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[Beatts35]

Originally Posted by Rhino_Man

I think what will ultimately hurt them is if they do develop a fighter, under current conditions he will leave for the UFC or Pride.

MMA is not a team sport. I for one can say I have no desire to support a local MMA team. There is no appeal there.

The events look cheap and the quality of the fighters is sub-par.

Even the Pride broadcast on Fox looks like crap.

I know most of you guys think that MMA is getting huge fast but I think it is getting over exposed to some degree and will start to pull back a bit. The TUF thing works because of the reality show element with the drama of the fighters. But it has a shelf life.

You see the same thing with Soccer in the US, every 10 years it blows up for awhile and then it disappears. I predict a backlash at some point.

They are a growing orginazation.

I think their production value is pretty high for a new show and very very profesional (I can say that as a educated production person, having a 4yr degree in film production and 2 years experience as a Gaffer and Key Grip)

MMA fighters train as a team. they are cornered as a team. we credit them with being part of that team or camp. why is it such a strech for you??

SUre right now some of their fighters are new. but their are more and more veterans joining teams. and its less than a year old.

with the way they treat their fighters we will see more vets joining their ranks in time.

they really have the chance on being the first global league in any sport.

i don't like nascar, shit i'm from NY so its wierd to us them as a reference. but do you consider nascar to be an individual sport?

and not to beat this over used connection but anyone who has wrestled knows its a team sport and an individual. its as much about repping the guys you work with as it is yourself.

i agree with the fact that mma's rubber expantion in the last 2 years will have a cooling down period. but people love to watch fights. theirs no novelty (like soccer) its the oldest form of sport

[Legend]

Who knows? Maybe but I don’t think they will ever be #1. I personally don’t like the team concept.

[ronpurvis]

Guys, I would like to ask a favor. Due to my medical condition, I am in severe pain each day. So could I please get some of the drugs that some people here are taking?? Please??


In all seriousness, the chances are that the IFL will cease to exist within two years. They are now a publicly traded company. As such they have to make financial reports. Those reports show that they are hemorrhaging cash at an unsustainable rate. They have no way to actually come close to a profit unless they start doing PPVs that far outsell what PRIDE did last month. I don't think that anyone sees that happening in the foreseeable future.

I would also like to point out that the idea of having that many teams and showing weekly events just means that the quality of most fights will be severely lacking. That makes it even less likely people would want to pay to watch the fights. I don't expect to live long enough to see enough good fighters to fill that kind of schedule.

[Dan0]

Alright Mr. Purvis. You sound like you've got a little bit on the ball, and explain why the IFL won't make it, but can you tell me how the IFL does make it???

[Beatts35]

ufc, shooto, and pancrase were all around long before Pride. it took Pride 5-6 years of being around before becoming top dog.

ifl has a formula to become the top show in the US it'll take them a few years, but it can happen

[ronpurvis]

Originally Posted by Dan0

Alright Mr. Purvis. You sound like you've got a little bit on the ball, and explain why the IFL won't make it, but can you tell me how the IFL does make it???

Sorry, I can't do that. Unfortunately I can't tell you how a pig is able to fly either. I don't really see that the IFL will ever become the dominant organization in the world. It is doubtful that they will even survive another couple of years.

It is basically the same type of situation with the XFL. Nice idea, but it is too different than the big boy (NFL and UFC) without offering a good reason to go for those differences for the casual fan to watch it on TV. They are also not capitalized well enough as a corporation to continue to sustain the losses that they will face without substantial TV revenue.

It is possible that they could find sponsors to continue to cover their losses for a while like Lamar Hunt did with the old AFL. Some of you that are real old football fan may remember the quote about Lamar Hunt losing $1 million in his first year owning the Dallas Texans (now the KC Chiefs). When asked about it, he said he might have to quit after 150 years. Unfortunately, he moved the Texans to KC only 3 years later and the AFL merged with the NFL a few years later. The reason? Losing too much money year after year.

[ronpurvis]

Originally Posted by Beatts35

ufc, shooto, and pancrase were all around long before Pride. it took Pride 5-6 years of being around before becoming top dog.

ifl has a formula to become the top show in the US it'll take them a few years, but it can happen

Totally different situation and not even accurate. UFC is the top dog as far as financials and actual number of people watching. PRIDE definitely has more people attend events, but they only have a fraction of the people actually watching due to the huge number of PPV sales that the UFC garners.

Pancrase and Shooto were basically pro wrestling organizations that tried to provide real fights. They did not have the same MMA feel at first and it were never that big. PRIDE did grow bigger than these organizations but they were far better capitalized from the start than the other organizations were at any point, from what I have read. Remember the DSE had a lot of resources. The other two organizations did not.

Regardless of whether you think that UFC has great fighters or not, they are becoming the 800 pound gorilla for the same reason that MicroSoft is: marketing their product better than their competition. MS has made products that are not as good as many of their competitors over the years. Yet due to their ability to market the products the way that they did, many of those competitors are either out of business or only niche players today.