Saw this on another forum. Anybody heard anything? I guess we will find out on Saturday.
In news that will surely piss off people (and obviously fighters), an insider told me that Zuffa has put a temporary ban on clothing sponsors in Strikeforce. This policy was put in effective this week, as the fighters have been told to cover up their shorts for the show on Saturday. No logos can be shown. At the fighter summit, the fighters were told that existing contracts would be honored. Now, it will cost $35,000 to sponsor anyone.
This sounds very odd to me. Don't some fighters in Strikeforce have the same clothing sponsors that some UFC fighters have? Zuffa honored and grandfathered these sponsors into contract once the acquisition was complete. They can't legally go back on that contract.
Is that the same way they do it in the UFC? It doesn't seem like there is a lack of sponsors over there. And yes, I realize that slapping this on three days prior to the show is ridiuclous.
Zuffa clearly would not ask for this $35,000 if they didn't need it. Clearly they have hit some rough patches financially, it is our duty as fans to help support them.
They could just start another supplement company, get cash advances and loans from investors and use that.
"Don't some fighters in Strikeforce have the same clothing sponsors that some UFC fighters have?"
by and large, no... prior to the merger, folks that had to pay the sponsor tax in the ufc were basically told not to sponsor guys in the other big shows, ie Strikeforce or Bellator....so you large portion of sponsors for fighters in Strikeforce don't sponsor guys in the UFC
the sponsors that were sponsoring guys in Strikeforce are now being told they have to pay the sponsor tax to zuffa in order to do so example
Conor Heun is fighting on this weekend's card is/was sponsored by Vexillum ...well they ran into a problem trying to sponsor him for this card