WSOF to begin ppv events, and fighter revenue sharing, in 2015
Beginning in the second half of 2015, MMA promotion World Series of Fighting (WSOF) will enter the pay per view (ppv) market. Once they do enter the ppv game, WSOF says it will share 50% of all net revenue from live pay per view telecasts with the fighters on said cards.
At present, the only consistent presence in MMA pay per view is the sport's leading promotion, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Up to this point, WSOF events have been been broadcasted solely on NBC networks.
The WSOF has many of the world's top, though not yet very well-known fighters, including champions Marlon Moraes, Justin Gaethje, and former UFC title challengers like Jake Shields and Jon Fitch. The promotion must now feel confident that it has developed the brand recognition to entice fight fans to pay for their content.
It also claims to feel strongly about equitable revenue sharing with its fighters. WSOF president Ray Sefo himself is a coach and former fighter and says that fighters deserve to earn a larger share of what their promotion makes.
“If fighters can’t earn a fair share of the money at the top, the fighters lose hope or become disenchanted with the sport, which impacts their commitment to training and preparing properly for title fights. That is about to change," Sefo says.
Sefo went on to say that he hopes the WSOF ppv revenue sharing system "create a better opportunity for the fighters who put everything on the line every time they step inside the cage." The WSOF has not yet detailed how much they plan to charge for their pay per view events, when - exactly - they plan to put on their first ppv card, or how many ppv events they expect to put on in 2015.
The promotion has also not yet specified platform availability for their planned 2015 pay per view events, and whether it will include some combination of cable, satellite, and web stream. We will keep you posted with updates on this story as they are available.
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