UFC Merchandising Agreement - Fighters Get Scammed - Page 5

harmakis · 06-25-2008, 06:46 AM

I cant get up and arms about this unless I can compare it to the standard out there. A bunch of keyboard warriors on the internet without direct knowledge of such things means nothing to me.

How does compare to other deals of a similar nature? IE: How does it compare to what wrestlers sign in the WWE(keeping in mind, wwe has way more exposure and popularity unfortunately)

How does this compare to NFL players deals for little action figures etc??

You can spout of terms all you want but if its a standard deal, then good for the fighters because there is a lot of jack to make on action figures and video games.

Also, keep in mind, in these cases its the UFC that takes all the risks.

Its a matter of ROIC(Return on Investment Capital) Its the UFC that is investing the capital to create the action figures, games, etc. If something flops its the UFC that tossed away the cash.

If the fighter does it on his own, if his 'product' doesn't take off, he's the one throwing away the capital and that could be brutal. A fighter much like a NFL player needs to protect his assets as his career may be short.

ChuteboxeWand · 06-25-2008, 06:47 AM

Thats disgusting that ZUFFA whores them out so horribly for their own gain. Its not enought they sacrifice their lives/health in the ring.

machine29 · 06-25-2008, 06:49 AM

It comes down to this. Take Forrest Griffin for example.

Lets say he opens a CO like Tito has.

U have to buy all the tshirts, have them printed, rent a warehouse etc etc etc

Uprobably have to sell 70 shirts just to breakeven

What this does, he gets 20 percent of every shirt that has his likeness thats sold in WALMART,Target, JCPenny etc etc

So whats gonna sell more? Forrest selling his own Tshirt at 20 a pop

OR
getting lets say 3 dollars a shirt from the UFC BUT considering the shirts are in every walmart,Target,JCPenny etc. He could easy sell 100,000 shirts

So to make 300,000 selling his own shirts, he'd have to sell 15,000 shirts at 20 bucks a pop and that isnt counting what the materials,warehousing etc costs.

Fighters could also STILL run their own Clothing Co. They'd have to do like Tito and just make it Punishment or something without selling your actual PICTURE on the shirt.

I think its a great deal for the fighters as most wouldnt be able to sell many shirts and merch on their own.

No offense but the short time I've been on this forum, its been made pretty clear that there arent a whole lot of business majors on this forum.

harmakis · 06-25-2008, 06:54 AM

Yup. Its a matter of quantity as well.

IE: How many Team Punishment shirts do you see out there walking around, on sale at JC Penny or other retail locations???

Compare that to UFC shirts that are in every Champs? Or Tapout shirts which are basically UFC approved fight gear? UFC gets them the exposure and the deals in the stores as well.

Tito may make more per shirt, its questionable he'd make more overall though.

Suqleg · 06-25-2008, 06:54 AM

I have come to the conclusion that you have to be on the side of the fence that the UFC is pretty much on top now and not going anywhere to belive this is a great deal(i do) if you do not think or want the UFC to be around and even bigger in say 5 years then obviously you want no piece of it.

harmakis · 06-25-2008, 07:04 AM

Prolly true Suqleg. The question is why don't people want the UFC to be around in 5 years

I mean, having a strong brand to promote the sport we love...that sucks. /sarcasm.

jx820 · 06-25-2008, 07:26 AM

Yeah, I doubt I'd sign that. I guess it would depend what other offers were out there. Working for Shaw or FEG doesn't seem to be any kind of a bargain either.

As a fan I am intrigued. I hope this contract has been in play for a while. Current fighters or not, I'd love to have CC, Randy, Tito, Babalu, and AA in the upcoming UFC game.

machine29 · 06-25-2008, 07:31 AM

Think about it though. How many fighters have clothing Companies that sell their likeness?

GSP with Afflicition, Rampage with Affliction, Chuck was butu know Dana probably excluded him

Im just saying, most fighters cant make money off themselves. Really Tito and Randy are the only two I can think of that have really made a shit ton of cash off their personal clothing lines.

So this is no risk option to make a ton of money. The fighters who are business savvy and plan on building their own clothing CO> won't sign it. The ones who have no clue how to market or start a CO will gladly sign it and make way more money than they could ever dream of.

I love how people claim the UFC are ripping them when they arent forcing them to sign anything. U dont have to sign it but they dont want to hear u crying when this dude is a millionaire and u are only making sponsorships and fight purses.

Some of u are getting confused I can tell.
They can still wear Tapout,American Fighter, Warrior etc to the octagon. They can still have all their sponsors. They just cant make a T shirt with their likeness *meaning their name or picture on it and sell it*

How many fucking fighters do that anyway? Hell even Tito only has maybe 4 or 5 shirts with his pic on it.

ALSO:

if the fighters get 10 percent off the video game to split.

think of that. That game will EASILY sell 2 million units. Thats a gross of 120 million dollars. fighters will split 12 mil off the game.

12 million divided by lets say 100 fighters would be 120,000 each for doing nothing. say only 20 fighters are offered this deal, that would be 600G's a piece for doing nothing.

Ghostfacechilla · 06-25-2008, 07:45 AM

Great thread. Here are my thoughts:

1. Is the 10% - 20% of gross from all licensed merchandise and royalties shared with all fighters? or, for example.. George "rush" t-shirt or toy sells, and GSP gets the 10% ? This would be great for mid level or new fighters, but terrible in terms of percentage for elite fighters. On the other hand, would they be making anything from toys outside if this deal didnt happen? Perhaps just as little.

2. Is it just for toys? or all merchandise such as t-shirts? If it included t-shirts, this would really screw guys who are sponsored by Affliction or other brands, where their names are used on the t-shirt. Im assuming they get a decent revenue from other brands.

3. Although this may sound good or decent for fighters in the short term, what about the long term? Fighters may get cut from the ufc ( meaning they didnt do too well ) then head out to another org and do incredibly well, and they wouldnt be able to capitalize on any merchandise in the future? -> im sure there are other orgs in the future that would make toys or what not... this sport is still young.

4. On the other hand, this may allow fighters to earn revenue even after they are 30 -> the future age of retirement for fighters ( this will probably happen in 10 years time )

Point is, this may be good or bad, hard to gauge, only time will tell. It will be interesting to see who jumps on this board and who doesnt. Is it an option? Can someone clarify if it is an option?

jx820 · 06-25-2008, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by machine29

It comes down to this. Take Forrest Griffin for example.

No offense but the short time I've been on this forum, its been made pretty clear that there arent a whole lot of business majors on this forum.

It comes down to this. Take Nick Diaz for example.

Assuming he signed that contract, the UFC can put him in their video game and they can sell T shirts with his likeness until the end of time as long as they pay him his proper cut. If they don't do that, it still doesn't mean he can. So as long as he's not signed, they can just refuse to let him gain any money from the use of his likeness at all.

He may still have half his career ahead of him. He may have merchandising opportunities in Dream and Elite, but if he signed that contract he will never see a dime of that money.