Well if you look at their business structure it’s the exact opposite. The UFC follows the XFL where 1 single billionaire entity owns the whole thing. All the teams, all the athletes, they have produce all the events themselves and they take all the profits. Those athletes are independent contractors just like UFC fighters are. Now the WFL appears to be structured exactly like the NFL where the league is just the entity that makes sure all the independent franchise owners are abide by all the rules following the leagues bylaws and ensuring that the collective bargaining agreement is being enforced which will force 50% of all revenues to go directly to the athletes in form of a salary cap. Therefore creating an open market of say 12 billionaire entities to negotiate with. Those 12 entities only have to focus on promoting 3 or 4 events in their home cities. All it would take would take would be for Amazon Prime/DAZN, Fox/NBC to say to themselves hey do we want MMA? If so let’s do a deal for 10 billion for 10 years (Fox just paid 113 billion for 10 years of NFL) and yes I know NFL is established but currently MMA has more fans globally than American Football so it’s conceivable. 500 million would have to go to the athletes, making the average 2 million per athlete. With all the benefits as well who wouldn’t fight out their contracts and try and get signed by a team. And that’s just that 1 deal so adding uniform revenue, their centralized gambling, league sponsorships, franchise fees etc. half of all of it has to go to the fighters. If they can be the corporate America friendly version of the best sport in the world this is a game changer and it’s about damn time.
This is really intriguing. I am optimistic if the list of people involved have deep pockets and expertise, that this could work. Even if it does nothing other than put pressure on the UFC to do more to protect their roster from defecting when their contract is up, it would be beneficial for all of MMA. My only initial critique is if this starts to look and sound too complicated. I like the global aspect. But feel like they need to start with a reasonable number of teams first to build awareness. Most sports leagues didn't start with 32 teams overnight. They grew slowly.
Chances a certain Irishman is a part of this in 2023 when he is a free agent?
Who cares? He’s so past his prime it’s sad to watch him fight
You understand those RUNNING the league won't be the ones actually fighting right?? THINK son!!
Do you understand what implies the first commentary "when he is a free agent" right? Obviously is talking about fighting. THINK kid!!
Doubt this brand new league can pay him more than the UFC or boxing lol
That would be cool.
Will this league actually going to make a big splash or will it just end up like the XFL????
That is the question at hand. Interesting, either way.
Well if you look at their business structure it’s the exact opposite. The UFC follows the XFL where 1 single billionaire entity owns the whole thing. All the teams, all the athletes, they have produce all the events themselves and they take all the profits. Those athletes are independent contractors just like UFC fighters are. Now the WFL appears to be structured exactly like the NFL where the league is just the entity that makes sure all the independent franchise owners are abide by all the rules following the leagues bylaws and ensuring that the collective bargaining agreement is being enforced which will force 50% of all revenues to go directly to the athletes in form of a salary cap. Therefore creating an open market of say 12 billionaire entities to negotiate with. Those 12 entities only have to focus on promoting 3 or 4 events in their home cities. All it would take would take would be for Amazon Prime/DAZN, Fox/NBC to say to themselves hey do we want MMA? If so let’s do a deal for 10 billion for 10 years (Fox just paid 113 billion for 10 years of NFL) and yes I know NFL is established but currently MMA has more fans globally than American Football so it’s conceivable. 500 million would have to go to the athletes, making the average 2 million per athlete. With all the benefits as well who wouldn’t fight out their contracts and try and get signed by a team. And that’s just that 1 deal so adding uniform revenue, their centralized gambling, league sponsorships, franchise fees etc. half of all of it has to go to the fighters. If they can be the corporate America friendly version of the best sport in the world this is a game changer and it’s about damn time.
Excited to see new things happening in MMA.
Sounds like the original professional fight league from back in the day when the gyms had teams .. but if it’s team based it’s like a wrestling match
It is very difficult to have success the WFL in the form...Business Model is simply not suted for Individual sport.
Remember the IFL back in the day. This seems to be the same format
This is really intriguing. I am optimistic if the list of people involved have deep pockets and expertise, that this could work. Even if it does nothing other than put pressure on the UFC to do more to protect their roster from defecting when their contract is up, it would be beneficial for all of MMA. My only initial critique is if this starts to look and sound too complicated. I like the global aspect. But feel like they need to start with a reasonable number of teams first to build awareness. Most sports leagues didn't start with 32 teams overnight. They grew slowly.
It says that there will be 8 teams to start and they are just launching in North America.
Amazing news for the athletes..Hope it all holds together.
Wonder how Dana is going to feel about this?
Any thoughts on the Hesser family's involvement? https://twitter.com/fightoracle/status/1438720427585638403
I looked into that, googled the address and there’s a number of lawyers listed at that address. Doing some more digging.
Dana White is gonna sabotage the whole plan
Awesome initiative! I fully support it. The fighters deserve more financial stability, insurance and opportunities.
Could they restart pride and rebrand it from trans MMA fighters?