Tag: monopoly

ESPN Segment On UFC Salaries to Air Sunday Morning; UFC to Counter By Releasing Unedited Lorenzo Fertitta Interview


(“If they aren’t with us, they’re against us, and in that case we will crush them.”)

The much ballyhooed ESPN: Outside the Lines (which we originally erroneously identified as E:60) episode dealing with UFC salaries and the assertion that the promotion is becoming a monopoly will air Sunday morning on the sports network and Dana White says he’s looking forward to it.

According to the UFC president, the company is preparing to counter-program the show with the uncut and unedited version of the interview with UFC chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta to expose ESPN and the outlet’s main MMA analyst Josh Gross, who contributed to the episode.


(“If they aren’t with us, they’re against us, and in that case we will crush them.”)

The much ballyhooed ESPN: Outside the Lines (which we originally erroneously identified as E:60) episode dealing with UFC salaries and the assertion that the promotion is becoming a monopoly will air Sunday morning on the sports network and Dana White says he’s looking forward to it.

According to the UFC president, the company is preparing to counter-program the show with the uncut and unedited version of the interview with UFC chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta to expose ESPN and the outlet’s main MMA analyst Josh Gross, who contributed to the episode.

White and Gross have a tumultuous  history, and White makes no bones about his feelings about the former managing editor of Sherdog.com, who revealed the finalists of TUF 4 prior to the season finale of the show and wrote a vitriolic open letter to White, pointing a finger at him and the UFC for the epidemic of fighter PED use.

According to an ESPN story posted yesterday about Sunday’s piece, several UFC fighters who expressed displeasure about fighter salaries were too afraid to speak about the issue on record. The only past and present fighter who would talk about it was Ken Shamrock who recently lost a legal battle with the MMA juggernaut. White has promised to expose Shamrock as well.

Perhaps the most telling tweet by White touches on why ESPN, who has a lucrative UFC broadcasting deal in the UK would attack Zuffa on this front.

 

Coincidentally, MMA-Manifesto released a comprehensive list of all of  the UFC base salaries this week and although they are a far cry from those of their counterparts in other professional sports, fighters don’t do *that bad*, considering they often receive back room bonuses and sponsorship money as well. Keep in mind that a lot of these guys made minimum wage (or approximately $16,000 a year) prior to being signed by Zuffa. That being said, hopefully the disparity in pay eventually matches the 70/30 split boxers share with promoters some day, but unless a union eventually happens, it’s unlikely.

Check out the rest of The Baldfather’s tweets on the show below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Union in Labor Dispute With Fertitta-Owned Station Casinos Launches Formal Antitrust Complaint With FTC About Zuffa


(Apparently, you don’t f*ck with a union spurned.)

Culinary Workers Union Local 226 — the group that is battling Station Casinos to unionize its hotel and casino workers — launched a new salvo against the casino’s owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, who also own a majority stake in the UFC and Strikeforce yesterday by firing off a letter of complaint to Federal Trade Commission Director Richard Feinstein in which they request that the FTC launch an investigation against Zuffa for what they deem as “a violation of anti-trust laws.”

According to the complaint, sent to CagePotato.com today by the union, Zuffa’s practices of buying out the competition like they did with PRIDE, the WEC, WFA and Strikeforce, their institution of champion’s clauses, automatic contract renewal clauses and guaranteed first negotiation periods in fighters’ contracts, their control of fighter image and likeness rights in perpetuity and their refusal to co-promote all put artificial restraints on athlete movement, depress pay and stifle competition.


(Apparently, you don’t f*ck with a union spurned.)

Culinary Workers Union Local 226 — the group that is battling Station Casinos to unionize its hotel and casino workers — launched a new salvo against the casino’s owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, who also own a majority stake in the UFC and Strikeforce yesterday by firing off a letter of complaint to Federal Trade Commission Director Richard Feinstein in which they request that the FTC launch an investigation against Zuffa for what they deem as “a violation of anti-trust laws.”

According to the complaint, sent to CagePotato.com today by the union, Zuffa’s practices of buying out the competition like they did with PRIDE, the WEC, WFA and Strikeforce, their institution of champion’s clauses, automatic contract renewal clauses and guaranteed first negotiation periods in fighters’ contracts, their control of fighter image and likeness rights in perpetuity and their refusal to co-promote all put artificial restraints on athlete movement, depress pay and stifle competition.

It’s worth noting that this is the same union that financially supported Bob Reilly’s re-election campaign in New York and who has been feeding the oblivious State Assemblyman lines about the Fertittas and Zuffa being sinister entities. There’s a pretty good chance they are angling at getting the FTC to force the sport to adopt a fighters union as well, but time will tell.

The CWU, who are a branch of the Unite Here group of unions that represent hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, and airport workers in the U.S. and Canada, are asking that the FTC begin a thorough investigation into Zuffa’s contravention of the FTC Act which “prohibits unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce.”

The funny thing is, the FTC has already been investigating the UFC and Strikeforce parent company, and not surprisingly, the claim of a monopoly and of anti-trust violation has been vehemently denied by UFC president Dana White.

We’ll have to wait and see if the results of the FTC probe are made public and if they find any wrongdoing on the part of Zuffa.

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