« Quote of the Day – Ken Shamrock’s trainer | Home | Crazy headline of the day »
Quote of the Week – Dave Meltzer on Affliction
By Zach Arnold | October 1, 2008
He claims that Affliction is paying the fight money for both Andrei Arlovski and Roy Nelson to fight on CBS this Saturday night. Seriously. From the latest Wrestling Observer newsletter…
It’s an expensive commercial for Affliction because they are paying for the fight and Arlovski will be earning in the range of seven figures if he wins.
Strangely, I think EXC may have stumbled onto an interesting pro-wrestling style concept here. They should have auctioned off CBS TV time for fights from other promoters in exchange for the promoters paying the fight money. It would have been ridiculously cheap, tacky, and brilliant to do.
Topics: Affliction, MMA, Media, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
I don’t think any other promoter would be dumb enough to take up that offer
Affliction must be making bank on their clothing… but still no reason to pay Arlovski more than 200k for a fight!? They think he is the next Fedor?
That can’t be right. How does a promoter justify that much expense for so little gained?
Icemuncher…it’s not like either Affliction or EliteXC have made the smartest business decisions in the past…lol
Let’s say Arlovski/Nelson costs Affliction exactly $1 Million. With a PPV being $40 (and them getting $20), They would have to sell an ADDITIONAL 50,000 PPV’s to just break even. I think it is dumb business for both companies.
With the Affliction show likely being postponed again, you have to wonder when the next show will be. I have a feeling they will be staying away from January. Putting on a card between UFC Dublin and UFC Super Bowl is suicide. Nobody is going to buy all 3. On top of that, they can’t put the PPV on right after the PPV. People are typically partied out for a little while.
So I wouldn’t be shocked to see their next PPV (if it ever happens), not until late February or into March. That is over 6 months between cards. And that is just bad business.
7 months, 45 Huddle. Late July to late Feb is an insane 7 months.
This whole thing is fucking baffling to me. I mean, I try and read everything through the prism of good business, but I’m increasingly certain Affliction is run by people who don’t know anything about MMA promotion at all.
“I don’t think any other promoter would be dumb enough to take up that offer”
Yeah right! I think promoters would sell their children and their childrens’ virginities (doesn’t sound right pluralized) to put the name of their fight promotion and their fighters out to the general tv population. I think Strikeforce is smarter than that, but other promoters…….not a chance! I could actually see TNA wrestling sending Kurt Angle or Samoa Joe (or Frank Trigg for that matter of fact) to fight in EXC to get their name out there. Many promoters would do ANYTHING for more exposure. There is very little dignity in the world of fighting…
EliteXC already sent their best fighter to fight in another promotion. Thanks EliteXC you gave us 2 of the top 3 fights of the year thanks to Eddie Alverez being non-exclusive.
Could this be a ploy by Affliction to try and steal the CBS deal from Elite XC? If the Arlovski fight draws well, CBS may be tempted to dump Elite for Affliction.
Sure, why wouldn’t CBS want to shack up with a company that is even more financially irresponsible than ProElite?
Arlovski’s running 86% to win on one result guessing site…these guys are doing a great job resuscitating Arlovski’s record at no cost to the UFC.
“Could this be a ploy by Affliction to try and steal the CBS deal from Elite XC? If the Arlovski fight draws well, CBS may be tempted to dump Elite for Affliction.”
How? The fight is on EXC, not Affliction. Sure it’s Affliction fighters, but it’s still the E#XC show and ring.
Going by your logic, Showtime would probably have picked up Strikeforce for Strikeforce-exclusive shows and not Strikeforce/EXC joint shows. And M-1 would have a show in Japan, not DREAM (by way of the one-off Yarenokka! event). I’m sorry, but your logic makes no sense.
Oh Lord, we can no longer tell if the UFC is really really good, or if it’s competitors are just really really dumb.