I think guys like mmainsurgent and DHG miss the point. It's not that competing organizations must pay their fighters equal to or greater than the UFC, the point is that fighters everywhere need to start forcing these organizations to more equitably share revenue!
The Savemart arena in California where Bellator held 133, seats about 16,000 people. Using rough math, and assuming a sold out event , that accounts for a $2.5 million dollar gate ($166 avg tkt price x 16K).
The fighter salaries listed above total $175,000. THAT IS .07% BELLATOR PAID TO FIGHTERS FROM REVENUE!!
Are you kidding me ?!? The NBA pays players almost 50% of their revenue!!
Bellator could have TRIPLED what every fighter received on that card AND WOULD HAVE STILL KEPT ALMOST 80% OF THE REVENUE!!
And for some of the truly struggling fighters, a $1,000 payday vs a. $3,000 payday is HUGE!!
Please bear in mind, this is just the gate revenue. We're not even discussing the millions in PPV revenue.
One more thing, the poster who said this will never come about unless there is a union is partially correct. Promotions will almost never offer fighters more than they are willing to pay. It's the fighters who must, either thru some moment of leverage or risk taking, or thru social pressure from us fans, demand a greater share of the revenue that they build with their name and their true blood and sweat, not the promoters or executives, or we will continue to see living legends like Melvin Manhoef be paid scrub change.
I think guys like mmainsurgent and DHG miss the point. It's not that competing organizations must pay their fighters equal to or greater than the UFC, the point is that fighters everywhere need to start forcing these organizations to more equitably share revenue!
The Savemart arena in California where Bellator held 133, seats about 16,000 people. Using rough math, and assuming a sold out event , that accounts for a $2.5 million dollar gate ($166 avg tkt price x 16K).
The fighter salaries listed above total $175,000. THAT IS .07% BELLATOR PAID TO FIGHTERS FROM REVENUE!!
Are you kidding me ?!? The NBA pays players almost 50% of their revenue!!
Bellator could have TRIPLED what every fighter received on that card AND WOULD HAVE STILL KEPT ALMOST 80% OF THE REVENUE!!
And for some of the truly struggling fighters, a $1,000 payday vs a. $3,000 payday is HUGE!!
Please bear in mind, this is just the gate revenue. We're not even discussing the millions in PPV revenue.
One more thing, the poster who said this will never come about unless there is a union is partially correct. Promotions will almost never offer fighters more than they are willing to pay. It's the fighters who must, either thru some moment of leverage or risk taking, or thru social pressure from us fans, demand a greater share of the revenue that they build with their name and their true blood and sweat, not the promoters or executives, or we will continue to see living legends like Melvin Manhoef be paid scrub change.
I was the posted that mentioned unions...
"Promotions will almost never offer fighters more than they are willing to pay."
In the contrary, promotions will never offer fighters more than they are willing to accept. Many fighters don't know their value.
There is still a lot of risk in MMA. It's not an establish sport like the NBA or NFL. It's still fringe in many ways.
That's said, it would take a lot of courage and sacrifice to make a union work. You need the well paid fighters to join because they hold the real clout. The UFC can easily replace the lower level fighters and no one would notice. If you had Pettis and Rousey say "we're not fighting unless you give into XYZ" then you have negotiating power.
I don't think the UFC is as financially healthy as many people believe. They carry huge expenses tryin for rapid expansion. They need to stabilize their books.
I think guys like mmainsurgent and DHG miss the point. It's not that competing organizations must pay their fighters equal to or greater than the UFC, the point is that fighters everywhere need to start forcing these organizations to more equitably share revenue!
The Savemart arena in California where Bellator held 133, seats about 16,000 people. Using rough math, and assuming a sold out event , that accounts for a $2.5 million dollar gate ($166 avg tkt price x 16K).
The fighter salaries listed above total $175,000. THAT IS .07% BELLATOR PAID TO FIGHTERS FROM REVENUE!!
Are you kidding me ?!? The NBA pays players almost 50% of their revenue!!
Bellator could have TRIPLED what every fighter received on that card AND WOULD HAVE STILL KEPT ALMOST 80% OF THE REVENUE!!
And for some of the truly struggling fighters, a $1,000 payday vs a. $3,000 payday is HUGE!!
Please bear in mind, this is just the gate revenue. We're not even discussing the millions in PPV revenue.
One more thing, the poster who said this will never come about unless there is a union is partially correct. Promotions will almost never offer fighters more than they are willing to pay. It's the fighters who must, either thru some moment of leverage or risk taking, or thru social pressure from us fans, demand a greater share of the revenue that they build with their name and their true blood and sweat, not the promoters or executives, or we will continue to see living legends like Melvin Manhoef be paid scrub change.
Bellator ticket sales are atrocious. I'd be surprised if they had 2k paid in attendance
whoabro - Cant wait to see the zuffa haters' mental gymnastics on this one!
Economies Of Scale & Fighter Pay...
UFC = Major Leagues (15k seat arena) - 700K PPV X $59.95 = $42M + $3M Gate + Sponsor Millions + International TV Millions + Merchandising etc...
Bellator = Minor League/3A Baseball (800-1.5K seat Indian Casino Banquet Room) - 0 PPV X $0 = $0M + $50K Gate + Sponsor Thousands + SPIKE 100K's + International TV Thousands + T-Shirt(s?) etc...
UFC PPV's have 40,50, 60 'maybe' 100 TIMES THE REVENUE BELLATOR DOES FOR IT'S EVENTS! That's many many many many many many many many many many times more money the UFC brings in for an event.
I what realm of reality should Bellator have comparable fighter pay to the UFC??? That's simply idiotic.... That's like saying the Billings, Montana 'Mustangs' (Cincinatti Reds 3A team) should have player salaries in the ballpark of the New York Yankees. The tickets sales, tv deals, and hotdogs sales just don't compare. The numbers don't crunch right.
All that being said... I'd be willing to guess that the fighters in Bellator get a bigger piece of the total revenue pie than UFC fighters due. The total share of revenue, like the major sports, is the measure for fairness for the guys putting people in the seats and buying PPV's.
UFC average event is not a PPV UFC does not average 700k buys per PPV UFC does not average 3m gate per event UFC gets around 50% of the PPV money
Chuckliddellstein - UFC pay is way the fuck off and needs sorted ASAP but that is horrendous
trickle down effect.
I bet thatch didn't get paid to well last night.
UFC sets the top and it goes down from there.
Thats complete nonsense. You're saying if the UFCs min was 100,000 then Bellators min would be 12,500. Get the hell out of here with that. Pure specualtion.
A fighters union is an idea light years too radical for the UFC, or MMA in general. Fighting is solitary. There are no leagues. We can talk about it all we want but it will probably not happen in our lifetimes.
I think it's more realistic to hope that the Well known camps or gyms like AKA and Blackhouse or DukeRoufus or Serra/Longo negotiate for a extra premium for fighters they have on a card. Or receive a gym bonus at the end of the year.
But this imbalance in revenue sharing is not sustainable. It's not if it will change it's when. Knowledge is power and as more and more fighters learn how the financial game works, they will learn how to use that power and one day, harness that power as a group.
You already see in the last few years how many fighters are now getting very comfortable turning down fights. Something that once sent Dana White into near rage. Fighters now know that yes, you still need to jump when the UFC says 'Jump!' But now you can decide how high you feel like jumping at a particular offer, or if it's worth it to your brand to even jump at all.
One day, million dollar purses in the UFC or $25K league minimum fighter pay will not be so unusual, but markets don't have a set timetable to correct themselves.
I think guys like mmainsurgent and DHG miss the point. It's not that competing organizations must pay their fighters equal to or greater than the UFC, the point is that fighters everywhere need to start forcing these organizations to more equitably share revenue!
The Savemart arena in California where Bellator held 133, seats about 16,000 people. Using rough math, and assuming a sold out event , that accounts for a $2.5 million dollar gate ($166 avg tkt price x 16K).
The fighter salaries listed above total $175,000. THAT IS .07% BELLATOR PAID TO FIGHTERS FROM REVENUE!!
Are you kidding me ?!? The NBA pays players almost 50% of their revenue!!
Bellator could have TRIPLED what every fighter received on that card AND WOULD HAVE STILL KEPT ALMOST 80% OF THE REVENUE!!
And for some of the truly struggling fighters, a $1,000 payday vs a. $3,000 payday is HUGE!!
Please bear in mind, this is just the gate revenue. We're not even discussing the millions in PPV revenue.
One more thing, the poster who said this will never come about unless there is a union is partially correct. Promotions will almost never offer fighters more than they are willing to pay. It's the fighters who must, either thru some moment of leverage or risk taking, or thru social pressure from us fans, demand a greater share of the revenue that they build with their name and their true blood and sweat, not the promoters or executives, or we will continue to see living legends like Melvin Manhoef be paid scrub change.
"Assuming a sold out" "Average $166"
Are you joking? Their average ticket price is probably $30. And their attendance was probably closer to a few thousand.
Fighter pay sucks everywhere. They absolutely need a union imo.
I got the $166 average ticket price from the website Khalib, $128, $63, $43 and $28. Where you get yours??
I agree. Having a prime time fighter like Ronda Rousey say they will not not fight unless the pay was increased is just too huge a request for those fighters on that card. Almost instant career death and the UFC just might decide to play hardball and suddenly all fights are cancelled and other fighters are not getting paid. You saw how dome fighters reacted to Jon Jones for UFC 151.
The closed business model of the UFC is the fighters disadvantage. In the NBA, players have all the information. They know how much the NBA gets from TV rights, from gate receipts and licensing. UFC fighters sometimes don't know who they are fighting until they are asked by the media.
Fighters will just have to grind it out, small victory by small victory. Anderson Silva was the crack. I'm sure even Brock Lesnar blinked at the number Silva got.
It'll be up to Jon Jones or Ronda Rousey or Cain Velasquez to keep kicking and pushing for what their talents deserve and raising the payline for all fighters.
whoabro - Cant wait to see the zuffa haters' mental gymnastics on this one!
Economies Of Scale & Fighter Pay...
UFC = Major Leagues (15k seat arena) - 700K PPV X $59.95 = $42M + $3M Gate + Sponsor Millions + International TV Millions + Merchandising etc...
Bellator = Minor League/3A Baseball (800-1.5K seat Indian Casino Banquet Room) - 0 PPV X $0 = $0M + $50K Gate + Sponsor Thousands + SPIKE 100K's + International TV Thousands + T-Shirt(s?) etc...
UFC PPV's have 40,50, 60 'maybe' 100 TIMES THE REVENUE BELLATOR DOES FOR IT'S EVENTS! That's many many many many many many many many many many times more money the UFC brings in for an event.
I what realm of reality should Bellator have comparable fighter pay to the UFC??? That's simply idiotic.... That's like saying the Billings, Montana 'Mustangs' (Cincinatti Reds 3A team) should have player salaries in the ballpark of the New York Yankees. The tickets sales, tv deals, and hotdogs sales just don't compare. The numbers don't crunch right.
All that being said... I'd be willing to guess that the fighters in Bellator get a bigger piece of the total revenue pie than UFC fighters due. The total share of revenue, like the major sports, is the measure for fairness for the guys putting people in the seats and buying PPV's.
I think guys like mmainsurgent and DHG miss the point. It's not that competing organizations must pay their fighters equal to or greater than the UFC, the point is that fighters everywhere need to start forcing these organizations to more equitably share revenue!
The Savemart arena in California where Bellator held 133, seats about 16,000 people. Using rough math, and assuming a sold out event , that accounts for a $2.5 million dollar gate ($166 avg tkt price x 16K).
The fighter salaries listed above total $175,000. THAT IS .07% BELLATOR PAID TO FIGHTERS FROM REVENUE!!
Are you kidding me ?!? The NBA pays players almost 50% of their revenue!!
Bellator could have TRIPLED what every fighter received on that card AND WOULD HAVE STILL KEPT ALMOST 80% OF THE REVENUE!!
And for some of the truly struggling fighters, a $1,000 payday vs a. $3,000 payday is HUGE!!
Please bear in mind, this is just the gate revenue. We're not even discussing the millions in PPV revenue.
One more thing, the poster who said this will never come about unless there is a union is partially correct. Promotions will almost never offer fighters more than they are willing to pay. It's the fighters who must, either thru some moment of leverage or risk taking, or thru social pressure from us fans, demand a greater share of the revenue that they build with their name and their true blood and sweat, not the promoters or executives, or we will continue to see living legends like Melvin Manhoef be paid scrub change.
I see what you're getting at, but there is no way Bellator is coming anywhere close to selling out a 16K arena and their tickets are much cheaper than the UFC.
Man, the pay has to increase. It makes no sense, except yo the promoters and executives, who often have ZERO to do with the actual product that drives the card.
Imagine we are having this discussion WITHOUT EVEN FACTORING ON PPV REVENUE, which could factor in the millions!! Even if you cut gate receipts in half, once you add in PPV revenue, the amount paid out to fighters is abysmal for any industry except for waitresses and prisoners!
