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Dana White: UFC won’t do a business deal with CBS because CBS is tarnished now
By Zach Arnold | April 25, 2010
From last night’s press session with the media at Arco Arena in Sacramento:
A reporter asks if Zuffa would like a deal with NBC, ABC, or any of the major broadcast networks in America:
“You know, I don’t dislike any of them or have any problems. Obviously, you know you guys have heard me talk about Showtime. Showtime blew that whole deal between us and CBS. But I wouldn’t do a deal with CBS, I wouldn’t. I just think they’re tarnished now and I wouldn’t want to be associated with that. “
A reporter asks if Zuffa is actively pursuing any broadcast network deals or is interested at all…
“Not really. If something comes, yeah, but dude, we’re doing just fine where we’re at. We are… you know, we have a game plan. We’re happy with the plan that we have right now. I think it’s great and I think we’re going to do big things over the next couple of years, so you know I’m not actively pursuing any networks. We’re always talking to people about different things and if it happens if it happens but it would have to be the right deal. Like I said, Strikeforce is on CBS because they had to take that deal. They had to do that deal with Showtime. I don’t. I don’t have to do those kind of deals, you know. IFL had to do that deal. They’re bad deals. (Reporter says, “Money wise?”) In every way shape and form they’re bad deals, you know, I was this close, I mean we were so close to this HBO deal and right before it was there I said, ‘You know what man? I don’t like this. I don’t like it. It doesn’t make sense.’ There were a lot of things that I didn’t like about it. You know when you think in your head at the time ‘you know, this will probably be good for the brand, it will take us…’ and it’s not. You have to… we’ve gone this far without making the wrong move. It’s not good to start making the wrong moves now.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
CBS has shown to be incompetent. So I don’t blame DW for not wanting to do business with them now. MMA on Network TV doesn’t make sense to anybody right now. I can see the attraction for companies like Strikeforce, but CBS has never acted like their partner. They do not care to help them build up their company for long term success. They only care to suck them dry and get as much out of them in the shortest time period possible.
Oh come on, who honestly believes that. It’s true that the UFC doesn’t need network television to go strong, whereas an upstart like Elite or Strikeforce desperately did need the credentials of being on prime time network TV to be seen as legitimate.
But the truth is the UFC is never going to get the kind of deal they want from anybody but a struggling cable channel. They hit Spike at the perfect time that the WWE deal was in turmoil and they needed another product as their flagship. And Versus is looking to rival ESPN by broadcasting everything they don’t and go for a little more edginess in their programming, so of course they’ll bend over backwards for the kings of MMA, the most controversial big money sport in the world.
But network TV is another story. They have all the power in negotiations. So does HBO and ESPN. And if all you’ve got to them to give into you is “This one time Kimbo got 6 million viewers on a Wednesday night” you’ve got nothing. So once you’ve been spoiled by two networks who need you so bad they’ll even allow you to retool their schedules on a whim, you could never accept being bossed around ever again.
Also if UFC did get on network TV, they’ve talked so much trash about how they’d decimate Elite’s numbers (I think Dana once said he’d guarantee 10 million viewers minimum if UFC was on CBS) that it could be an epic disaster for them if they under perform.
Right now from everything we’ve seen with Ultimate Fighter, Elite XC and Strikeforce the maximum number of MMA fans watching a fight is 6 million viewers either on network TV or cable. A struggling organization can count that as a moderate success, but the UFC couldn’t when they’ve claimed the TUF numbers would be double on network television. So honestly it’s better off for them to not go the network route and keep the charade up of “We’ll be bigger than the NFL in 10 years” without getting exposed as only getting less than half of the NFL’s ratings.
And also I wonder if Dana realized while he’s shitting on CBS that they’re the #1 network for sports coverage. They’ve got PGA golf, AFC football, NCAA basketball all of which are among the most highly rated sportscasts on television. He’s saying freakin’ Spike Television is better at sports coverage than them? With their wonderful TNA coverage and extreme sports blooper shows?
The UFC would do better numbers then EliteXC. They bring in a bigger fanbase which would then be added to by justing being on network TV. My guess would be closer to 8 million if they put a GSP fight on there….
And Dana White should be sh!tting on CBS. They don’t treat MMA as a sport. They don’t do a live west coast feed. It is done through the entertainment department and not CBS Sports….
They show it ZERO respect…. So why should they respect it back? They shouldn’t…
1) The fanbase of their biggest ratings (6 million for Kimbo vs. Nelson) wasn’t much larger than Kimbo’s CBS numbers with the Thompson fight. So it’s just not possible to be a accounted for UFC fan without cable. You’re not giving them any ratings and you’re not giving them any money since you’re either streaming PPVs online or going to a bar to watch them. So you can’t assume there’s 2 million more viewers out there without any proof.
2) If they ran the show live on the west coast it would have started at 6pm. The feeling is MMA fans are accustomed to watching Saturday fights later in the night so they held it off. I’m not defending that belief, I think if you want to see the show it doesn’t matter what time it comes on, but they wanted prime time on all coasts. Plus you’d completely preempt the 6 O’clock news and isn’t that one of the key arguments as to why Strikeforce is never coming back to CBS? The evening news is actually higher rated than the 11pm news.
3) How does CBS show MMA no respect? It’s true they don’t “get it” as much as Spike does, but it took Spike a few years to realize it wasn’t pro wrestling too. All of the problems with the Elite and Strikeforce shows beyond some bad camera angles were on the promotion’s end. Strikeforce chose to have 3 title fights everybody knew were all going 25 minutes, the fighters were responsible for having crappy performances, Strikeforce didn’t keep Miller out of the cage, Elite tried to tamper with Kimbo’s fight, Elite didn’t keep a Ken Shamrock in check, Elite agreed to do Unfinished Business without any big names. What can CBS do about that?
The whole point is if Dana is so confident about how much better run and professional UFC is than their competitors, why worry about the broadcaster? They’ve done a fantastic job on what used to be a joke of a network, CBS would be fine.
Network TV always has more potential eyeballs. So the proof is in the ratings for every show they have. CBS drew a completely different age demographic then a UFC does…. So you take some of those people and add them to your UFC base and it’s bigger then a Kimbo Slice card on SpikeTV.
UFC PPV’s start at 7 on the west coast. Having it start at 6 is not a big deal.
They show it no respect because they don’t treat it like a sporting event. They treat it more like they would a reality TV show.
Laslty, they have been stupid with how they have handled things. DW was right. They have no clue. Gus Johnson has been nothing short of appauling. Their production in multile steps below the UFC’s…. Including pacing, camera angles, announcing, and especially pre fight video stuff that have been laughable at best.
No point in going on network TV when you still have 300k idiots out there who will spend $50 to see Coleman vs Couture.
But remember, all of the older viewers were just waiting for the news to come on and don’t count, right?
First off, lol.
Secondly, lol for the obvious “Ultimate Fighter” reference.
Thirdly, give some examples.
It’s because Strikeforce has little experience with television. They had a few PPVs before jumping into the deep end of national television. Surely the UFC could convince the network to let some of their people run the show’s production or at the very least give out some pointers. Remember when Zuffa took over from SEG their first few shows had moments as bad as Strikeforce. Their belief that no network is going to allow them to have a say in the way the show is run is based on a meeting Dana had with HBO in 2006 or 2007 and the UFC is on an entirely different level of respect than then.
“Surely the UFC could convince the network to let some of their people run the show’s production or at the very least give out some pointers.”
You don’t make that deal unless you have it in writting that you have creative control. And from the sounds of it, they could not get that in writing.
And it has nothing to do with Strikeforce being inexperienced. It’s CBS doing a horrible job. They put a guy who knows nothing about MMA into the commentators booth in Guy Johnson. He has done a horrible job. They put in Mauro, who sounds like a pro wrestling announcers. And then Frank Shamrock who’s biased commentary is beyond pathetic.
As for the old people comment…. You made a joke, but completely avoided my valid point. A show on CBS would bring together 2 different demographics and give a monster rating. Not to mention that if CBS signed on the UFC, it would be for enough money they they would be forced to do some serious advertising for the show which would boost it up as well. And the UFC would do their own advertising which we already know is very good.
If I am Dana White, I don’t view CBS as an option unless they give a good money deal with basically full control. We have seen how a CBS run MMA product is run after 5 shows… And there is little improvement and basically a laughing stock of sorts.
And then let’s talk about who has the control on the matchmaking. You can’t give it to CBS…. They pulled a UFC 33 and put on 3 title fights. They are clueless on how to build a proper card. They are clueless on how to work with an organization to build towards the future. They want want want right NOW!! That’s all they care about, is quick ratings.
I made a joke about your joke of an argument. It’s what I do when you get completely nonsensical.
45Huddle Math:
Strikeforce’s surprise demo for Strikeforce = totally irrelevant.
Strikeforce’s surprise demo for UFC = a huge achievement.
You can’t have it both ways. In the thread about the Fedor show you claimed the numbers didn’t count because it was outside of the 18-49 male demographic and if MMA isn’t getting those viewers for CBS then nothing matters. I even brought up older viewers being a good thing for advertiser rates, since if MMA were to get out of the stereotype of a bunch of broke 20 year olds who only buy junk food and video games maybe they’d get better ad revenue and you still refused to accept it. And I don’t think anybody went back to check how many of Kimbo-Thompson’s 6 million viewers were out of the demo, but it is well known that for whatever reason CBS has the oldest viewership in television (it has been a running joke on David Letterman since he started on CBS.)
Also as far as the announcers go, nobody honestly believes any of the three choices were a good idea since they all sucked (Mauro is annoying and stupid but has a nice voice, Frank was only out to get himself over every 5 minutes with no redeeming qualities and Gus comes off as a casual MMA fan at best) but they didn’t feel comfortable with two guys who only had a small amount of MMA show experience on television and wanted a professional announcer. Mike Goldberg has a lengthy resume beyond the UFC of calling sporting events so I don’t think if he were on the broadcast they’d feel the need to put Johnson in. And quite frankly all MMA announcers suck anyway so what does it matter who they hired.
I’m not having it both ways….
The UFC doing 8 Million viewers with their typical young demographic is a home run.
Strikeforce doing 4 Million with mostly an older audience is not a home run.
Simple as that.