The UFC once again is asking you to dig into your pockets to further line theirs with money after a record breaking year of company profits.
Starting with UFC 270 on Jan. 22, the cost of a UFC pay-per view event will increase from $69.99 to $74.99. Newsday’s Mark La Monica was the first to announce the increase on Twitter.
This will be the third time that pay-per view prices have increased since the UFC and ESPN partnered. Prior to the deal, UFC events were regularly $59.99 going back to 2015. The first increase to 64.99 came in 2018, the year the partnership was announced. The second increase to $69.99 came just one year ago.
Being a Fan Is Getting Expensive
For those that purchase an annual subscription to ESPN+ bundled with a PPV, you can expect to see an increase of $10.00, going from $89.98 to $99.98. The individual cost for ESPN+, the subscription service required to order UFC pay-per views, saw an increase from $5.99 to $6.99 just a few months ago.
Being a fan of the UFC is going to cost you an extra $72.00 per year with the announced increase and the already increased ESPN+ subscription. If you order every UFC pay-per view event for an entire year, you will be spending $983.76 with a monthly ESPN+ subscription. After taxes, you are looking at over $1,000 annually.
The increases also come after a record-breaking period of company profits for Endeavor, the UFC’s parent company. In the third quarter of 2021, Endeavor, which this past April went public, announced $1.4 billion in revenue with a net income of $63.6 million. Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel called the third-quarter earnings the “best nine-month, year-to-date period in UFC history.”
ESPN+ subscriptions climbed to over 17 million this year per SportsPro. The UFC has been a driving force for new ESPN+ subscribers and the promotion experienced a record breaking year in 2021. “This year we’re breaking our record for pay-per-view buys. I think we’re gonna do something like 8.4 or 8.5 million pay-per-view buys this year,” said Dana White on the Jim Rome podcast.
Putting It to Good Use
Let’s hope that the UFC uses the increased revenue to further support their fighters by increasing the base salary or offering some form of medical care.
Our own Cooper Burke wrote a fantastic piece on what the UFC could, and should be doing for its employees. You can check out that article here.
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Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
