The Sultan -Farthammer - Nice! I imagine the fighters will get a huge cut of the sponsorship deal.You really think so? How many zuffa contracts do fighters benefit greatly from?
This will be great for zuffa but I dont know how good it will be for the fighters. Zuffa contracts are heavily lopsided in zuffas favor as is.
Hatton is no Mayweather:
Boxer Ricky Hatton made nearly 20 times more in his fight against Pacquiao ($20 million) (deal was 52/48 split) , than Jon Fitch made in his entire UFC career ($1,322,000). They have had comparable careers. Or how about Nick Diaz? BJ Penn? Gil Melendez?
I could go on and on. It's insulting to the athletes of MMA to pretend the boxers are somehow magically more gifted and the explanation doesn't lie elsewhere. That explanation certainly should not come from MMA talent rep--ever.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/boxing/67120/Hatton-Pacquiao-will-split-40m-purse
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3854403
Ingrained Media -kalt - Fighters won't get paid from this. They'll just lose out on the ability to get sponsored themselves by a different company. Like Anderson and Jones not being able to be sponsored by Nike anymore. UFC is not gonna compensate them for that, they'll just say there's good news, you can possibly get sponsored by Reebock now.
If you look at the WNBA they have team uniforms and the teams sell the space on the uniforms to big corporate sponsors. The athletes are required to wear this uniform. The main difference is that those athletes are not independent contractors, they are paid if they are injured, they are guaranteed a certain amount of money each year. Winning or selling tickets is not part of that contract. These ladies can do endorsement deals with brands that compete directly with the teams sponsor or the WNBA sponsors, they just cannot wear that brands logo during events put on by the WNBA.
In combat sports the athletes are independent contractors. What they can wear during Zuffa televised events can be and is regulated. As the Zuffa brand increases the categories that do not have a "sponsor tax" associated with them will be bought out by brands that want to be aligned with the UFC. Some of this money will find its way to the athletes. There is a long list of major endorsement deals that Zuffa puts together with these brands and athletes under contract. They have no obligation to do it but they do.
If Reebok is the sponsor for the apparel category this will drive Reebok's competitors to look at working with the athletes outside of the cage. This will create more opportunity for the top level guys, and force the smaller MMA apparel companies to adjust the way they do business.
This year we have a client that we advised to pull its sponsorship dollars from Zuffa. The fact that they were paying mid 5 figures for permission was insane. That money is now being spent on athletes. The point is the brands do not need the to be seen in the cage to be effective. Some may argue that the patch system that has been in place has cause patch blindness. The RoI is not there, the only thing you are guaranteed is a flood of emails and calls from managers asking you to sponsor their fighter at this upcoming event.
Maybe I will redact some of these proposals and post them so you can see what brands are dealing with. It will be painfully obvious that Zuffa is within its right to charge fees for permission and that the managers are incompetent at best.
And just out of curiousity--how much cash does RevGear pay to athletes?
Or is it all certificates of trade for gear?
Do you see no conflict at all between an agent of talent representing the sponsors of talent?
Or gasp--as happens frequently--the promoters of talent?
I don't see the analogy of the sponsorship deal here to the NBA or WNBA at all.
Also, this is not being done for the benefit of the fighters... this is being done to increase revenue flowing to UFC, no surprise.
However, this does not mean the fighters will not end up with a better situation than they have now; it just means that is not the driver. UFC has its target take on this deal... whether the fighters get a better or worse situation than they have now depends on what is left over after the UFC gets its take.
But here is the benefit for the UFC in terms of 'story telling'... Regardless of whether fighters make more or less sponsorship money at the end of the day, they will be getting more from the UFC trough. So, regardless, Dana can say fighters are getting more from the UFC.
Macedawgg -Ingrained Media -kalt - Fighters won't get paid from this. They'll just lose out on the ability to get sponsored themselves by a different company. Like Anderson and Jones not being able to be sponsored by Nike anymore. UFC is not gonna compensate them for that, they'll just say there's good news, you can possibly get sponsored by Reebock now.
If you look at the WNBA they have team uniforms and the teams sell the space on the uniforms to big corporate sponsors. The athletes are required to wear this uniform. The main difference is that those athletes are not independent contractors, they are paid if they are injured, they are guaranteed a certain amount of money each year. Winning or selling tickets is not part of that contract. These ladies can do endorsement deals with brands that compete directly with the teams sponsor or the WNBA sponsors, they just cannot wear that brands logo during events put on by the WNBA.
In combat sports the athletes are independent contractors. What they can wear during Zuffa televised events can be and is regulated. As the Zuffa brand increases the categories that do not have a "sponsor tax" associated with them will be bought out by brands that want to be aligned with the UFC. Some of this money will find its way to the athletes. There is a long list of major endorsement deals that Zuffa puts together with these brands and athletes under contract. They have no obligation to do it but they do.
If Reebok is the sponsor for the apparel category this will drive Reebok's competitors to look at working with the athletes outside of the cage. This will create more opportunity for the top level guys, and force the smaller MMA apparel companies to adjust the way they do business.
This year we have a client that we advised to pull its sponsorship dollars from Zuffa. The fact that they were paying mid 5 figures for permission was insane. That money is now being spent on athletes. The point is the brands do not need the to be seen in the cage to be effective. Some may argue that the patch system that has been in place has cause patch blindness. The RoI is not there, the only thing you are guaranteed is a flood of emails and calls from managers asking you to sponsor their fighter at this upcoming event.
Maybe I will redact some of these proposals and post them so you can see what brands are dealing with. It will be painfully obvious that Zuffa is within its right to charge fees for permission and that the managers are incompetent at best.
And just out of curiousity--how much cash does RevGear pay to athletes?
Or is it all certificates of trade for gear?
Do you see no conflict at all between an agent of talent representing the sponsors of talent?
Or gasp--as happens frequently--the promoters of talent?
Tahiti Bo -
I don't see the analogy of the sponsorship deal here to the NBA or WNBA at all.
Also, this is not being done for the benefit of the fighters... this is being done to increase revenue flowing to UFC, no surprise.
However, this does not mean the fighters will not end up with a better situation than they have now; it just means that is not the driver. UFC has its target take on this deal... whether the fighters get a better or worse situation than they have now depends on what is left over after the UFC gets its take.
But here is the benefit for the UFC in terms of 'story telling'... Regardless of whether fighters make more or less sponsorship money at the end of the day, they will be getting more from the UFC trough. So, regardless, Dana can say fighters are getting more from the UFC.
None of this has been officially announced, right? The conjecture here is spiralling out of control. Maybe we'll all be in for a surprise when we see a healthy percentage of the deal going to the fighters. 