News UFC's First Quarter Financials Out, Still Carrying Endeavor

[avenue94]

WME did their first quarterly earnings call, it covers January through March 31. They don't break out the UFC, but they break out Owned Sports Properties, of which the UFC is 80-90 percent.

-Revenue: $283.5m, up $51.3 million (22.1 percent) from Q1 2020
-Adjusted EBITDA: $145.5 million, up $43.3 million (42.3 percent) from Q1 2020

-Revenue was "driven by increased event output and higher media rights and sponsorship fees at UFC"
-EBIDTA was "driven primarily by the increase in revenue at UFC, slightly offset by an increase in operating expenses."

In other words, UFC on ABC deal is paying out quite nicely. The increase in operating expenses gives an insight to fighter pay, it implies that paying out McGregor/Poirier, Izzy/Blachowiz and Miocic/Ngannou cost a lot more than McGregor/Cowboy, Jones/Reyes and Izzy/Romero last year. And the UFC isn't even paying out the logistical costs they would have in Q1 2020 pre-Covid.

Just to give an idea on how much the UFC carries WME, and consequently why fighter wage share is so tightly controlled: The UFC's segment is less than 30 percent of Endeavor's revenue, but is over 70 percent of adjusted EBITDA for Q1.

Also, the UFC might have actually broken the 50 percent adjusted EBITDA margin in Q1 (they've historically floated around in the 40 percent range these past few years). And they are on track to break the $900 million mark for annual revenue the first time; depending on how the UFC bounces back from Covid, they might push the magical $1 billion in revenue mark this year. And for fighters hoping to get larger purses, they're shit out of luck since the UFC is rolling in guaranteed revenue this year.

Edit: Fixed typo, it's supposed to say March, not May

 

[AP_RESURRECTION]

The business seems to be in really good shape overall.

 

[Satan's Daddy.]

So charging more money is paying off in the end..

 

[TARTARA]

Expected to earn more than in previous years!
But they must also reward all the fighters,
and especially those who are really
fighting for the winning result!

 

[dildos]

Well yeah a company dealing with actors and such during a pandemic who are not very active, ofcourse the ufc revenue would be a huge stream for endeavour.

 

[TheHeMan]

The stars don't make UFC, the UFC makes stars.

 

[Fatback96]

They’ll only show you their financials when it’s good, never when it’s bad.

 

[pride_rules]

They’ll only show you their financials when it’s good, never when it’s bad.

they are publicly traded now. so they will report quarterly now

 

[Snails]

The stars don't make UFC, the UFC makes stars.

Then why are they so few Conor tier draws?

 

[theTKDguy]

So charging more money is paying off in the end..

people who pay will always pay, people who stream will prob always stream.

 

[KesaGatameOToshi]

But MMA is dying, guys.

 

[Phisher]

The majority of revenues generated by the fighters are going to prop up some over-levered entertainment conglomerate.

Fucking ridiculous.

 

[D'z]

Is there anything in the world that doesn't boil down to a fucking carnival scam?

 

[avenue94]

So charging more money is paying off in the end..

Somewhat, that kind of stuff (PPV pricing) is why I laugh when people claim the UFC doesn't have any monopoly power.

The stars don't make UFC, the UFC makes stars.

They're less important, but make no mistake, without stars, the UFC doesn't get on Fox or ESPN. Not to mention the UFC is pretty mediocre at star creation.

The majority of revenues generated by the fighters are going to prop up some over-levered entertainment conglomerate.

Fucking ridiculous.

The irony of this is quite amusing given the mma fanbase historically slants "blue color" and to the right. If only they knew where the money the UFC wasn't paying fighters was going.

Well yeah a company dealing with actors and such during a pandemic who are not very active, ofcourse the ufc revenue would be a huge stream for endeavour.

They were already in shaky shape before Covid. It's not like they ran up $5 or $6 billion in debt just in 2020.

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

Then why are they so few Conor tier draws?

Conor is an anamoly. Rashad Evans, Jon Jones level draws are something they’ve been able to reproduce consistently

 

[Phisher]

The irony of this is quite amusing given the mma fanbase historically slants "blue color" and to the right. If only they knew where the money the UFC wasn't paying fighters was going.

A lot of fans of the sport don't give a shit about the fighters being taken advantage of by Hollywood scumbags because they don't respect the fighters at all.

It's to be expected considering how the UFC spent years promoting Dana (and his fake tough guy act with constant belittling of fighters) above the actual main event fighters and champs.

 

[avenue94]

Conor is an anamoly. Rashad Evans, Jon Jones level draws are something they’ve been able to reproduce consistently

If we're controlling for how much more public awareness the UFC has and visibility on ESPN, they probably don't have the middle class draws they used to have. I can probably count on one hand the number of middle to high level draws the UFC has these days.

 

[Phisher]

Conor is an anamoly. Rashad Evans, Jon Jones level draws are something they’ve been able to reproduce consistently

Jones averaged 500K PPV buys for a decade. There are very few fighters in MMA or boxing who draw in that range.

The fact that he's never been a million PPV seller has led people to grossly underestimate what kind of draw he is.

...and at this point, the UFC doesn't even care about having more than 1 or 2 big draws at any given time because they've got ESPN subsidizing their PPV buys with the double paywall.

They'd rather have total control than another guy like McGregor who understands his worth and knows how to leverage it.

 

[Po]

WME did their first quarterly earnings call, it covers January through May 31. They don't break out the UFC, but they break out Owned Sports Properties, of which the UFC is 80-90 percent.

-Revenue: $283.5m, up $51.3 million (22.1 percent) from Q1 2020
-Adjusted EBITDA: $145.5 million, up $43.3 million (42.3 percent) from Q1 2020

-Revenue was "driven by increased event output and higher media rights and sponsorship fees at UFC"
-EBIDTA was "driven primarily by the increase in revenue at UFC, slightly offset by an increase in operating expenses."

In other words, UFC on ABC deal is paying out quite nicely. The increase in operating expenses gives an insight to fighter pay, it implies that paying out McGregor/Poirier, Izzy/Blachowiz and Miocic/Ngannou cost a lot more than McGregor/Cowboy, Jones/Reyes and Izzy/Romero last year. And the UFC isn't even paying out the logistical costs they would have in Q1 2020 pre-Covid.

Just to give an idea on how much the UFC carries WME, and consequently why fighter wage share is so tightly controlled: The UFC's segment is less than 30 percent of Endeavor's revenue, but is over 70 percent of adjusted EBITDA for Q1.

Also, the UFC might have actually broken the 50 percent adjusted EBITDA margin in Q1 (they've historically floated around in the 40 percent range these past few years). And they are on track to break the $900 million mark for annual revenue the first time; depending on how the UFC bounces back from Covid, they might push the magical $1 billion in revenue mark this year. And for fighters hoping to get larger purses, they're shit out of luck since the UFC is rolling in guaranteed revenue this year.

Never thought I would read a decent financial analysis on sherdog.

Good job!

 

[avenue94]

Never thought I would read a decent financial analysis on sherdog.

Good job!

Thanks, but I just mostly copied and pasted. Not much of it is any original thought. But I'll take the free compliment.