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Dana White: Coke needs us, we don’t need them
By Zach Arnold | June 5, 2007
By Zach Arnold
Yesterday, I wrote a post about the situation with sponsors in the UFC. The primary focus was to point out that two of the four main UFC sponsors, Amp’d Mobile and Xyience, are in reported trouble. The other two, Toyo Tires and Mickey’s malt liquor, are not the biggest of corporate names to jump onboard a product that appeals heavily to an 18-34 year old demographic.
Today, Dana White did an interview with NBC Sports and was asked about the issue of corporate sponsorships in UFC.
He is also asked if he would like for companies such as Coca-Cola or Nike to jump on board as sponsors. He says that he is very happy with Mickey’s and Toyo Tires (notice that he makes no mention of Amp’d Mobile). Not only does he say he is happy with the sponsors, but says that he doesn’t need Coke in order for the company to be successful. He said if they come on board that would be great but he doesn’t need them because 18-34 year olds are watching the UFC without those sponsors. Quote: “If Coke wants them, Coke needs to come to us.”
This is an incredibly arrogant and short-sighted attitude to have and it needs to change real fast. Here’s a more specific quote from Dana White on the NBC Sports interview:
“I’m cool with Mickey’s and Toyo Tires, man, believe me, you’ll never hear me bitch. The way that we’ve run this business and the way we have come up, think about it… we didn’t have any mainstream press, we didn’t have any mainstream sponsors, and look at how huge we are. I don’t fucking need Coke to keep doing what we’re doing, man. Believe me, the big time sponsors if they come on, of course that’d be fantastic. I don’t need ’em. 18-to-34 year old males, they’re here hanging out with me. If Coke wants them, Coke needs to come to us. You know, this [UFC] wasn’t bought by smart businessmen.”
I earlier alluded to the fact that PRIDE on its own didn’t have many blue-chip sponsors, but one big-name sponsor they did manage to get was MasterCard. Dana White recently called the way DSE ran business with PRIDE “a mess.” So how is it that the owners of “a mess” managed to attract more credibility with corporate sponsors than UFC, a supposedly legitimate operation attracting hundreds of millions of dollars on PPV?
Part of having a legitimate presence in the corporate world is showing that major powers in that same world are backing your company. There is no better way to do this than by bringing in big-name, blue-chip sponsors to the table.
Even a caveman sponsored by Geico can understand that.
Topics: Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 50 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Well said, sir.
Quickest way to drive someone away is to make it look like you need them, especially if they don’t need you.
White knows he needs sponsors, but he’s going to lord over the fact that what he has is damn valuable. He’ll get better value from that position than from the position that he needs sponsors.
The UFC’s ad rates are among the lowest of any sports on cable television on a CPM basis. They certainly do need more big advertisers, regardless of what anyone does or does not say in any interview.
The IFL also needs more big-name advertisers who actually pay a significant amount for their sponsorships. The IFL’s financial documents show that many of the big IFL sponsors aren’t paying as much as one might think.
Also interesting that Xyience was not mentioned in the quote above, and that the Xyience logo was blurred out of Chuck Liddell’s shirt on the “Countdown to UFC 71” special on Spike TV.
Solid write up. Dana is insane. Right place; right time, IMO.
Ahh, if all else fails UFC could get a Pepsi sponsorship, j/k.
Well, they recently hired Michael Pine to head their advertising and sponsorship division (Pine worked for CNN & Turner networks).
So as a company they seem to be trying to take their sponsorship to the next level, even though Dana may be content with Mickeys and Toyo.
He is right in that they don’t need those big coporate sponsors to be successful. I’m also not sure how many huge sponsors are going to come to the table for a combat sport. De la Hoya-Mayweather was sponsored by 7-Eleven, Bally Total Fitness, Rockstar & Cazadores tequila (the big one). That isn’t exactly Nike and Coke.
Come to think of it, UFC would be a lot more interesting if the fighters had to drink Coke instead of water in between rounds. And, not just a couple of sips either but an entire can, before the end of the round.
I guess the only thing Coke could bring to the table is money. And do you really want to have a company that could be linked to obesity in the United States sponsoring a sport that is trying to promote athletics?
Major TV contracts are more important than sponsorship anyway, that’s the key, if they can forge a relationship with a major network or a higher profile cable station they’ll be set. They won’t have to run down a big coporate sponsor either, they’ll already be there.
Which brings up another point, why don’t one of these major boxing promoters (Arum or GB) go to a network (instead of premium cable)?
“Come to think of it, UFC would be a lot more interesting if the fighters had to drink Coke instead of water in between rounds. And, not just a couple of sips either but an entire can, before the end of the round.”
Lol, I don’t it would be advantageous for a fighter to drink coke in between rounds.
It’d be funny though.
lol, fighters actually aren’t allowed to drink anything in between rounds (or immediately after a fight) other than commission-approved water. Whenever you see a fighter drinking Xyience or anything like that in the ring/cage after a fight, they are either pretending to drink from an empty bottle, or they are drinking from the bottle but it has been emptied of its original contents and replaced with commission-approved water.
To add to the point I was making about sponsors in combat sports, Sports Illustrated reported that Oscar De La Hoya made 55 million in 2007, only 2 million $ of his income came from endorsements. Mayweather took home 250k this year from endorsements.
lol, fighters actually aren’t allowed to drink anything in between rounds (or immediately after a fight) other than commission-approved water. Whenever you see a fighter drinking Xyience or anything like that in the ring/cage after a fight, they are either pretending to drink from an empty bottle, or they are drinking from the bottle but it has been emptied of its original contents and replaced with commission-approved water.
That’s not true. Several athletic commissions, including Nevada, have approved the use of sealed sports drinks such as Gatorade.
Major TV contracts are more important than sponsorship anyway, that’s the key, if they can forge a relationship with a major network or a higher profile cable station they’ll be set. They won’t have to run down a big coporate sponsor either, they’ll already be there.
Which brings up another point, why don’t one of these major boxing promoters (Arum or GB) go to a network (instead of premium cable)?
Cost of of programming is why boxing moved off of networks and on to premium cable. Back in the 1980s when boxing was still on, networks were only paying $100,000-$150,000 for boxing programs on the Saturday afternoon slots. As PPV and the premium networks came into play, they could afford to pay far more for a boxing event, and thus the promoters and fighters moved to HBO, Showtime, and their corresponding PPV delivery systems (SET and TVKO). Boxing has been attempted on network TV in recent years: Oscar De La Hoya had a short lived summer boxing series on NBC just 3 years ago that televised english language bouts alongside a Telemundo telecast of spanish commentary, and the ratings were pretty decent (I believe in the 2.0-2.2 range), but they weren’t able to get elite fighters, and the cost per program was far more than, say, tape delayed Gravity Games coverage.
There was an attempt to try and get boxing on a solid time slot with a time buy on ABC with Tarver/Muriqi just a month ago, but that fell through as there was difficulty getting the level of advertisers and ticket sales that they wanted. Saturday afternoon is perfect for boxing, and there’s clearly interest in fights, but the problem is making it affordable for the networks to justify putting it on.
l, they recently hired Michael Pine to head their advertising and sponsorship division (Pine worked for CNN & Turner networks).
So as a company they seem to be trying to take their sponsorship to the next level, even though Dana may be content with Mickeys and Toyo.
He is right in that they don’t need those big coporate sponsors to be successful. I’m also not sure how many huge sponsors are going to come to the table for a combat sport. De la Hoya-Mayweather was sponsored by 7-Eleven, Bally Total Fitness, Rockstar & Cazadores tequila (the big one). That isn’t exactly Nike and Coke.
Golden Boy has done a great job bringing in sponsors. In the last year, they’ve gotten sponsorship from companies like Sony and Southwest Airlines. 7-Eleven isn’t Coke, but god, they’re a lot better than a company that produces malt liqour.
That’s just Dana being Dana. I don’t think he honestly believes that for a second. They want those big name sponsors and I believe that the Coke and Pepsi’s of the World will eventually come around.
Heh. Here’s my thoughts on the subject. Not quite as inflammatory as Zach’s here but still interesting.
http://mma.komikazee.com/news/comments/nbcsports_interviews_dana_white/
Out of curiousity, what kind of corporate sponsorship does the WWE get?
The Ultimate Fighter this year has Burger Kings as a sponsor so I think the bigger names are going to cotinue to come.
It seems that more movie companies are trying to get product tie-in with UFC show because they know about the demographic that mma gets. We saw it with the Hostel 2 stuff going on at the last UFC show, we saw it a bit with Chuck and 300, and I expect at some point to see the name of a big movie sprawled across the center of the octagon.
I think we have been seeing for the most part that the companies that try to get with UFC are up and coming and want their products to get noticed by a very important demographic on the cheap. Amp’d and Xyience have apparently failed or are failing to get the success they wanted from that relationship. What would make more sense than a relatively unknown company trying to get famous on the back of the UFC would be a famous company, but one that has taken its finger off of the pulse, trying to reconnect with 18-34 year old men through sponsoring that they watch in droves.
[…] Ratings Yet) Loading … In a recent blog post over on FightOpinion.com discussing the issues of sponsorships for the UFC the author (Zach Arnold) found a very interesting […]
7-Eleven isn’t Coke, but god, they’re a lot better than a company that produces malt liqour.
While that may be true the point still remains, the biggest name/promoter in boxing can’t bring in big coporate sponsors. As marketable as De la Hoya is, he’s only pulled in 2 million this year from endorsements.
Grape Knee High,
The WWE gets somewhat lousy sponsorship. Televised wrestling has always drawn very low ad rates, relative to the audience size. (IIRC, Smackdown has the very lowest rate of any network show, despite it’s ratings being higher than many CW shows.)
Also, as part of their move back to USA (when Spike publicly announced they weren’t bidding on the broadcast rights, undercutting WWE’s bargaining position), WWE lost the ability to profit from commercials during their domestic television programming. As a result, the only advertising revenues to WWE are from foreign broadcasts, in-show sponsorships (WM23 presented by 360 OTC), and internet revenues. Prior to the current USA contract, WWE made much more from advertising. According to the WWE 10-K, “Advertising net revenues were $4.5 million, $22.6 million, $43.7 million and $59.5 million representing 2%, 6%, 12% and 16% of total net revenues in T 2006, fiscal 2006, fiscal 2005 and fiscal 2004, respectively.” As a result, WWE has shifted much of their emphasis to activating other revenue streams (starting WWE 24/7, mining their tape library for DVDs) that have largely offset those losses.
On another note, the Turner/Time Warner ownership of WCW was an exception (in part). WCW booked significant revenues for the company (though some of the money appeared in the balance sheets of other Turner/TW subsidiaries) Partly because WCW could book some part of a large broad-based advertising buy (split among TBS, TNT, WB, Cartoon, AOL, magazines, etc.). Partly because WCW controlled some of the wrestlers with the greatest mass-appeal (Hogan and Savage made lots from their non-wrestling commercials). Partly because WCW became a dumping ground for internal advertising buys (AOL adverts) and makegoods (WCW Saturday Night was almost all makegoods in its last years)
Got a source Kenny?
I was flipping through that TV, and WWE mentioned “BODOGFIGHT” as a sponser. So maybe, there might be something there.
On Countdown to UFC 71, One minute Xyience was blurred, but in the next scene, it wasn’t. So i wonder what’s going on
“So how is it that the owners of “a mess” managed to attract more credibility with corporate sponsors than UFC, a supposedly legitimate operation attracting hundreds of millions of dollars on PPV?”
The reasons behind this have nothing to do with business models and everything to do with culture. Major league sponsors like Coke/Pepsi et al, all have a real aversion for controversy, (except the contrived and controlled type), and I can’t ever recall an elected member of the Diet standup and compare Pride/K1 to “human cockfighting”. Neither do the Japanese newspapers repeat these types of opinion on a weekly basis, ad nauseum. The business of martial arts in Japan is established, respected and has been a part of the culture for generations, hence, no controversy and the sponsor revenues flow. IMO it’s unreasonable to compare the two organizations in this way, Pride has tremendous advantages that Zuffa is still working towards.
RoyalB,
My sources were largely from a combination of WWE’s publicly available financial reports, Bryan Alvarez & RD Reynolds’ “Death of WCW”, and the Wrestling Observer. That and some of my own observations. 🙂
While that may be true the point still remains, the biggest name/promoter in boxing can’t bring in big coporate sponsors. As marketable as De la Hoya is, he’s only pulled in 2 million this year from endorsements.
Boxers rarely pull in major endorsement deals themselves, but this isn’t a question of fighter endorsement, but rather than of the promotional body themselves and their shows. Oscar the promoter certainly has pulled in large promotional bodies. The show that he’s essentially in control of on Telefutura is sponsored by Miller Brewing Company. His shows with HBO have had nothing but name sponsors (again, the Sony and Southwest sponsorships). There was a more extensive article about this written in the Las Vegas Review Journal. I’d suggest you read it:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Nov-15-Wed-2006/sports/10843386.html
Actually, I was wrong on the article. I dug a little more to find the one I wanted, and found it.
http://15rounds.com/Columns/mswann/golden-111406.php
Of note:
…the main focus has to be on attracting sponsors outside of the beer companies, but even those, Miller and Budweiser, you don’t see much anymore. We have in the last two years put a lot of focus on trying to attract sponsors that traditionally have not been involved. You’re right, it’s a success. We have Rock Star, the energy drink, working exclusively with us in boxing, we have Southwest Airlines, we have Coca-Cola for one of their energy drinks, Full Throttle, and Sony which was involved in our last fight with Barrera.
So we have all of the sponsors and you know how to attract them? It is basically showing them that the reputation of issues that boxing suffers is not that bad and if you run it as a business, you’re open and honest and you don’t go to a sponsor and use those ridiculous negotiating tactics where you go to a sponsor and ask for a million bucks for a ring mat and in the end settle for $100,000 or $150,000 and in the process piss off the sponsors and become such a nightmare for these corporate entities to deal with these promoters that they say, ‘We’re wasting our time.’ We come to them, make a deal, we under-promise and over-deliver, totally different from most other promoters. That’s not what we say, that’s what the sponsors tell us.
I saw a study from the head of Bacardi, their study, not ours. They showed me the increase in sales they had during the last fight weekend compared to last year, how it more than doubled, almost tripled the number of cases sold. So they’re having a great experience, and it’s honest and transparent. So I think as we get more of these companies and they talk to each other, hopefully we will bring the sport back to television.
he hopes to close sponsorship deals with Cingular, Sony, Rock Star Energy Drinks and Coca-Cola.
Read that excerpt, save for Rock star (who has sponsored MMA events & MMA fighters before) they didn’t get any of those deals. Cazadores tequila was their MAIN sponsor. They barely had any mainstream corporate sponsors, which is my point. I think 7-Eleven, Bally’s, Rockstar etc are respectable companies, but people are throwing out brands like Nike and Coca-Cola.
People are making fun of Mickey’s but it is a Miller Brewing Company brand.
Schaefer, a Swiss native who recently became a U.S. citizen, says attracting the casual boxing fan and converting him into a die-hard has been a thrust of the promotion. Another is to re-attract corporate sponsors. He has lined up Bally Total Fitness, Rockstar (energy drink), Cazadores (tequila), Starwood Hotels, Southwest Airlines, Tecate (Mexican beer) and 7-Eleven.
Schaefer according to a USA Today report played a key role in securing sponsors for the fight, companies that include Bally Total Fitness, Rockstar (energy drink), Cazadores (tequila), Starwood Hotels, Southwest Airlines, Tecate (Mexican beer) and 7-Eleven.
Read that excerpt, save for Rock star (who has sponsored MMA events & MMA fighters before) they didn’t get any of those deals. Cazadores tequila was their MAIN sponsor. They barely had any mainstream corporate sponsors, which is my point. I think 7-Eleven, Bally’s, Rockstar etc are respectable companies, but people are throwing out brands like Nike and Coca-Cola.
But they have had many of those companies. Sony’s name is all over the Marquez/Barrera PPV. Again, 7-Eleven isn’t something to be fairly proud about? Bally’s? Southwest is the third largest airline in the world. I like the UFC, and I think that Dana’s done some great stuff, but where is his similar sponsorship? That’s what this entire thread is about. If he has such an upperhand, why isn’t Neimroff on his canvas?
People are making fun of Mickey’s but it is a Miller Brewing Company brand.
So is Steel Reserve. Would you prefer Miller on your canvas (The UFC did at one point, remember) or Steel Reserve/Mickey’s? Its obvious that they should at least move up a little in terms of their ability to garner sponsorship, so where is it?
GM might make a good sponsor. See why at http://conceptsmarketing.blogspot.com/2007/06/ultimate-fighting-championship-ufc.html.
But they have had many of those companies. Sony’s name is all over the Marquez/Barrera PPV. Again, 7-Eleven isn’t something to be fairly proud about? Bally’s? Southwest is the third largest airline in the world. I like the UFC, and I think that Dana’s done some great stuff, but where is his similar sponsorship? That’s what this entire thread is about. If he has such an upperhand, why isn’t Neimroff on his canvas?
They didn’t have it for the biggest fight in boxing, and according to Schaefer he was actively pursuing mainstream sponsors. What they did have was Cazadores, and that was what was plastered all over the canvas.
This isn’t a pissing contest, the point is that major corporate sponsors aren’t jumping all over boxing either. You don’t have to look any further than Boxing’s biggest star & boxing’s biggest fight to realize that.
It does seem extremely bootleg for Buffer (who himself is truly bootlet) to say “Mickey’s…GET STUNG” before each fight. Its embarassing for the sport…and UFC.
They didn’t have it for the biggest fight in boxing, and according to Schaefer he was actively pursuing mainstream sponsors. What they did have was Cazadores, and that was what was plastered all over the canvas.
This isn’t a pissing contest, the point is that major corporate sponsors aren’t jumping all over boxing either. You don’t have to look any further than Boxing’s biggest star & boxing’s biggest fight to realize that.
Ugh. Alright, if you’d like to place top shelf liqour, airlines, and a worldwide chain of convienence stores on the same level as 40oz malt liqour and claim that no one can get sponsorship, fine. I don’t see what further arguing is going to prove. What’s evident in both interviews is that one group is actively seeking corporate participation and the other doesn’t give a shit, and the people who come to both reflect that.
I don’t if you’re not reading what I’m typing or what, but I am not comparing the UFC’s sponsors with De la Hoya-Mayweather’s. The point from.the.begining. is that combat sports in general aren’t get major corporate sponsors these days.
7-Eleven and Cazadores isn’t Nike and Coca-Cola, I don’t give a damn how respectable you think they are. And you’re right there is no point is arguing about it.
What’s evident in both interviews is that one group is actively seeking corporate participation and the other doesn’t give a shit
The other doesn’t give a shit so much that they hired CNN’s Senior Director of Partnerships & Sponsorships to run their sales and sponsorships division.
I typed that way too fast. Eh, you’ll get the gist of what I’m saying.
I don’t if you’re not reading what I’m typing or what, but I am not comparing the UFC’s sponsors with De la Hoya-Mayweather’s. The point from.the.begining. is that combat sports in general aren’t get major corporate sponsors these days.
7-Eleven and Cazadores isn’t Nike and Coca-Cola, I don’t give a damn how respectable you think they are. And you’re right there is no point is arguing about it.
The folks who first brought up Coke and Nike and where their place is imagined with the UFC are the interviewer and Dana. Any major name brand sponsorship would be welcome in the UFC. Any. Not just Coke, Sony, or Nike, hell, Puma would be a marked improvement.
The other doesn’t give a shit so much that they hired CNN’s Senior Director of Partnerships & Sponsorships to run their sales and sponsorships division.
You still wouldn’t hear anyone at Golden Boy or Main Events talk as if the advertisers need to grovel at their feet. That’s the ridiculous part here. I certainly hope they can improve, but “we don’t need them” is ridiculous on all levels.
GM might make a good sponsor.
Top Sites For MMA Discussion:
1. http://www.sherdog.net
2. http://www.411mania.net
3. http://www.ls2.com (Do General Motors (GM) enthusiasts like UFC?) I know UFC doesn’t have a big sponsor yet. I see a sponsorship / marketing opportunity here! Note to GM – GM enthusiasts like MMA.
4. http://www.ironmagazineforums.com
5. forums.sohh.com
6. alt.ufc
7. http://community.allhiphop.com
8. http://forums.steroid.com
9. http://www.forums.sportsnet.ca
10. http://www.wackbag.com
11. forums.sportingnews.com
12. board.spawn.com
13. forums.corvetteforum.com (Another GM site!)
Read more abotu this on my marketing blog.
http://conceptsmarketing.blogspot.com/2007/06/ultimate-fighting-championship-ufc.html
Ugh. Alright, if you’d like to place top shelf liqour, airlines, and a worldwide chain of convienence stores on the same level as 40oz malt liqour and claim that no one can get sponsorship, fine.
Jose Cuervo maybe, but Cazadores tequila? Since when is that a top shelf liquor?
I don’t see anything wrong with what he’s said at all. You only have X hours in the day – there are better things that you can do with your time than chasing sponsors.
Coke etc have their own brains and they’re not going to sponsor the UFC just because Dana tells them to… Really, he’s absolutely right not to chase them. They are fully aware of the UFC and will sponsor them if they see fit. As I say, the UFC’s representatives clearly have other things that they can do with their time which will more than likely be more profitable. They know what they’re doing – that’s how they’ve made millions whilst we all play around with our small fry sites feeling the need to criticise absolutely everything.
“Marketrman Says:
June 6th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Top Sites For MMA Discussion:”
How did you come up with that list? Where is MMA.tv and mmaweekly?
Maybe I’m confused.
We are told to be modest and humble, but at certain times I think being cocky is a must. Especially if you have done what Dana White has done with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Canson…I did a little research about MMA leagues. I sampled 34,228 messages between January 1, 2007 and May 31, 2007. UFC receives the most buzz among MMA leagues; however, consumer discussion is more negative toward UFC. But why is this and is it a bad thing? I looked at over 4,960 different sites. The ones I listed above are in the top 13. Discussion may take place on the others; however, they may be A). Further down the list or B). Not in our content system currently. There are very few companies that actually monitor this data. The list I’ve compiled is fairly comprehensive and one of the more detailed lists of sites where MMA discussion takes place that you are likely to see.
It is important to note that I wanted to illustrate the fact that GM enthusiasts talk about MMA. This may represent a sponsorship opportunity for them.
Also, there are more messages in the blogosphere. I merely brought in a sample of them. Unfortunately, I don’t have all day to look at this data since I don’t get paid to do it. I did this analysis in my spare time. I’m sure looking at a larger sample size may yield different results. However, I feel looking at 34,000+ messages and 4,000+ sites is a decent sample size.
You guys can bitch all you want. Dana has the upper hand. He’s always been himself, but is EXTREMELY loyal to those sponsors who’ve been there from the start.
As for ripping Mickey’s or any other product which sponsors this brand, you guys obviously know very little about how this works. It’s not about being everything to everyone. It’s about appealing to the target demo. I realize that you might not drink malt liquor or tricked out tires, but guess what, the majority of UFC fans can identify.
Trust me, I know this FIRST HAND.
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