After The Money Fight technical difficulty situation, the UFC and vendor NeuLion must determine how to address the situation.
A lawsuit has been filed related to the technical difficulties which angered many that paid $99.95 to watch the much-hyped Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight.
ESPN reports that Showtime has issued a “limited number” of refunds to those that complained, but only for its direct-to-consumer offerings which include its streaming and app product. Notably, the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Oregon relates to its lead plaintiff purchasing the PPV on the Showtime App. He claimed the event was “grainy” buffered and stalled.
The fight was delayed 20 minutes to accommodate for the technical difficulties but those paying $99.95 were shut out of the telecast. According to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the PPV issues “appeared to come from a surge of late purchase and connectivity issues.”
The UFC issued a statement via Darren Rovell:
UFC’s first statement in wake of its Fight Pass product, which sold Floyd-Conor PPV, being down for most of night pic.twitter.com/YauaDsfHtA
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 28, 2017
After this statement, it has now indicated that it is reviewing PPV Fight Pass refunds on a “case-by-case” basis.
Payout Perspective:
This is as much a public relations issues as it will eventually be a legal issue. One might understand the UFC would not want to issue blanket refunds but if the technical difficulties occurred from UFC Fight Pass subscribers that made the additional purchase, you’d have to think that at least a credit to the account is necessary. For Showtime, it is issuing refunds but is also “passing the buck” in referring those that made the PPV purchase through a cable or satellite company to speak with them. You have to think that UFC is pointing to NeuLion to indemnify them from any potential issues and/or seek reimbursement for any refunds that they may have to issue. The bottom line is the concern of how much this will affect the bottom line for the UFC and Showtime.
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