Menu
Leagues and Governing Bodies

Unionizing UFC Under Professional Fighters Association Not As Simple As It May Seem

It is "far from a slam dunk" that UFC fighters will vote to organize under the Professional Fighters Association, because as a group, they are "situated vastly differently than players in team sports like MLB, the NFL, NBA and NHL," according to Kevin Iole of YAHOO SPORTS. Those athletes have "a slew of other rights, including health and life insurance." But the "great players" in MLB, the NHL, NBA and NFL "need the lower-level players." MMA is an individual sport and in a fight, someone like Conor McGregor "relies only upon himself." Iole: "Why would McGregor ... be willing to go on strike and lose out on his large purses to try to get new fighters he doesn’t know or doesn’t rely upon an extra $5,000 or $10,000 per fight?" It is "going to be difficult to sell most of the stars on the concept." Given the sport’s growth and visibility, fighters are "beginning to see unionization as a means to improving their conditions." Still, fighters often make "far less money than it appears given the expenses they bear." UFC’s television rights deal with Fox "is up" in '18 and will "almost without question increase substantially." The Professional Fighters Association is "embarking upon a campaign to unionize the UFC’s athletes and reach" a CBA. Among its leaders are sports agent Jeff Borris, labor lawyer Lucas Middlebrook, Ballengee Group Manager of Client Services Callie Mendenhall and economist Andrew Zimbalist. They are "persons of substance and not easily dismissed." New UFC owners WMG-IMG co-CEOs Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell are "outspoken liberal Democrats who are used to dealing with unions in their other businesses." However, they are "not likely to engage in union-busting tactics" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 9/1).  

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2016/09/02/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/UFC-Union.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2016/09/02/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/UFC-Union.aspx

CLOSE