Two stories caught my eye this morning and combined really reinforce my concern that Dana White is making some enough bad decisions to hold back the UFC and MMA as a whole.
The CBS deal is falling apart over the same thing that killed the HBO deal -- Dana's amateur hour insistence on controlling the production. Look Dana, the NFL doesn't control the production, if MMA is a real sport worthy of real TV coverage, you're going to have to loosen up and face the glare of real sports journalism covering your shows. From Adam Swift:
Despite seeming assurances by Dana White to the contrary, sources close to the situation continue to tell MMAPayout.com that negotiations between the UFC and CBS have stalled as reported last month. The impasse is widely believed to be creative control, which the company continues to refuse to relinquish. A potential deal with HBO fell apart over similar concerns late last year. CBS announced three new series today with no mention of the UFC.
Dana has reached out to NBC but they're not looking for prime-time programming and doesn't want to work with Dana. They are looking for late-night shows and this might provide an opening for the competition:
NBC continues to talk with a number of players about late night time slots, including the IFL, Strikeforce, M-1, and K-1. Speculation within the industry suggests that Strikeforce, with financial backing from the owners of Hewlett-Packard, may have already came to terms with the network, however, such a deal would not preclude other promotions involvement.
And Dana can't pretend he doesn't care about this one. Even Dana knows he needs the networks. From FoxSports:
"The big thing I need now is a big television network. I'm going to be landing it here pretty soon," says White, who on several occasions during 2007 announced that UFC was close to a deal with HBO. Rumors have it that the HBO deal fell apart when pro-UFC HBO chairman and chief executive Chris Albrecht was fired in May after a physical altercation with his girlfriend outside the MGM in Las Vegas following the De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather fight. "Every year, we've taken this to another level. ... Wait till you see what I do in 2008 with network TV."
FWIW, Cage Potato agrees.
More Dana-bashing in the extended entry.
The other bit of trouble that came to light today is Steve Sievert's report that UFC 83 won't be happening in England:
Although a source I spoke with confirmed that the U.K. event has been cancelled, no specific were provided as to why. However, the show will go on, only here in the states.
The original plan was for the March 8 event to be held at M.E.N. Arena, which was the venue for UFC 70 in April 2007. The show played to a sellout crowd of 14,921 and generated a gate of more than $2.5 million. With numbers like those, it's highly likely the UFC lands back in Manchester in 2008. It just won't be in March.
Hosting a show March 8 - regardless of location - is a very aggressive strategy for the UFC. ...
The rumored card for UFC 83 includes a fight between Michael Bisping and Charles McCarthy. Houston Alexander and James Irvin are expected to be in the mix, as well. Those are decent fights, but neither is a main event - and, frankly, would seem to generate little interest just a week after a big show like 82.
UFC 83 was looking pretty damn weak already. The UK shows, although they seem to do well at selling tickets and merch don't have the other revenue streams that the UFC needs to pay for moving their whole set up across the Atlantic for the fights. If they put it on PPV, it's in the afternoon which kills sales. If they put it on Spike TV with a tape delay, there's no PPV revenue and Spike probably wasn't interested in this event since there's no headliner anyway.
Leland Rolling has more analysis on the UFC in the UK and why they've stopped even talking about expanding into the rest of Europe any time soon:
Costs are the main culprit here. Costs are what cause the expansion of many companies to halt until better things come along or the seas calm. In the UFC's case, the fish in the sea need to become more interested in what's on the surface. The means to that end is the television market.
Television is the key to the expansion of nearly any sport. Get people to see what it is and associate a name with a visual representation of it. It's the fastest way to get name recognition and brand the UFC onto the combative sport of MMA. Of course, this is a tad different in England.
Television markets seem to be much different in markets outside of the U.S. for many promoters. They usually aren't welcome unless they are highly profitable ventures. The UFC has seen the toughest market in Japan, and they could be seeing more of the same in the UK. How can the UFC remedy that problem? Continue to sellout arenas, and try to gain some key sponsors that are in relation to the region. The more you can draw to yourself, the better it is to gain attention from the bigger dogs.
Instead of focusing big expansion, the UFC is now focusing on moving into a small market that is relatively close to one that they are already somewhat familiar with. Scotland also has a good size MMA fanbase and should sellout the card easily. It's a smart move because they won't spread themselves thin on funds due to the exorbent cost of trying to move into a market that may not care about MMA. That could risk a lot of money for little gain.
Eventually with enough sellouts and enough exposure to the UK media, the UFC will have potential suitors. Before a TV or PPV deal can be made, the UFC will have to continue to show its worth in the UK. Once the UFC can turn a profit on another continent and rely on it to help drive the Zuffa machine, expansion into the other areas of Europe will surely be much easier.
We'll see. I wish Dana and the UFC team would just focus on taking care of business here in the states instead of launching these overly ambitious schemes for world domination.