I used 2005 as a starting point as that is when Zuffa's UFC took off. Honestly, the bad luck started in late 2013 with the loss of GSP and Anderson Silva. However, 2014 has been absolutely brutal.
-5 PPVs have been held so far; of the four we have numbers for (UFC 169-172), the highest selling one drew 350,000 buys (Jones vs. Teixiera).
-Fight Pass debuted unfinished with less than 20% of what they promised; fans were not happy.
-TUF on FS1 is dead; the Nations series delivers the worst ratings ever (to be fair, Ronda's season kickstarted the downfall) and ends up sabotaging the Edgar/Penn season.
-Fight Nights on FS1 have never captured the ratings debut of less than a year ago; two since have done well (over 1 million) but the average is still way down from the FX days.
-TRT gets banned, but Dana claims the UFC has been cleaned up; unfortunately, one single match involving three high profile fighters (Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva) ends up becoming the embodiment of UFC's blind eye drug stance and might be the most embarrassing drug test related fiasco in their history.
So is 2014 shaping up to be their worst year in recently history?
Has not been a banner year, that is for sure. Still almost half a year left, so I won't write the obituary yet. I think this is essentially a branding problem for the UFC, in that they have promoted their brand more than their fighters for too long - they really need to focus on building up the name recognition of people besides Rousey.
Misedukatd - Has not been a banner year, that is for sure. Still almost half a year left, so I won't write the obituary yet. I think this is essentially a branding problem for the UFC, in that they have promoted their brand more than their fighters for too long - they really need to focus on building up the name recognition of people besides Rousey.
They are expanding all over the world. Having TUF's, so each market will grow, just like it did here.
This is without a doubt their best year so far. You can't just look at PPV #'s. Many other aspects to business. What about the Fox $$ they get? Not chump change.
What in your estimation made 2013 worse? They were doing much better PPV numbers for sure.
I think in the long term it's better to put on great fights than look at short term numbers.
Injuries ravaged the fights last year and this year if you want to get someone to be a fan of the sport you've got a tonne of fights to show them from the last six months.
I may well be talking out of my arse with the long term growth, but I just think although the business side may be temporarily suffering, the product has at least improved.
Zuffa has outpriced most establishments around here from showing events. Martial arts schools are too scared to have communal viewings. Still, the internet cannot be beaten and more people are going that route since the cost of being a loyal fan is so great.
