WSOF announces “Game Changer” in MMA PPV model

The WSOF has announced what it believes is a “Game Changer” in the MMA PPV business with the introduction of a PPV revenue sharing model set to be put in place with its foray into PPV in the second half of 2015.  The model would provide featured fighters with 50 percent of all of the PPV net revenue from the event.

Per portions of the WSOF press release:

LAS VEGAS (Sept. 23, 2014) – In a radical move that could forever change the earning potential of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters, World Series of Fighting (www.wsof.com) has announced that it will enter the pay-per-view business in the second half of 2015 with an unprecedented revenue sharing model that will pay 50 percent of all net revenue earned from live pay-per-view events it produces, to the fighters featured on the telecasts.

“This is a proud day for the sport of mixed martial arts and our organization and one that we hope will create a better opportunity for the fighters who put everything on the line every time they step inside the cage,” said World Series of Fighting President, six-time world champion and two-time Hall of Famer Ray Sefo.

“Until now,” continued Sefo, “one of the main things holding this sport back from becoming even bigger than it is today has been fighter compensation and the inability of the sport’s top athletes to earn on par with top-level professional  athletes in other sports.

“If fighters can’t earn a fair share of the money at the top,” said Sefo, “the fighters lose hope or become disenchanted with the sport, which impacts their commitment to training and preparing properly for title fights.  That is about to change, thanks to this major step we are taking now fighters will train harder than ever to become a champion giving the fans some epic championship bouts to enjoy. We want to thank NBC Sports and NBC for giving us such an amazing stage to grow World Series of Fighting since its debut.

Since it launched its live event series on Nov. 3, 2012 with a stellar six-bout fight card on NBC Sports Network that reaches over 80 million homes, World Series of Fighting has effectively been building its brand and on July 5, the promotion made its debut on broadcast television before a live NBC audience of nearly 1 million viewers.

World Series of Fighting has successfully expanded its footprint to over 80 countries and counting with its premier fight programming as part of a multi-year agreement with IMG the world’s leader in sports content distribution.

Payout Perspective:

The assumption of having the PPV in late 2015 is to help build up the promotion to a point where it will have a sufficient television draw and following to be ready by late next year.  While Sefo does say some truthful things, it is still the execution of the plan and how much fan interest there will be in the end that will determine whether this business model is a game changer.  Recent forays by smaller organizations (e.g. Glory rumored to have only 6,000 PPV buys) have not proven to be big sellers and based on the price point of a PPV (likely between $30-$40), it’s hard to fathom a huge PPV number.  Thus, the fighters probably would not be raking in big money from PPV revenue.  Overall, it’s a way to incentivize fighters to work harder and help assist in promoting the PPV.   But in the end, I do not think that fighters would make more money from the model than they would if they were paid in traditionally.  We will continue follow and see how this develops.