Dana White Says UFC Could Lose $110 Million With No Live Gate, But 2020 Will Still Be A Success
The UFC, much like many other sports organizations, has seen there year negatively affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
When it comes to the UFC as a whole, UFC President Dana White says the promotion could lose around $110 million due to the lack of a live gate.
“Obviously, in a lot of ways this has affected our business,” White said during a recent media scrum (via Damon Martin of MMA Fighting). “There’s no gate. That’s $110 million dollars – in that ball park – and some other things. But we’re still rolling. You have to look at the value that’s being built in the brand. The amount of people that you’re probably converting to be fans that probably never watched before and the list goes on and on. We’re going to do a full analysis of the brand and what’s going on right now with the sport.”
There is no word yet on when crowds will return to UFC events, as the last UFC card with a crowd was UFC 248 in March of 2020.
White also stated that 2020 is still going to be a success for the UFC, despite the loss of the live gate for the majority of the year.
“The brand has never been bigger or stronger than it is right now,” White said. “I mean if you look at the ratings and the amount of promotion. I don’t know if you guys felt it like we felt it, but you had to feel in your business. My personal social media was off the charts, the biggest numbers that I’ve ever pulled, ever. UFC’s social media numbers are off the charts. The traffic. I told you guys the other day — the merchandise, we’ve already sold more merchandise this year than we did all of 2019. We already crushed that number from 2019. The list goes on and on.”
While the UFC is losing money due to the lack of a live gate, a lot of money can still be made by the promotion by running events on ESPN and through pay-per-view buys.
