In Toronto, Steve Buffery notes the UFC "doesn't release purses as a marketing tool, and their fighters don't usually reveal what they make." Jon Jones for his Saturday fight against Alexander Gustafsson is "probably making around $500,000 for his purse, plus fight bonuses and a cut on the pay-per-view revenues." But there is a "growing sense inside and outside the UFC that the organization ... is generally shortchanging its fighters." Jones for his part said that he will "never complain about what he makes," but added that he is "hopeful the UFC will start bumping up purses." Jones: "I know Dana White knows that the fighters could be upgraded a little bit, especially his top-level guys, and that maybe he'll put some thought into that and move in that direction in the future." Buffery writes it seems "more UFC fighters, retired and active, are coming out and risking the wrath of White by questioning pay structure" (TORONTO SUN, 9/20).
WORKING THROUGH THE ISSUES: The AP's Doug Feinberg noted the WNBA's current CBA is set to expire on Sept. 30, which is "before the end" of the league's playoffs. WNBA officials "aren't concerned there would be any interruption once its contract expires." The two sides "met during the league's All-Star weekend at the end of July, but haven't had many face-to-face conversations since." WNBPA Dir of Operations Pam Wheeler said, "We would like to accelerate the bargaining process. The pace has been slower than the players would like and we would like. We view the expiration with a sense of urgency" (AP, 9/19).
NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT: MLS Commissioner Don Garber last week said three of the four teams in a new round of expansion are "already spoken for." SPORTS ON EARTH's Howard Megdal wrote what is "fascinating about this move is not that the league is expanding," but that all three of the "spoken-for teams are situated in the same geographic area, the Southeast, where no current MLS teams reside, and where the league had its greatest failure since its inception" in '96. This move for MLS is "best likened to baseball's westward expansion." The last time MLS "tried this, the league wasn't ready to take flight for other, more complicated reasons." But MLS execs have "done their homework since, and there's little reason to worry about the league's effort to become a truly national league." Megdal: "It's time" (SPORTSONEARTH.com, 9/17).
