Rovell Looks at Bud Light's UFC Experience
July 16, 2009
CNBC’s Darren Rovell took note of the fallout coming out of UFC 100, especially in respect to the disparaging words of Brock Lesnar towards one of the UFC’s primary sponsors, Bud Light:
In terms of official sponsors getting blindsided, this one takes the all time cake. When Anheuser-Busch took the risk of associating with the UFC, who ever thought that risk included having its competitor get the nod after one of the biggest fights in the organization’s history?
The idea of pumping up Coors Light when they presumably didn’t pay him wasn’t a good idea. But the question as to what Lesnar owes UFC’s official sponsors is a good one. Lesnar did what he did because he felt that, as the biggest star in UFC, he deserved his cut of what the UFC was making. This comes at a time when the UFC is now asking those who sponsor fighters to give the organization a cut so it’s harder to ambush official sponsors who don’t chose to sponsor the fighters. From the UFC’s standpoint, the brands that sponsor the fighters are getting a cheap deal aligning with the brand without having to pay up. From the fighter’s standpoint, any cut the UFC gets could take away from their pay and could restrict the amount of companies willing to still pay the fighters.
Lesnar’s move was outrageous, but it wasn’t an “in the heat of the moment” reaction as he might have you believe. There’s a reason he did what he did. And it brings to a head the question of when companies buy rights to be an official sponsor, what do they get? And what do the athletes deserve? No matter what the answer is to that question, I know this. Bud Light didn’t deserve Lesnar’s “Silver Bullet” surprise.
Rovell notes the tough spot this has put Bud Light in. This wasn’t the first misstep in the Bud/UFC relationship. Bud noted their displeasure with the homphobic rant put forth by UFC Prez Dana White and intimated that the issue was addressed with White as something that went against their company policy of inclusiveness. The UFC also recently used a loophole in their contract with Bud to bring Mickey’s as a primary sponsor of TUF and the subsequent TUF Finale. While the deal was permissable, it also sullied the tight brand association that Bud Light had been building with the UFC product. The latest episode with Brock paints the UFC as something of a “problem child”, but at the same time a problem child that is a prodigy at delivering the desirable demos that Bud is looking for. If the child is a temperamental genius, Bud Light must be feeling out the level of temperamental they can live with to enjoy the genius.
Another interesting facet of Rovell’s piece is his discussion of the fighters role in the UFC/Bud Light relationship. Rovell discusses the expectation of athlete’s to share in teh Bud/UFC relationship. To this point, Bud Light’s direct sponsorship of athletes has been limited. Chuck Liddell, Anderson Silva, Rachelle Leah, Miguel Torres, and Efrain Escudero are the UFC fighters to this point who have negotiated deals with Bud Light. The company hasn’t done much in the way of widespread sponsorship of athletes, instead choosing high profile folks like Chuck and anderson, or ones that hit a particular market like Miguel and Efrain. Even for the few offered deals by Bud the numbers involved leave something to be desired according to those familiar with negotiations, as not everyone who Bud Light approached took them up on their sponsorship offer due to the dollars being offered not being commensurate with the corporate resources of Bud, sources indicate to MMAPayout.
The evolving relationship of Bud light with the UFC and its ties to individual fighters should be an interesting situation to track for the future as a bell weather of the future role of blue chip sponsors for the UFC and their fighters.
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