Breaking down the Reebok Deal

[GordaoPreguico]

These numbers are all off. Lower tier fighters will make more than the $20 they are getting now from Billy Bob's Bail Bonds. Mid tier fighters will probably take a cut. Champs is yet to be seen since some champs make more than others with sponsors. The real losers in all of this are the aging superstars who are no longer top 10 but could still pull in huge pay days from sponsors.

 

[Azure]

I don't give a shit if they are making alot of money or none.. I like watching MMA and there are lots of fights available. Unlike many I enjoy the prelims and undercards as much as the main cards because those guys are hungry. There were MMA fighters before the UFC and there will be after the UFC and they were fighting for far less than they are now.

1) If you don't like the pay in your profession choose something else( applies to more than just MMA fighters.
2) Fighters will have to pay their managers less.
3) the breakdown posted above is based on equal distribution which will not happen. it will be top loaded and will also be based on # of fights not a monthly salary.


But again.. i could care less

 

[bdreason]

What does this have to do with the Reebok deal?

I bet you that Tom Wright makes more than most of the fighters, but that doesn't have anything to do with the Reebok deal either.

Someone was trying to compare NBA sponsors and MMA sponsors. The difference is that NBA players are actually paid what they are worth, because they receive a % of the revenue they help generate.


The UFC rapes its fighters, paying them only a fraction of their true worth, and getting sponsors was a way for fighters to produce more revenue for themselves. Many fighters need that sponsor money just to afford training... but I'm sure they'll be stoked to get their $500 check in the mail from Reebok each month instead. :icon_lol:

 

[5Rounder]

As someone else (accurately) pointed out, my numbers are also based on the assumption that the UFC isn't taking a cut, which is totally ridiculous.

One point that I want to drive home is that, even if the UFC doesn't take a cut, average sponsorship $ per fighter is somewhere in the ballpark of $20,000. It doesn't take a genius to realize what that is going to mean for below average, average and even some above-average fighters - they are going to get fucked, mainly because fighters at the top are going to make exponentially more money than those underneath them.

 

[Chi-City]

Someone was trying to compare NBA sponsors and MMA sponsors. The difference is that NBA players are actually paid what they are worth, because they receive a % of the revenue they help generate.


The UFC rapes its fighters, paying them only a fraction of their true worth, and getting sponsors was a way for fighters to produce more revenue for themselves. Many fighters need that sponsor money just to afford training... but I'm sure they'll be stoked to get their $500 check in the mail from Reebok each month instead. :icon_lol:

You do know that NBA players by and large are super under paid in terms of the money they bring in right?

 

[SugarNaz]

Where did you conjure that up from? Are you aware how sponsorships and other leagues work?

Just because Nike sponsors the NFL doesn't preclude NFL players from having other deals.

Just because Reebok sponsors the uniforms, doesn't stop the athletes from having other sponsors.....it may stop them from having other sponsors on their clothes in the octagon....but it most certainly doesn't mean they cant have others and there certainly isn't a cap.

Hello Dana

Two things in your reply that I would like to comment on.

1. Last I checked the NFL was a team sport, or a league as you call it. The comparison of the UFC to the NFL/NBA/NHL or any other team sport has just one tiny flaw. The UFC is not a team sport. The UFC is not a league.

A far more relevant comparison would be tennis or golf. Like the UFC, those are individual sports. And in case you were wondering, the ATP/WTA/PGA do NOT dictate what sponsor the players can wear on the court.

2. It's true that the UFC doesn't say anything about what sponsors the fighters have outside the only place where a tremendous majority of them have any kind of media exposure at all. Just what type of sponsor do you suggest a completely unknown fighter on the undercards is supposed to get any type of income from if that sponsor isn't going to get any kind of media exposure at all? To argue that this is a viable option for that type of fighter to generate income is just utterly stupid.

Going back to the Tennis/Golf comparison, each player on the tour has his/her own sponsors and every one of those sponsors get exposure on the court, in play. Would Tiger Woods be happy if the PGA told him he had to wear Reebok and use Reebok equipment and that they'd pay him a set amount (most likely less than he normally makes) for each tournament he plays? Give up.

 

[AusMMAfan]

This is what the UFC is going to look and feel like to me in 2015

FFS Zuffa

 

[skylolow]

It 100% has something to do with sponsor tax.

If there were no sponsor tax in the UFC, the early prelim guys would have sponsors.

Not necessarily.

Sponsor tax is nothing new in the world of sports or advertising in general. Sure, the UFC could've made it easier and not have a sponsor tax and just monitor it from a far.


The truth about sponsorship is it was very hot 2007-2011 or so. Many wanted in and paid well. But after this boom many sponsors (some who are out of business or got bought out) have came forward and said plain and simple they saw very little change in revenue from sponsoring in MMA. Some had to do with the audience and some had to do with everyone basically following the Affliction path of design when Affliction already controlled that market. MMA audience is a very young niche audience compared to most sports. Many in that audience don't want to walk around in an Anderson Silva Silverstar walk out shirt or Rich Franklin American Fighter walk out shirt. It just really isn't the style that is accepted in the circles they run in. Since then sponsorship money has gone down hill. That is why a company like Dynamic Fastner has become a big player. But some of the rumors out there is many fighters aren't even making more than 2.5K having Dynamic Fastner across there ass. That is a spot that use garnish Frank Mir 80K from Condom Depot just a few years ago.

The sponsorship landscape has changed a lot in just the last few years. The money has gone down and down. Who knows how this deal with Reebok will all work out but the UFC is pretty damn smart on the business side so you got too believe that this deal is better across the board for the fighters than the current system.


P.S.: Just about two years ago you had a fighter(name slips my mind) from Bellator fighting in the Main Event for the title and was on Sherdog three weeks out looking for sponsorship. Now that is sad.

 

[Fantastic_Man]

This doesn't included the cut the fighters will get from their personal apparel.. but still, it's basically like each fight gets a free part-time job.. Not a lot of loot for the little guys..

 

[Zlatan1]

This doesn't included the cut the fighters will get from their personal apparel.. but still, it's basically like each fight gets a free part-time job.. Not a lot of loot for the little guys..

That only applies to the big finishes since they are the only ones who sell personal apparel. Others do it, too, ofc, but they sell like 6 t-shirts per month.

 

[KeepItRealist]

How many sponsors did Dana White ban over the years because he didn't like someone or had an argument with someone who was associated with the company? Always after some puerile tirade. Pushed many smaller sponsors out through the tax and although that didn't get rid of most of the sponsors, it took money out of the fighters pocket and handed it to the UFC instead, as many fighters pointed out.

 

[hasar]

Greatest deal eva!