Will You Be Buying A UFC Fight Pass?
UFC Fight Pass in the new way to watch non-PPV events and shows from around the globe, and at the extra cost of $9.99 per month was not received with the best response. It seems as though the company with everything now wants a little bit more, and is privatising it’s content.
Will this stop anyone from buying there piece of the new digital platform, or will it be another cost that we are willing to pay? At $60 a pop for PPV events, this is by no means a cheap hobby. We are used to paying through the nose to watch our favorite fighters compete, so there is little doubt in my mind that the fight pass will be a success.
In their defense, the UFC are providing a lot of material for the price. Events overseas, exclusive footage and reality shows like TUF: Brazil all stand in fight passes favor. The main argument against the bold move is the added cost; in fact it’s the only argument against it.
Everything about the idea is absolutely awesome, but the price tag leaves a sour taste. UFC President Dana White used the NFL’s yearly TV deals in the UFC’s defense, claiming that the reason PPV’S events exist is because networks don’t pay the billions (as they do the NFL). One obvious counter statement is that the UFC is nowhere near the sport that pro football is.
Of course, football started in an era long gone by, where that sort of money just wasn’t in circulation for companies to make huge profits. The UFC launched at the beginning of the digital era, and now seeks to capitalize on the current technological boom.
The UFC marketing department is certainly earning their paycheque, but will it prove to be at the company’s eventual cost? Case in point: the first event being streamed on UFC.tv is UFN 34: Saffiedine vs. Lim, during the free trial period I’m happy to watch. Would I pay the initial membership fee to watch that event? No, I doubt that I would.
The truth is that a string of poor events could lead to the UFC’s new product being a flop. As unlikely as that sounds, the unpredictability of such a bare bones sport could prove to be the undoing of fight pass.
