Comments on: Affliction: Banned attendance and payroll figures revealed

By: mike wolfe

mike wolfe — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:37:59 +0000

24% of the tickets were comps–given away. Is that an unusually high percentage for such a big MMA event? Were they given away to ensure there were bodies in the seats for the sake of appearances?

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By: maddog

maddog — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:12:29 +0000

#26-you sure are brave.

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By: Tomholo

Tomholo — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:42:10 +0000

All this cash!!! I think they’ve made a statement just by out paying the UFC. Fighters will recognize that and will be affliction bound. That is, if they haven’t bankrupt themselves on their first event.

$800,000 for Tim Silvia??? Hmmm… I’d fight him for $100,000. But I wouldn’t fight Fedor for less than $18 million. That’s for retirement, as I’d be crippled, reconstructive surgery, and general incentive to continue to live, as I believe he would beat the will out of me.

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By: batman

batman — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:33:08 +0000

i can’t wait to see the pay per view buys. I know that some bars showed the fight so they made money off that. Also the after party at the grove, they also made a lot on merchandise like t-shirts.

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By: Sergio G. Hernandez

Sergio G. Hernandez — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:19:29 +0000

My comment was in reference to athletes who wished to use their talents and skills, like I said, in what they choose as a profession. It wasn’t meant for everyone going to college who happens to play sports.

Nice try, though.

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By: biggmoney21

biggmoney21 — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:38:46 +0000

Hey Sergio G. Hernandez, “what else is a collegiate wrestler supposed to do with his talent save for teaching?”.

What is a collegiate swimmer, lacrosse player, etc. supposed to do? Certainly they have no expectations of big paydays after graduation like the big revenue sports like football or basketball (not so sure about swimming but I know that professional lacrosse players make next to nothing). Call me crazy but maybe these college athletes can become doctors, lawyers, or whatever they went to college for? What were my options after college? As much as I would have liked to go rip bong hits professionally, I’m pretty sure nobody was going to pay me for it (and if you know of anybody, my price is very reasonable).

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By: stevefiji

stevefiji — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:15:04 +0000

I stand corrected… by myself.

Even I will pay $40 to see Tito get his ass kicked by AA or Fedor and I’ll laugh when ‘The Donald’ in the front row wipes Tito’s blood off his shiny yellow tie. Good times there!

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By: HexRei

HexRei — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:14:17 +0000

@#19 Keep in mind most startups run in the red for at time, especially startups in a highly competitive market like MMA. As long as Affliction is making money on the backend from their apparel and other merchandising, they can probably obtain investments to stay afloat even if their next couple of shows are a net loss as well.

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By: stevefiji

stevefiji — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:10:39 +0000

$5 to 6 million for fighters is the real figure
then there’s the marketing budget – BIG
the paying of the staff – they gotta earn too!!!
the paying of the venue – you wanna rent out that place for a wedding? not me..
the paying of payola (don’t think for a moment that plenty of people were comped swag and $$$ for promotional purposes)

on the positive side… they probably did sell 3 or 4 of those stunning signatures T-Shirts of Babalu and Sylvia and admittedly a few 1000 of the Emperor’s Clothes

Translation:
Affliction lost their shirts…literally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lost in Translation:
Midnight Oil’s MiniMe spinning this thing as though they succeeded beyond their expectations…that is a joke. If Fedor didn’t dominate, they’d never have even tried a second show. He could be Affliction’s version of the Griffin/Bonnar transcendence or just a finger in the dike. I vote we give him the finger

If Randy is held out of action for another year or two…. Affliction will be afflicted with Alzheimer’s because we will forget about them quickly … other than Fedor vs. AA they do NOT have a card people will pay $40 for, never mind $1,000 to sit ringside beside Don Johnson.

Cheers Mates

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By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:02:48 +0000

If Affliction makes money on this event it will be a miracle.
What they are doing with these inflatted salaries is going to put themselvesout of business. Due to the entirety of MMA the profit margins dont dictate that kind of payout to the fighters. This is a bad move for MMA. Fighters will flip -flop companies where the money is and this will end up staying a second-rate sport. You dont see a NFL 2 or NBA 2.

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By: Sergio G. Hernandez

Sergio G. Hernandez — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:21:11 +0000

“Mma is a stupid sport for elite athletes from a salary perspective.”

I wouldn’t go that far.

I mean, what else is a collegiate wrestler supposed to do with his talent save for teaching?

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By: Sam Caplan

Sam Caplan — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:15:16 +0000

I think one thing some people overlook is the preparation going into the fight. Yes, the fight only lasted 36 seconds, but Sylvia had spent hours in the gym training for the fight and did a lot of media for the event. The compensation in reality is for more than just the fight.

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By: neijia

neijia — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:07:46 +0000

800k for losing in 30 seconds? Good job, Tim. Yow.

Don’t forget MLB. Alex Rodriguez made $22 million in 2007. How about 2008? Mma is a stupid sport for elite athletes from a salary perspective.

Tiger Woods will top a billion…

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By: Sergio G. Hernandez

Sergio G. Hernandez — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:30:42 +0000

“compare the income to boxers, NFL players, NBA, MLB, NHL, Golf, Racing…etc.”

That’s ridiculous.

The revenue stream for MMA pales in comparison to the NFL, NBA, and even NHL.

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By: MMA SKOOL™

MMA SKOOL™ — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:29:12 +0000

Doc

Compared to the other sports it would be nice if MMA athletes made more money as a whole, but relative to MMA at this point, $300k seems like a lot of money to pay Matt Lindland.

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By: DocWagner

DocWagner — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:01:29 +0000

Why are so many up in arms? These guys are the top in their sport…compare the income to boxers, NFL players, NBA, MLB, NHL, Golf, Racing…etc.

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By: MMAStation

MMAStation — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:42:13 +0000

#10

I also think it is a stretch to think they did anything over 100k buys, but you have to realize WFA was almost two years ago, Bodog didnt have the roster and Shamrock vs Gracie was Strikeforce? was that on PPV?

The drawing power of this card appealed to casual fans and hardcore fans alike with former UFC fighters for the casual fans and other great fighters the hardcore fans wanted to see.

I do think they will come close to 100k buys but not go over, something like 90-95k or so

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By: ACK!

ACK! — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:55:52 +0000

I, for one, am happy to see so many fighters walk away with good money.

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By: ultmma

ultmma — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:33:02 +0000

100 K buys is still very, very generous. I know MMA in 2008 is a completely different world than MMA 07 or 06 but

the WFA did horrible on PPV, Bodog flopped on PPV, shamrock vs. Gracie didn’t make a blip on the radar screen

and finally Pride barely came within shouting distance of 100k

if they pull 80k or 90k than props to Affliction for marketing the event.

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By: S. Harris

S. Harris — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:27:19 +0000

If they did 100K PPV buys at $40 – they’ll take half of that – that $2M will cover the rest of the salaries. That means whatever sponsorships they did have covers the arena, and all of the merchandising is profit – which is probably fine with them – he is the ‘T-Shirt Guy’

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