White: This business is not what everybody thinks it is
Dana White: “This year, yeah, pay-per-view numbers are down, but this business isn’t what everybody thinks it is… We’re much more than a pay-per-view company.”
UFC president Dana White recently spoke with Sports Business Daily correspondent Mike Bebernes about PPV revenues. The hardcore fanbase is convinced that without the massive PPV buys generated by Brock Lesnar, GSP, Anderson Silva, and even Chuck Liddell, the company is in decline. While there has been a rash of injuries, and the current champions including Jon Jones, Ronda Rousey, and Cain Velasquez do not command anything close to the league’s peak of 1,000,000+ buys, the business has changed.
While at one point the UFC lived on PPV buys, with asses in seats as a solid second source of revenue, things have changed. Among other streams, the company has a $100,000,000 per year deal with FOX, and massive growth in global markets.
This year, yeah, pay-per-view numbers are down, but this business isn’t what everybody thinks it is, said White. Trust me, we love pay- per-view. When these big events happen, the pay-per-view numbers will come back. But we’re much more than a pay-per-view company.
Every time we go into these other countries, it just keeps building more and more momentum. We hear all of this negative stuff here in the United States because they don’t get the whole global strategy. … We’re killing it in all of these other countries.
White also discussed competition.
“There’s always going to be other people out there and we need those people to exist,” said White. “Not everybody can fight in the UFC. There has to be a place where younger talent can go and make money, build their records and then some day end up in the UFC. It’s definitely not a bad thing.
He was however dismissive of Bellator FC.
There’s just no value there,” said White. “If they called me today and they wanted me to do a deal with those guys, there’s literally no contracts over there that I would be interested in.