Memo to WEC: Doing a PPV in May Is Asking for Disaster
by Michael Rome on Jan 30, 2010 2:40 PM EST
in MMA News
Email
Print
The WEC's Reed Harris confirmed today that Urijah Faber vs. Jose Aldo will take place on PPV sometime in May.
I've long been a skeptic of the WEC's prospects for PPV, but I understand why they need to start running PPV events. If they can't succeed on PPV they won't be financially viable in the long haul, and they can't count on Zuffa subsidizing them just to keep Versus occupied forever. However, May is a bad month for an obvious reason: there is way too much competition for the WEC to succeed in May.
Take a look at the tentative PPV schedule for May in the United States:
May 1: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Shane Mosley
May 8: UFC 113--Lyoto Machida vs. Shogun Rua, Forrest Griffin vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
May 15: (Presumably WEC)
May 23: WWE Judgment Day
May 29: UFC 114--Rampage Jackson vs. Rashad Evans
Three major events will already strain the wallets of fight fans in May. WEC should wait until June, where a single UFC card in Vancouver is all they'll really be competing with, and it doesn't look like that card will have anything big in the main event slot anyway.
I'm rooting for the WEC to succeed on PPV, but I'm also realistic. I know that if they completely bomb, they probably won't try again, because it's unlikely they'll have a bigger fight than Faber-Aldo anytime soon. There's no reason to make success any less likely than it already is by squeezing the event between massive UFC and boxing shows.
52 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
If their PPV bombs they may finally give up and merge with the UFC.
Silver lining, I guess.
Keep firing Assholes!
Mind numbing, tedious and ultimately self defeating.
During that month? I think it will bomb regardless of month. Even with UFC putting their hype train behind it I still can’t see it touching 100k buys
"For some reason Dana White doesn't like me, and I don't care enough to find out why. So he can go pound sand up his ass as far as I'm concerned."
Don Frye
by keyboardwarrior on Jan 30, 2010 1:13 PM EST up reply actions
Tv ratings
How do they expect to do ppv buys when the shows on tv don’t do that great. They r counting on the hardcore but we r protesting.
Agreed
And I also think the $44.95 price point is going to hurt them. Wait until June and price it at $34.95, it’ll probably double their sales.
by ufc4 on Jan 30, 2010 1:09 PM EST via mobile reply actions
It doesnt matter if its May, June, or whenever nobody wants to pay what they have been getting for free.
The reason the UFC is able to have success is they have always been on PPV.
Both the WEC and Strikeforce will have a hard time selling a PPV because they have been free up to this point.
But I actually want them to do this already. They will see that it will fail and then either keep the WEC free or fold it into the UFC which either one is fine with me.
Strikeforce at least has a method to build one.
Use CBS shows to get more eyes on the product, garner new fans and bring casual attention to stars, and then move to PPV for the big HW title fight. It will likely be a tiny number compared to UFC PPV buys, but it’s a reasonable plan. WEC seems to be assuming that the 500,000 people on Versus include the UFC’s 300,000 fan/buy base, and those 300k value all promotions and fights equally.
WEC does not have enough talent to be on PPV for more than one show a year. A New Years PPV might be a better strategy, but that’s just me shooting from the hip. Could be a terrible idea.
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
With 1st,8th and 29th booked there is also a huge possibility Strikeforce will do a show same night, what will cripple WEC PPV buys even more.
http://www.mmarocks.pl
https://twitter.com/mmarocks_pl
It would be a great move on Strikeforce’s part. The WEC is going to need to rely on hardcore fans to drive its PPV buys a lot more than the UFC does.
And a free Showtime card would draw an awful lot of people away from buying a WEC PPV.
This is assuming SF can get its shit together well enough to run a counter show.
It doesn’t matter if they get their shit together or not, they will counter it because that is the only Saturday in May they can hold an event on without facing a supercard.
by John Nash on Jan 30, 2010 2:17 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
The WEC doing a PPV period, is asking for disaster.
Walking the line between intelligence and ignorance since 1985
@deowade
I blog about stuff too.
exactly
"For some reason Dana White doesn't like me, and I don't care enough to find out why. So he can go pound sand up his ass as far as I'm concerned."
Don Frye
by keyboardwarrior on Jan 30, 2010 1:20 PM EST up reply actions
Doing it in May is retarded though. Strikeforce can now put on a CBS card on that date cause the WEC isn’t going head to head with boxing or UFC or WWE. If I’m Coker I’m stacking a May CBS card. Crush the WEC or force Zuffa to counter program their own promotion.
Then making it $45 is ridiculous cause the only people who watch WEC are also the people who know how to get illegal streams.
twitter.com/thisredengine
by Matthew Roth on Jan 30, 2010 1:21 PM EST up reply actions
Strikeforce doesn’t have the pull with CBS to put on a counter programming. UFC is able to do it with Spike because UFC basically made Spike what it is today plus Spike doesn’t really have any other big programs. Strikeforce only puts their biggest fighters on the CBS cards and they will all be in action on CBS in April.
"For some reason Dana White doesn't like me, and I don't care enough to find out why. So he can go pound sand up his ass as far as I'm concerned."
Don Frye
by keyboardwarrior on Jan 30, 2010 1:24 PM EST up reply actions
Then it just comes down the fact that the expectation for people to spend a minimum of $150 is absurd (saying that you aren’t ordering Mayweather/Mosely or WWE).
twitter.com/thisredengine
by Matthew Roth on Jan 30, 2010 1:46 PM EST up reply actions
StrikeForce is already booked for April on CBS so they won’t be able to put a May card on the Tiffany network as well. Still a Showtime card should be more than enough to really hurt the WEC. People are going to have already budgeted $150 that month for Mayweather/Mosely and UFCs 113 and 114, so they’ll have a choice that night between spending another $45 or watching the (basically) free StrikeForce show.
And messrs. Rome and Venom: I commented on your exact points on the WEC article from yesterday. If the two of you would have made these observations earlier you could have saved me the trouble of writing a comment. Lets get with it gentlemen.
by John Nash on Jan 30, 2010 1:46 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Excuse me, mate :)
http://www.mmarocks.pl
https://twitter.com/mmarocks_pl
Apology excepted
If someone is going to make the same observations I do I prefer that they do it before me. That way I don’t have to bother writing anything.
I am a very lazy man.
by John Nash on Jan 30, 2010 2:22 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
WEC will most likely be competing with boxing on May 15
Supposedly a fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Amir Kahn is pretty much a done deal and will land on that date….probably on HBO
by ultimoshogun on Jan 30, 2010 5:31 PM EST up reply actions
Can the UFC just absorb the WEC already?!!
fights and fighters like the WEC have would give the UFC more options in weight classes and therefore minimize the chances of a shitty UFC ppv (108). if this fight was on the UFC 115 card (chuck vs tito 3), it would make for a sweet main event, and would sure as hell make me more inclined to buy it! MERGE DAMN U!! MERGE!!!
by Dark Tower on Jan 30, 2010 1:29 PM EST reply actions 4 recs
I think the better question is “what makes this event a success?” A lot of people are saying things like “it’ll be lucky to do 100k”
I agree. but lets say it does do 100k. Bear in mind the WEC’s last card WEC 46 had a total fighter payout of 272k + 30k in bonuses, so 300k approx. The most recent UFC 108 paid out 845k in pay and 200k in bonuses, so that’s 1.05 million, or about 3.3 times as much as the WEC. Likewise it pulled in around 300k buys. So if the UFC can make money off of UFC 108, it’s not inconceivable at all that the WEC can make money off of 100k buys.
There’s definitely more to this in terms of sponsorships, advertising and otherwise that I’m frankly pretty ignorant on, and I’m not sure how they scale up to what the UFC pulls in from them, or what the extra production would cost. But its worth a shot. I don’t think they’re making much money off of Versus shows. If people are expecting the WEC to do even 300k views, then yeah, it’ll fail. But I doubt that’s the case.
But I’d love to see someone with some knowledge crunch the numbers re revenue from PPV events (no idea which cut goes where), costs of production and stuff like that and try and figure out where the WEC’s break even line is (or whether the UFC made money off of 108.) It’s easy to say that the WEC’s PPV won’t sell like a UFC- but that’s not saying anything, really.
My guess is, that fewer people will watch this on PPv than on VS, so why would the sponsorship money go up?
I’m sincerely asking, because in my mind it would go down if anything.
I would guess it would have to be lower. That’s why so many of the Strikeforce fighters want to fight on CBS as opposed to Showtime.The more the exposure the more the sponsorship money. Less viewers less money.
by scrambledeggs on Jan 30, 2010 5:20 PM EST up reply actions
maybe if it was a bad show, but this one looks great!!
"Everyone has a game plan, untell they get hit." -Mike Tyson
Wow...
I didn’t realize all of that was scheduled in May for PPV. It looks like I won’t be ordering the WEC PPV. I’ll try and order 2 of those and the WEC won’t be one.
Mayweather/Mosley for sure and most likely UFC 114.
I have been viewing these
fights for free for years, now I have to pay? I have already decided to order 3 PPVs in May and I won’t buy this card unless it’s in the $29.99 range. The WEC needs to become the promotion that does FREE weekly MMA shows.
Bad business move. If this show does 100k buys we are doomed. They will never let the Faber/Aldo/Brown fight on a free card again. Zuffa needs to siphon the top talent and make the WEC a feeder league on free TV every Sunday night. Become a WEC champ and you get a contract with the UFC for 3 fights. It will prevent the UFC from flat releasing talent that needs a few fights. It would also allow fighters a tune up fight after injuries and lengthy layoffs.
by Riney on Jan 30, 2010 2:57 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
so funny tho that people keep bitching about how little these guys get paid, and not a single person has said they’ll order the ppv. how little do you think theyll get paid if the WEC goes to weekly shows?
by Austin Martin on Jan 30, 2010 3:01 PM EST up reply actions
Right, it is entirely up to the fans how much fighters get paid. Zuffa, who pockets 80% of the profits, has nothing to do with it.
Let me go ahead and spend $150 on PPVs in May so I don’t feel guilty.
"It would appear that the strain was more than he could bear".- Doc Holliday
by MyFistYourFace on Jan 30, 2010 3:10 PM EST up reply actions
I have never
complained about fighter pay. With the names (Faber,Aldo,Torres etc) all in the UFC and the WEC being a feeder league, their pay will stay the same or go up.
I've got the perfect solution
They want to put Aldo vs Faber on ppv in May? Have them fight on UFC 114 as the co-main event. They can even allow Faber and Aldo and all their cornermen to be brandishing WEC logos all over their clothes and have their corners holding up WEC banners. If they would have allowed m-1 to do that why not a promotion you own?
by John Nash on Jan 30, 2010 3:07 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Maube
They are just trying to see the reaction of the hardcores! They are doing it with plenty of time to backpedal and change the price or date!
Or maybe they are gonna try to test the WEC brand and see how loyal it’s fan base will be in the midst of a busy fight month?
all you gotta do is...
by imapimp08 on Jan 30, 2010 3:52 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Oops, don't want any spelling teachers on the site correcting me again!
Maybe!
all you gotta do is...
by imapimp08 on Jan 30, 2010 3:54 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Majority
Let WEC and UFC merge. It makes us (the fans) happy and we won’t have to suffer through another card like 108 (granted, the fights actually turned out pretty well and filled with action at times, but really?) It would make everyone happy, and WEC fighters might actually make more money. What a thought!
Well yeah, that is a rough month, with two UFC and a mega boxing event, fuck the WWE shit, but yeah, although that makes the month great for fight fights, a huge U FC 113, then another UFC and the Floyd/SHane fight and a WEC mega fight, thats a huge month.
But your right, they should NEVEr do a PPV during a month the UFC is doing 2, not to mention a boxing fight, they would be retarded to do that. Push back till may, when the UFC is only doing 1 PPV that month, if they were smart they would.
This might work out really well for us.
My unreasonably optimistic hope: The PPV is an unprecedented failure. The WEC goes back to the drawing board, and Zuffa reconsiders their value as an organization when the UFC can be on Versus too. TUF 11 ends and Chuck vs. Tito III happens. Zuffa decides to integrate the WEC into the UFC by having a TUF 12 featuring featherweights and bantamweights coached by Ben Henderson and Donald Cerrone for number 1 contender to UFC LW belt. This way the WEC talent seems legitimate since you are unifying the titles, and you get to create up and coming stars in the new divisions. For the next year, FW and BW title fights are only done to support other title fights or with an incredible co-main event until casuals learn the names and they can support a UFC card on their own.
/ramblings
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
That's my hope as well
But I would throw in Torres and Bowles as coaches, or at least co-coaches, since in the long run it’s going to be more important to promote those two than your lws.
WEC + PPV + Success = Probable
What shocked me the most was when Reed Harris admitted in that video of him speaking on the radio show that the WEC is on the same wavelength as the UFC, except they’re ten pounds lighter. Hmm, interesting. Don’t get me wrong; Aldo-Faber is going to be an amazing fight, just not that amazing to be a $49 PPV unless the co-main event is Benderson vs Cerrone 2. Hell, even Ricky Hatton’s fight against Carlos Moussa, back in the day for his 140lbs title, wasn’t HBO-PPV worthy yet they only charged $19.99 for the bout and the live feed was shot directly from England to the USA.
The only acceptable way I could see this fight working out in the favor of the WEC is if they drop the price to $19.99 or at the very most $29.99, as all of you say, and stage the fight at Arco Arena in Sacramento, CA. Over a million people live in Sacramento county — I assume 70-80% are Urijah Faber fans. A fight of this magnitude would stir up a lot and basically FORCE Sacramento residents to buy the event on PPV ( or fill sports bars around town ) because the event would sell out in mere hours, if not sooner. It can work.
"I do no speak of the future. Your demise is already an inescapable fact of the past. " - Aizen
The thing about a WEC PPV is that it really doesn’t need to do that many buys to be a success. They have a very small payroll, and how much can they be making from vs?
to be a success they just need to take in more money than vs is paying, and have a little left over to give faber and aldo a ppv cut, but since the overhead is so low, I think it’s very possible for them to find a price that will enable them to at least make money on the deal.
That said, this probably will change the way the whole Zuffa group of orgs operates. There’s a good chance that it bombs and they have to change something, or maybe it makes money, but not enough to give the stars UFC-level money, and that could also force a change.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
MMA Rankings
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
