It’s a fact that for any MMA organisation to survive and thrive they need either a good TV deal or Supportive Sponsors or BOTH
PRIDE was once the biggest MMA organisation in the world with crowds way above what the UFC get even today. And then PRIDE got tied up in scandal regarding supposed yakuza links and the TV deals and sponsors ran to the hills. Even with regular crowds of over 50,000 people PRIDE was doomed.
The UFC on the other hand after years of struggle, finally got the game under control and really built a successful brand swallowing up competitors along the way (including a much diminished Pride) and they recently hit the jackpot with a massive deal worth approximately $100 million a year for seven years with Fox Sports Media Group.
But imagine being a far smaller organisation how do you survive?
All you have to do is sit down and do the sums.
Let’s take a look at ONE FC as an example. (ONE FC are the most prestigious etc etc yadda yadda……. you know the song).
The first event in Singapore attracted a crowd of maybe 7,000 people max, probably more like 5,500. Nobody has ever posted the true figures and many rumours persist of just how many free tickets were given away. At their second event in Jakarta estimates ranged between 2,000 and 4,000 people present, again no figures have been published and I was not there so I cannot give even an educated guess.
These figures I would argue are superb for a brand new organisation.
Now imagine you are the head accountant at ONE FC and let’s look at the costs that have to be covered.
(Please Note: I am not “picking” on ONE FC the same sums apply to all other Asian Organisations, But ONE FC are the Most Prestigious etc etc yadda yadda……. You can scale it for your chosen organisation)
The Venue. Just how much does it cost to hire a stadium, believe me it’s not chump change.
The Physical Equipment. (You cannot run an MMA event with out a cage, lighting, sound system and hundreds of other untold necessities, even if you only hire them it’s still a big expense.
The People. Where do you want to start. Judges, Ref, MC, Medical Staff, Event Staff, Back Room Staff at Head Office to name a few and that’s before we get to the actual stars of the show.
The Fighters. We do not know how much ONE FC pays their fighters but you can be sure that the more successful ONE FC gets the bigger the fighters it will need and the more they will demand.
Now the lowest fighters at UFC get approximately Sing$7,500 for their first fight with a further $7,500 win bonus, the best paid can earn well over $500,000. ONE FC are not paying anything like the top number, the fighters are not of that caliber. But I am sure market forces mean than have to pay a decent figure for the bigger names.Regardless of how much value they actually bring to an event. For instance Bob Sapp did little in the actual cage to earn a dollar, but how much did his name add to the crowd? personally, I think nothing, you may of course disagree. My arguent would be the MMA fanbase in Singapore (for instance) is still small and if you are a fan you would be there almost regardless of who is fighting and if you are not an MMA fan Bob Sapp would mean NOTHING to you.
Logistics. What, you think everybody makes their way to the event on their own dollar, you think they pay for their hotel rooms? Think again. Many of the people we talked about above, have to be looked after in this way. Transport, Hotels, Per Diem etc.
The Press. At the very least you have to hire a hotel, provide press packs and produce a suitable setting for a press event, maybe with some cool custom made multi media display. Some of those press will also get freebie passage, rooms, access etc to the events.
Head Office. Unlike the fighters and the stadium staff, Office staff don’t just work at the events they will be working full time for the organisation. Back in September ONE FC claimed they would be adding a further 150 staff to their exisiting team. I don’t know if they ever did. But if they did, well you do the sums on that monthly bill!
The Office, itself has to be paid for, as well as all the equipment and supplies, used on a day to day basis.
Believe me that is nothing like a full list of the expenses but as you can see for yourself it quickly adds up.
Now, do the sums, average the paying customers at the gate (based on the highest figures if you like) and you could say an average of 5000 people potentially paid to be there. Let’s take a middle price based upon the Singapore event and you have an income per event of around Sing$350,000. A pretty penny to be sure but look at those out goings again and well it’s not such a windfall.
So a TV deal is very important. Dana White has said in the past words to the effect that too many smaller MMA organisations fail because they effectively sell their souls just to get on TV. I’m not saying it happens with any Asian organisations but it’s not unknown for Sports organisations to actually hand their events over for free or even in extreme cases to pay to be featured on TV, Probably not the smartest move, but I guess if it helps you get sponsors and advertisers on board well, It’s a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Now ONE FC have proudly trumpeted a ten-year deal with ESPN STAR Sports. A ten-year “Media Partnership” whatever one of those is. I don’t know what the future holds for this partnership. I do know that so far it means little as we have yet to see ONE FC 2 anywhere near a TV and we are only a few weeks away from the next event. There are all sorts of questions that were not asked about this deal and it’s not the point of this item to go into them. Let’s just hope it helps expand their scope and provides a powerful spotlight for fighters to show their wares.
It’s enough to say that this is either a solid foundation on which ONE FC can build a powerful and lasting organisation or soft moving sand that could see it swallowed up.
There is of course other media opportunities and ONE FC have offered Pay Per View of the event live via the internet. The figures of how many people viewed were not released but if you did view (as I did) you could see the numbers. Suffice to say it’s early days.
And next we have financial income from Sponsors and event advertisers.
The ONE FC website lists just three Official Sponsors – Energizer, Fairtex and BoDog Fight.
It also lists four “Media” partners.
So I think it’s fair to assume ONE FC is not rolling in sponsorship cash at this stage.
Of course there is plenty of opportunity for advertising at the events, especially if TV coverage is expected.
Now we do know because it’s on ONE FC’s website that they “reportedly have people with deep pockets backing them” so this may certainly help to provide a solid foundation on which to build a lasting organisation.
The good news for our local MMA organisations is that there are many fighters in the area who will fight for little or no money at this stage. But, even at that level, transport and hotels often have to be budgeted for. But, ONE FC don’t really have that luxury, they have to have ‘name fighters’ on their main card, I would argue that their undercards need to improve as well if they wish to be the most prestigious MMA organisation in the Asia Pacific.
There is one other income possibility that we have not discussed and that could be sponsorship by partner organisations. ONE FC of course claims a massive network of Gyms and ties with other local MMA organisations. I’m not saying there is any money from these sources. But look at it this way. If you are ONE FC and you have the spotlight of the Worlds MMA press shining brightly on you. Well, what gym or MMA related organisation would not want to be associated with you. Could ONE FC charge money to feature fighters from certain Gyms or Organisations? that would be a neat trick, instead of paying the fighters maybe ONE FC could actually be ‘sponsored’ to feature them. It’s an idea. I mean ONE FC maybe will be a springboard into the UFC. It’s not at the moment but that must be a possibility.
Many of the Asian MMA organisations don’t have this extra possibility to the same extent. But if you look elsewhere say Formula 1. Often at the smaller teams, drivers come with personal sponsorship packages that effectively get them a contract, often over more skilful drivers.
Let’s be honest the parent gyms of these fighters get a lot of reflected glory. Now, I am sure their top fighters are training for free or even on the staff but as the sport grows we may see just like we have in football, the players becoming more powerful and demanding more.
So there you have it running an MMA organisation, takes a hell of a lot of work and for sure in the Asia Pacific area it’s not going to be an easy path to riches. YET!
