So... Just how BIG is Pride ???

Underground
1

Ever since the Fuji TV scandal/dropping, there's been nothing but doom and gloom from everyone from MMA journalists right down to the UFC ball-swingers on the forum. Pride's dead. They can't survive. UFC will buy them. Blah blah blah blah blah.

I really just haven't been buying it. They haven't changed their business practices one bit... and still decided to come over to the USA at a much greater expense, rather than just continuing to put on cheaper, more successful home shows in Japan.

Their United States venture doesn't strike me one bit as a last gasp for survival, but rather just part of their natural expansion and evolution.

So anyway... I was on PrideFC.com tonight and thought I'd check out the About Pride section of the webpage. There was an interesting thing at the bottom that said Pride is currently available in the following countries (via broadcast or home video):

Japan, Korea, United States, Canada, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Algeria, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia

That's a list of 44 countries... and I suspect this page hasn't been updated since it was posted (probably when the English version of the website went up a few years back) since it was reported that around 70% of Croatia was watching Crocop's victory, and they aren't even on that list.

I'm no expert on Pride's financial situation (much like everyone else on here spouting doom and gloom) but I suspect that they are on-par with the UFC when it comes to PPV dollars coming in worldwide. I suspect that each Pride show is more watched worldwide than any UFC show (combination PPV and TV deals). We know that virtually every Pride show has a greater live gate attendance than any UFC show.

I for one just can't believe that Pride's in as dire straits as everyone is blathering on about.

No doubt is the Japanese television deal is very important... and it looks like DSE is negotiating that very well and doing what it takes (Mike Tyson fighting in China on NYE show?) to get a solid deal.

Anyway... if anyone has any FACTS relating to how poorly they are or aren't doing and can add anything to this thread... that would be great. I just don't think the North American reporting on the situation seems terribly accurate.

2

Yea I always thought it did seem kind of exagerated the whole Pride is in trouble deal... but then again I really have no business sense of any kind so I'm not even going to try and give my opinion on it since I have no idea what I'm talking about.

3

I'd love to know which countries on that list have Pride television deals or PPV events show on TV.

Japan (currently just PPV, lol)

United States (PPV)

Canada (PPV and tv deal with The Fight Network)

Korea (I believe a television deal?)

Those are the only ones I know (because I've seen them) but as for the rest... I'm not sure.

4

http://www.fightopinion.com/2006/09/19/prides-big-picture/

This is a great article by Zach Arnold on the business side of what's going on with Pride. Doesn't cover a lot of the questions I have about how big they are currently... but it does go in to detail about where they might be going.

5

tyj316,

Where did you hear that they've been losing money on their recent shows? And by that do you mean when you incorporate the worldwide figures? Just Japan? Just USA?

Point me to some links or at least tell me who reported that.

I'm not calling you a liar or saying that you've just stated pure speculation... I'm on a quest to find out as much information as possible.

6

I agree.

7

1 of the most intelligent posts I've read in awhile. I'd love to read factual evidence of Pride's business cause I've been under the impression for years that they have global exposure

8

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay nigger than the ufc...like i said so many times...PRIDE is like the Olympics and the ufc is like the special olympics

9

^^^ LOL what a typo

10

I certainly hope they are doing well and continue to put on excellent shows like the last one.

Robin.

11

"waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay nigger than the ufc...like i said so many times...PRIDE is like the Olympics and the ufc is like the special olympics"

You realize that this is exactly the kind of post that TorontoMike is not looking for right? He is looking for factual information instead of people just talking out of their ass...

12

You can watch Pride events in Europe on a cable channel.

13

Thanks Tyson... not looking for people spouting off one way or another on what they "think" is the truth... there's enough threads like that already.

14

while your at it, see if you can find out their payscale for recent events. Everyone says they pay fighters so much more, but noone can prove it.

15

"while your at it, see if you can find out their payscale for recent events. Everyone says they pay fighters so much more, but noone can prove it."-TM is onto something good but you aren never going to get these numbers for PRIDE or their payscale. Just like some of these websites reporting record PPV buys for the UFC. How do they know this? I remember when the Zuffa took control of the UFC and after the first few flops they made this information non-disclosure. So how are these people getting this information.

If anyone watch the last PRIDE OWGP Finals and seen the crowd alone you realize PRIDE can't be hurting that bad.

16

"Dave Meltzer is where all of these websites "report" this from.

And he has more credibility covering the business side of mma than anyone else."-So where is he getting his information? That's all I'm asking for.

17

Bigger than life IMO.

18

Thanks Johnny Blaze,

So it sounds like Pride probably has Europe-wide PPV along with seperate television deals in some of the European countries.

Any more info out there guys?

19

Pride gets fights shown for free on Eurosport for whole Europe. K1 also has the same deal. Some European countries get live PPVs but dont know which ones exactly.

20

pride is bling ufc is cubic zirconia