thereof) of issues that arise in the sporting context—e.g., gender inequality, PEDs, the compensation of college athletes, etc. One would think that with all the fuss generated in the 1990s by John McCain and others about the barbarism of so-called "human cock fighting," scholars would have paid a lot of attention to the moral permissibility—both at the individual and group levels—of combat sports. And yet, only a handful of scholarly things have been written about combat sports and what has been written is almost universally either misinformed or misguided. Perhaps there is no relationship between the exclusion of MMA from the list of influential sport businesses and the dearth of scholarly attention.
But I suspect that it is partly based on the fact that lots of people still find the sport to be too bloody and too brutal for mass consumption. Even though MMA has tried to clean up its act by instituting rules and the like, the main organizations still trump up the gladiatorial nature of the sport. A bloody ass-beating like the one Penn gave Sanchez the other night—as fun as it may have been for fans to watch—just adds more fuel to the fire of detractors of MMA. Just a thought…
"Der freie Mensch ist Krieger" -- Nietzsche
What I find most remarkable about the UFC is that new success in sports is an almost impossible task. What new sports have come along, successfully, in the last fifty years? MMA is the only entrant on the short list. Granted, the UFC doesn’t make as much money as the Dallas Cowboys— but their profit margins are greater than any professional football team (while I don’t have exact, and unavailable, figures to support this, it’s pretty widely accepted based on NFL profit figures).
So what about this business isn’t wildly successful? What about its rapid growth over this decade is short of remarkable? They don’t have to operate on the same plane as the NFL (or MLB, NBA, et al) to be considered a success when they’re pulling in absolutely brilliant revenues and continue to grow exponentially on a year-to-year basis. As a business owner, I don’t personally believe that my business isn’t a qualified success if I’m not making as much money as the biggest creative services companies in the country. This same set of qualifications extends to every competitive market in America, and while I haven’t browsed the list to transpose the entrants with the Fertittas and White, I think it’s safe to say that their successes are more than enough to land them on a list of the 50 most successful sports businessmen.
"I’m sorry. I didn’t drink last night, so I’m not funny today."
-Sakuraba
Most influential…not most successful.
Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
MMA Editor - SBNation.com
by Brent Brookhouse on Dec 14, 2009 1:56 PM EST up reply actions
Fair enough
Point remains the same.
"I’m sorry. I didn’t drink last night, so I’m not funny today."
-Sakuraba
I suspect it has something to do with the fact that unlike the NFL, NBA, FIFA, Nascar, and the like, the MMA business is run by a disjointed group of organizations that are directly competing against one another. If there were one over-arching MMA organization that oversaw the individual companies like Zuffa, Bellator, Strikeforce, IFL, etc., I think the head of this kind of organization may very well make it onto a top-50 list such as the one Luke brought to our attention. But so long as each organization seeks to cannibalize the others, no single organization can have the clout of a professional sports league. That being said, I would have thought the mere fact that Zuffa—the dominant organization in N. America and Europe—purchased Pride—the dominant organization in Japan—merited their inclusion in the list. If nothing else, Zuffa surely has a greater impact on the global sports scene than Jerry Jones (no offense to Cowboys fans!).
"Der freie Mensch ist Krieger" -- Nietzsche
It’s a shame they aren’t a bit more recognized for what they have done.
I get that compared to some other sports business, the UFC and MMA is still small time to a degree. But out of all the sports, they are growing something new, a new brand and opening up other brands (clothing for example) that are new to the sports community. Money wise, it might still be chump change to football or basketball, but a lot of those businesses are just maintaining what is already there. So IMO I would give a bit of credit to guys that are building something “new” too.
"A champion is someone who gets up when he can't." - Jack Dempsey
The 50 most imfluential people in sports
I don’t think anyone involved in MMA would get mentioned in this list. As Luke states – MMA lives in a vacuum. I live in the UK (right now) and used to live in Hong Kong, and Beijing. The number of MMA fans I knew can be counted on my hands. You would only find them in BJJ or MT classes. But EVERYBODY knows Manchaster United.
I think Manny Pacquiao should be on the list due to his real influence in the Philippines and Asia in general. The man will influence Filipino politics and sports for years to come. I don’t know any other sports person who is SO admired in his own country.
Please luke, Dana White has already been asked to speak in front of a few business schools. If you think you can only learn business lessons from the Wal Marts of the world, you are the one with the hardcore delusions. In my business texts their were all sorts of little stories about rebranding strategies in such from much smaller companies than the UFC. This article is out of your ass.
People routinely speak at undergrad and grad programs throughout the year. That isn’t the argument. The Zuffa story is impressive. That it will have lasting effect on academia is quite another.
And I have three friends currently in business school. One on the East Coast and two on the West. Not one has had one professor in one class even mention Zuffa, White or anything related to what they accomplished.
To change the teachings of business schools with such exemplary performance is not the same argument as having a successful businessman speak about their experiences to a class.
I think people say such things as a recognition of their success, and not to seriously suggest that they’ll rewrite history when Dana retires. So sure, a professor (particularly on that follows mixed martial arts in America) could preface a lesson with a story about White and the UFC’s growth, but texts won’t dedicate whole chapters to his legacy.
"I’m sorry. I didn’t drink last night, so I’m not funny today."
-Sakuraba
On an academic level I think it would be an interesting to argue that the rise of MMA had more to do with the decline of boxing, which in turn created a vaccum of combat sports that was waiting to be filled.
David Plotz of Slate argued something similar to this way back in 1999 but his piece was more about how the younger generation had grown up with karate/fight/martial arts movies and they were yearning to see that in a sport format
watchkalibrun.com
Totally disagree. Boxing and MMA don’t share audiences anymore than the NFL and MMA do.
"I’m sorry. I didn’t drink last night, so I’m not funny today."
-Sakuraba
I'd go so far as to say that there's a greater crossover in NFL and MMA.
The general age discrepancy between MMA and boxing fans is a frequently overlooked factor while NFL draws well for all male age groups. It would lead me to believe that, simply by being a greater draw overall, the NFL audience overlaps more with MMA than boxing does. That said, I haven’t done any specific studies into it so I’m blowing smoke out my ass right now.
that lack of cross over is the whole point
There was a generation of young men who missed out on boxing in the 90’s and becuase of that were prime for a new combat sport.
It’s just an intereting perspective
watchkalibrun.com
I am not convinced it had much at all to do with the decline in popularity in boxing. Instead, the rise of MMA—at least in this country—began when Semaphore Entertainment Group, Archie Davis, and Rorion Gracie cooked up the idea of making money in the North American market by exposing us to the kind “anything goes” fighting the Brazilians had already been doing since the 1930s. Hell, Rorion had been here in the States trying to generate interest in jiu jitsu to no avail since the late 1970s. It really wasn’t until they organized the first UFC that MMA caught on in the States. And at least as far as I can tell, this coincided with the decline of boxing rather than being a cause of it. Ironically, by deciding to trump up the brutality and violence of the first few events, SEG, Davis, and Gracie actually shot themselves in the foot since the violence that fueled interest in the growing sport also drew the ire of both state and federal politicians. But that is a story for another comment thread…
"Der freie Mensch ist Krieger" -- Nietzsche
Well, yeah. But I don’t think they have valuable lessons to teach. The lessons they have are hard to apply. It’s a very unique situation. I don’t think White and Zuffa have as much to offer as a Kimberly Clark.
Some people think I am a dumb, ugly human being, but really I am a beautiful ape, with exceptional verbal skills.
No offense Luke, but you’re vastly overrating the importance of Sports Business Journal here. It’s barely a blip on the radar. When Forbes or Fortune does a list of most influential in sports, I’ll pay attention.
Haha
That list is as American as it gets.
NFL, Baseball, NBA and Nascar is only popular in America and pretty much non-existent everywhere else.
First, we’ve expanded the reach of the executives who make the top 50 by putting more of an international stamp on it, highlighted mostly by this year’s No. 1, Jacques Rogge of the International Olympic Committee, but also with FIFA’s Sepp Blatter cracking the list for the first time. The idea hasn’t changed, and the rankings are still North American focused. We’re simply recognizing the importance of both the Olympics and World Cup to the overall American sports landscape, no matter how internationally focused those events and their leaders are.
This is meant to be a North American list.
in a hostile business and regulatory climate
Don’t want to sound like an anti-Zuffa zealot but wasn’t one of the reasons the UFC was having these problems was because of Lorenzo Fertitta. He was the Commissioner on the Nevada State Athletic Commission in 2000 when they refused to regulate mma which played a direct part in the UFC’s inability to get on ppv.
To be fair
Most every state refused to regulate MMA and it’s impossible to erase all that’s been done up until today.
"I’m sorry. I didn’t drink last night, so I’m not funny today."
-Sakuraba
There are only two states which all other states follow, with regards to combat sports: Nevada and New Jersey. And regulation in these two states was required for the UFC to get InDemand to carry ppv of their events. New Jersey sanctioned the sport in 2000 (the IFC had the first sanctoned fight in NJ). The NSAC had a chance to sanction the sport as well, but turned them down with Lorenzo as the Commissioner. In 2001 the Fertillas buy the UFC and that same year the sport gets sanctioned in Nevada.
Ivan Trembow wrote an article on the history of sanctioning the sport, so make of it what you will.
Dana White is no Robert Frost, Luke.
by some schmuck in texas on Dec 14, 2009 2:45 PM EST reply actions
I guess my opinion on this kind of goes by what the criteria was. If influence was determined by the amount of money that flows through peoples hands and how much name value these people and their organizations have with the general public than im not suprised that there was no mma on the list.
But if its determined by whose influencing the ideas of those who are directly involved in sports and where the sports industry as a whole is going, than i think Dana and the Fertittas should have made the list somewhere in between 40 and 50.
Business School Case Studies
Luke,
I agree that some statements about the UFC are overblown, but I think you went too far the other way to make your point.
1) Case studies don’t have much to do with the size of an operation. Start-ups that make it to $1 Billion in value are plenty big enough to be good case studies for business school if they illustrate a salient point for the course.
To compare the UFC to a middle of the road NFL team is a very poor analogy. True in terms of current valuation and not true in almost every other respect. Especially future potential growth in value and the history of how the business came to have that value.
The owners of most NFL teams purchased them for a hefty price and make a nice annual return on that investment. They’re actually fairly conservative investments. The Fertittas and White took over a business that looked like it might fold and have turned it into a very successful enterprise which establish a market for a new product and then maintained dominance when other business tried to enter that market. A world of difference between the two.
2) The reason why the UFC has probably not been used much, if at all, as a case study is that they are a sport. Sports businesses tend to operate in an unusual business space where state commissions, anti-trust exemptions and the like are at play. Not alot of business operate in that arena, thus the don’t usually apply to most MBA seeking students future plans.
3) Of course the UFC has been or will be used as a case study at some point. It’s interesting to students, represents a significant success and has an interesting future that is unknown. Madonna, Facebook, Chia Pets and many others have been used in the past, why would the UFC be any different. If i were a professor I would consider using it if relevant to the course material that semester.
by Django Z on Dec 14, 2009 3:52 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
That is a lot of white men.
Alla som inte dansar är våldtäktsmän.
Hadouken.
by Eugene Schelfaut on Dec 14, 2009 4:39 PM EST reply actions
It is certainly a butt load of white dudes.
Some people think I am a dumb, ugly human being, but really I am a beautiful ape, with exceptional verbal skills.
The big business of sports takes place in America and Europe, where alot of white people live. I not shocked about it, maybe you are.
Nope, not shocked. just the facts, white people are on the list.
Some people think I am a dumb, ugly human being, but really I am a beautiful ape, with exceptional verbal skills.
You seem offended while everyone else is just riffing.
"I’m sorry. I didn’t drink last night, so I’m not funny today."
-Sakuraba
Not offended, I just don’t get the whole race thing, maybe Im dumb, I just don’t get the point of bring it up or the relevance to the story posted. And I have no idea what riffing is.
Eugene is silent.
People are on your lawn.
Some people think I am a dumb, ugly human being, but really I am a beautiful ape, with exceptional verbal skills.
by szucconi on Dec 14, 2009 9:26 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Not sure I agree--
Financial results are but one metric of analysis, and if all that is taught in business school is tied to this metric, study would be limited to only the most successful of companies based upon a chosen financial metric.
The way Zuffa has emerged, I believe, is somewhat unique in business, and the “lessons” are not easily obtained in most other industries in quite the same way. That said, I also believe this way of doing “business” is becoming more prevalent, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.
You're all ignoring the simple solution to this problem...
We just need to convince the Sports Business Journal to make this a top 100
MMACrack.com | It's addicting.
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