Dana White and His 18 Millionaires

Agreed, and you have to realize that the “team” sports are able to unionize while individual sports have a MUCH harder time in doing so because the UFC isn’t the only game in town.

Wait, what?

How was it bullshit?

You do know the doctors thought he was gonna have to have surgery, have part of his colon removed and would have to shit in a bag.

You dont think thats serious? Yeah I guess not, Dana saying its not looking good, we dont know if Brock will ever fight again, he is in bad shape, thats what Dana said, but that was total bullshit, the hole in his stomach, the doctors saying he might have to have serious surgery and might have to shit in a bag, thats not a big deal at all.

Its just Dana bullshitting the public right? Talk about stupid.

whoops, didn’t mean to bold that

How has he put his shoe in his mouth with this statement?

How does the salaries today compared to other sports have anything to do with where the sport will be in 10 years?

yeah but you know, that’s the point. It’s the obvious question. Because I don’t think anybody fucking believes it. Not even mmalogic believes the UFC is going to become the biggest sport in the world.

The sad thing is that people are giving Dana White’s words way, way, WAY more thought and attention than Dana White does

At the same time, it’s not the fact that leagues pay guys a lot that makes them major sports. It’s the other way around. Dana paying athletes better wages will not make MMA a bigger sport.

I was busy looking up another NBA teams payroll versus revenue to make this same point.
In fact, I remember the two of us having nearly an identical discussion back around UFC 103 or 104. I think I’m going to go through the archives just to copy and paste my points from back then instead of trying to come up with any new insight into this.

Because it’s not the major leagues and not bringing in hundreds of million in profits?

I’m sure the UFC pays fighters more just as I am equally positive that a higher percentage of revenue goes towards the fighters in Strikeforce.

You complain about a bad comparison and then used a dumber criteria. Congratulations. Should NFL teams multiply game salaries to reach an equivalent because they play 16 games instead of 82? Seriously.

Fighters make 20% of the revenue compared to the 50-60% that players in the four major leagues make. How the hell does the number change that equation?

I hold no animosity towards Zuffa for making as much money as possible. As a company that is there job. But since a fighters’ union and collective bargaining agreement is currently a pipe dream, I am an ardent fan of competition. In this case Strikeforce. Sure they don’t pay as much as the UFC, but what people have failed to notice is how much more they have to pay second tier fighters to steal them away from Zuffa, and how much more Zuffa has to pay those same fighters to keep them out of Strikeforce’s hands. Pay doesn’t go up just because the boss is making more and feeling generous, it goes up because of supply and demand and competition for that supply and demand.

league to cover payroll.

but you won’t see any of the writers on this site point that out. They start swinging from the balls of anyone who comes out with an anti-Dana article. I wonder if they even know why they’re so mad at him?

So if we factored in and included all the public funds that these other sports leagues get what percentage of that total would the players then be getting?

Also these other major sports don’t have to pay to advertise their sport like the UFC does. Their TV partners advertise their product for them. So you would also have to subtract the UFC’s advertising budget from it’s revenue to be able to compare percentages on a fairer level as well.

I have spent a fair amount of time, in the past, on the revenue structure.

20-30% is, depending on the card, correct. Those with multiple guys getting a cut of the ppv are higher up.

UFC 100 did an estimated 1.5 mil buys. The UFC would get about 30 mil from that. Add the gate of 5.1 mil and you have a little over 35 million. GSP and Lesnar together made about 8.6 million, which is 22-24%. That is two guys. Add the rest of the disclosed (and Mir made more than the disclosed amount, that I do know) and you have about 28%. With backstage bonuses, it is likely around 30%.

I have looked at various UFC events and the ppvs always fall in that general range. No numbered event, since TUF, has paid out 10%.

…Fighters make next to jack shit in sponsorships. If you want to include those to make it fair, it wouldnt move the fighter percentage by a decimal. It’s one of the hilarious myth of the UFC pay apologists, go talk to any MMA agent about their fighters and what they make on sponsorships.

Every few years they negotiate an increase with Joe Hand and the cable companies. It’s gone up by a few dollars…why would it go up or down at negotiation? The success or failure on PPV.

By all means, run comparions, but it is also worth pointing out the major differences.

I totally admit I am upset by the taxes I have had to pay to cover the venues for the Twins, Wild and Twins. It is also likely to happen again with the Vikings.

For me, it is noteworthy that many sports teams need outside revenue streams to make a profit.

There may be some less than impressive comments here, but I also see some very valid points being made.

and you just call those people “dumb” because they don’t see it your way? Amazing. Unions are bad for business. Period. Unions are good for workers. Period.

And comparing sports with TV deals, private TV stations, and they are LEAGUES. I have no issues with comparing the UFC to any team. A sport doesn’t lose a great player, a team does. If the UFC lost Lesnar he would be with a rival promotion.

A couple of things,
-If we are going to go by revenue, then Zuffa’s payroll looks terrible compared to the other major leagues. At $400 million in revenue, I am willing to conjecture they have no more than $80 million in total payroll, with the majority of it going to the top 20 fighters. Compare that to the 50-60% of revenue that the players in MLB, NBA, NHL, and the NFL get. In addition each of those leagues provide insurance, and pay for the training of their athletes, a luxury mma fighters don’t have.
- The UFC is new and growth takes time, fair enough. But isn’t it a lot to ask that fighters sacrifice now so that future fighters and the current owners make massive profits down the road.
Take Dana White for example. Not only is he thought to make a $2 million dollar a year salary, but he has seen his net worth grow from $200,000 when Zuffa purchased the UFC to $125 million now. In addition he has received millions in dividends, and probably another $10 million or more from Flash Entertainment. If the fighters have to wait for the maturity of the sport, shouldn’t we ask the same of the owners.
- You wrote "The growth of the sport – and fighter pay – will come in time." What guarantee is there of that? If the UFC accomplishes what Zuffa plans, to become the sole major league in mma, then what reason will there be for a greater share of the spoils being giving to the fighters? In capitalism pay is based on supply and demand and competition. If there is no other promotion even close to the UFC, then how will there be anyone competing for fighters and thereby driving up their wages? They will be a monopoly without a collective bargaining agreement. They will in effect be a monopsony – an imperfect market where many sellers only have one buyer. In this case, numerous fighters and only one major mma promotion.

And you should stick around. At least you can present a coherent argument. I think the part that is frustrating is reading the “Zuffa is evil” and the “How dare you say anything bad about Zuffa” posts. Those like you who can add to the debate are surely needed.