Barnett obviously would not be one of these guys since he will be headlining.

Not sure if that jives with Meltzer’s comments or not.

Seems more like Josh setting the record straight than responding due to being in trouble.

Double R

And the PPV’s might be “Loss Leaders”, but if a PPV is only getting 75k in PPV buys, then the cost of running a MMA show will not make up the difference. And even a company as reckless as Affliction will figure this out.

Agreed, this is no doubt true.

However, what I’m specifically wondering is whether the amount that Affliction doled out in sponsorship money for a typical UFC PPV before they got banned might be approximately what they are intending on losing each show.

(I suspect they are losing more than what they paid in sponsorships, but I’m just trying to see from Affliction’s viewpoint why they might be employing such a financially retarded strategy.)

And the PPV’s might be “Loss Leaders”, but if a PPV is only getting 75k in PPV buys, then the cost of running a MMA show will not make up the difference. And even a company as reckless as Affliction will figure this out.

It seems unlikely that they were shelling out in excess of even $1 million per PPV in sponsorship money, but anything seems possible to me given how financially reckless they’ve been with fighter salaries so far.

Perhaps Affliction views a PPV as a loss leader to sell t-shirts. Who knows, maybe they’re making money that way. If all it takes is millions of fashion- retarded douchebags to buy ridiculously overpriced t-shirts for us to have great MMA cards, I’m all for it.

Unfortunately, I have trouble seeing how they won’t be going out of business soon, not solely because of their unprofitable MMA shows, but because their type of “fashion” is of the type that comes and goes very quickly. Douchebag kids tend to be fickle with their douchebag fashion.

Each one of other fledgling MMA companies (IFL, EliteXC, WFA, Bodog) THOUGHT they had a solid plan for success…but they didnt.

Trust me when I say that myself and many others knew that the IFL “plan” involving teams was doomed to be a failure. I said it at the time and I was 100% right. EliteXC, buying up almost all the 2nd-tier promotions right off the bat before they even established themselves, was also not a great idea. And TV deals or not, they have no real star fighters. As for the others, well their failures speak for themselves.

So far, IMO, Affliction has had the best plan for starting a promotion to challenge the UFC. History has clearly shown us that stars are what make money in fighting. Boxing and UFC have both proven that. Thats why the IFL was doomed to failure. Teams for sport based on individual success? It was a joke. None of the other organizations (besides UFC) have true MMA stars…except for Affliction. While they may not all be hugely popular in America yet, guys like Fedor and Barnett are true stars in the sport of MMA, both with exceptional skills. Arlovski already is a star in the American fight scene. Well-known, credible foils like Sylvia are also a must, since we all saw how well Fedor-Lindland went over for both Fedor and Bodog.

In any case, I think it is clear that if there was a way to beat the UFC, Affliction is trying it. While they lost money on the first show on paper, there is no way to quantify, at this point, how valuable the event was in terms of promotion and marketing of the brand/event. We will have to wait and see. I’m not saying they will definitely be successful, but I think they definitely have the best chance of anyone so far.

People bought into Tito when he was thought of as unstoppable. Liddell’s fall from grace was also the turning point of the UFC’s falling buy rates. Tito was only half of the Liddell VS Ortiz 1 million buy UFC 66. Without the UFC name, what makes people think that Tito can still sell after being exposed as a mid tier fighter these past few years?

Look at Ken Shamrock. He’s half of the Ortiz VS Shamrock 775k PPV buys. Now that he’s exposed as over the hill, he couldn’t sell PPV if he life’s depended on it.

This isn’t pro wrestling. You have to win for fans to want to watch you fight. Unfortunately, Tito Ortiz hasn’t won anything significant in the last few years other than beating Ken Shamrock.

P.S. Nice to see FO back online after being missing for most of the day.