GeneChing
10-07-2008, 09:26 AM
This isn't really news for most of us, but it made the NYT.
October 6, 2008, 5:30 pm
Fighting for Endorsements (http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/fighting-for-endorsements/?ref=sports)
By R.M. Schneiderman
Joe Lauzon, top, punches Kyle Bradley during their bout in September in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. (Photo credit:The Ultimate Fighting Championship)
I have never been in a street fight, save for a short exchange of fisticuffs in the 7th grade (and even then I am pretty sure we made a “no hitting in the face” rule). Nor have I – big surprise — ever fought in a professional mixed martial arts bout.
Nonetheless I have practiced martial arts enough over the years to know that getting punched in the face hurts. A lot. As do moves like this one.
You would have to pay me a lot of money to step into the cage and get my face pummeled for three rounds, not to mention all the difficulties that go along with training and making weight. So I was surprised to learn that mixed martial artists — even those who fight for the sport’s top organizations — often make very little compared with athletes in more traditional sports. Strangely enough, some fighters — especially those on the lower-levels of major promotions — make more money from endorsements than they do for actually trading blows.
If you are a basketball player, you’re primarily paid to shoot, dribble, rebound, play defense and things of that ilk. Only superstars, like LeBron James, are able to make far more from endorsements than on the hardwood. The same holds true for other team sports like baseball and football.
Individual sports like tennis, golf and boxing, on the other hand, can offer more endorsement opportunities for non-stars; lesser-known competitors, playing in big events, can bring major attention to a brand by plastering it on their shirt or shorts, even if they lose.
Mixed martial arts offers the most extreme example of endorsement economics. The rules regarding sponsorship are fairly lax — as opposed to, say, tennis, a sport whose governing bodies restrict the number of logos an athlete can wear. Most mixed martial artists tend to brandish post fight T-shirts, hats and sports drinks to give their sponsors exposure.
Over the past few years, as the sport has become more popular, that has translated into a significant chunk of income for fighters, according to Kenny Florian, a lightweight contender in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the sport’s premier organization. Karo Parisyan, a top welterweight in the U.F.C. who makes roughly $175,000 a year from fighting and sponsorships, said this would be the first year that his fight purses will outweigh his endorsement dollars. (He added that the reason has more to do with an increase in salary than the current economic downturn, which has hurt fighters’ sponsorship deals).
Nonetheless, because mixed martial arts is a relatively new sport (albeit a popular and increasingly mainstream one), it has not reached a level at which fighters’ salaries and endorsement deals rival those of sports with more-established traditions and bigger audiences. While star U.F.C. fighters like Chuck Liddell make millions of dollars a year, per fight salaries for newcomers in the U.F.C. can be as low as $2,000 a bout. In contrast, boxers on the undercards of fights televised on H.B.O. largely make six-figures each time they step into the ring.
Which may explain why some U.F.C. fighters enter the ring wearing their endorsements on the back of their fights shorts (see the picture above).
October 6, 2008, 5:30 pm
Fighting for Endorsements (http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/fighting-for-endorsements/?ref=sports)
By R.M. Schneiderman
Joe Lauzon, top, punches Kyle Bradley during their bout in September in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. (Photo credit:The Ultimate Fighting Championship)
I have never been in a street fight, save for a short exchange of fisticuffs in the 7th grade (and even then I am pretty sure we made a “no hitting in the face” rule). Nor have I – big surprise — ever fought in a professional mixed martial arts bout.
Nonetheless I have practiced martial arts enough over the years to know that getting punched in the face hurts. A lot. As do moves like this one.
You would have to pay me a lot of money to step into the cage and get my face pummeled for three rounds, not to mention all the difficulties that go along with training and making weight. So I was surprised to learn that mixed martial artists — even those who fight for the sport’s top organizations — often make very little compared with athletes in more traditional sports. Strangely enough, some fighters — especially those on the lower-levels of major promotions — make more money from endorsements than they do for actually trading blows.
If you are a basketball player, you’re primarily paid to shoot, dribble, rebound, play defense and things of that ilk. Only superstars, like LeBron James, are able to make far more from endorsements than on the hardwood. The same holds true for other team sports like baseball and football.
Individual sports like tennis, golf and boxing, on the other hand, can offer more endorsement opportunities for non-stars; lesser-known competitors, playing in big events, can bring major attention to a brand by plastering it on their shirt or shorts, even if they lose.
Mixed martial arts offers the most extreme example of endorsement economics. The rules regarding sponsorship are fairly lax — as opposed to, say, tennis, a sport whose governing bodies restrict the number of logos an athlete can wear. Most mixed martial artists tend to brandish post fight T-shirts, hats and sports drinks to give their sponsors exposure.
Over the past few years, as the sport has become more popular, that has translated into a significant chunk of income for fighters, according to Kenny Florian, a lightweight contender in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the sport’s premier organization. Karo Parisyan, a top welterweight in the U.F.C. who makes roughly $175,000 a year from fighting and sponsorships, said this would be the first year that his fight purses will outweigh his endorsement dollars. (He added that the reason has more to do with an increase in salary than the current economic downturn, which has hurt fighters’ sponsorship deals).
Nonetheless, because mixed martial arts is a relatively new sport (albeit a popular and increasingly mainstream one), it has not reached a level at which fighters’ salaries and endorsement deals rival those of sports with more-established traditions and bigger audiences. While star U.F.C. fighters like Chuck Liddell make millions of dollars a year, per fight salaries for newcomers in the U.F.C. can be as low as $2,000 a bout. In contrast, boxers on the undercards of fights televised on H.B.O. largely make six-figures each time they step into the ring.
Which may explain why some U.F.C. fighters enter the ring wearing their endorsements on the back of their fights shorts (see the picture above).