MMA Management Business

[RealOG]

Fastlaners,

A friend and I are starting up an MMA Athlete Sports Agency. Weird, but I just kinda fell into it. I have been training amateur for the last seven years, but have never considered it anything other than entertainment and exercise. If any of you follow MMA, you know most of the folks out there are not too business minded. Well, my friend has heavy need for a "business-minded" business partner. Wednesday night, we struck a deal where I would get 40% of the business.

Our business model is to make money off professional contracts with promotions. When a fighter wins a match, they usually get paid - we will get a cut of the purse. We will also take a cut of sponsorships and advertising for these guys. This is the area where I plan on helping the most.

Getting to brass tacks, I need to get some help from ya'll. Next month, we have two promotions coming up, October 3rd and October 9th both in Tucson.

Oct 3rd - a small time promotion, featuring 14 of our fighters. Local attendees and limited radio coverage. Attendance is expected to be around 1-2k people.

Oct 9th - a larger promotion, featuring 9 of our fighters. Local and phoenix attendees will be there as well as live televised coverage on HDnet. Attendance is expected to be around 2-4k people.

We are looking for sponsors for this and I need your help on what the sponsorship package should look like. I want to offer packages that range from $100-$1k, that will span up to both fights. We are going to offer sponsorship on the shorts, tshirts, and a banner for each fight. Another option is to have a "thank you to my sponsor" delivered over the mic if the fighter wins.

My question to you big brains out there is what is reasonable and how would you structure the advertising options. I dont want it too complicated, but I want to extract out the most bang for our sponsor.

Thanks yall!
RealOG

 

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[biophase]

So I talked with a few of my friends about the advertising on shorts thing.

Find out what HDnet viewership is for their televised fights (local and national). Using that number you could get an idea of eyeballs or impressions. If its 20,000 viewers, you need to find out what 20,000 eyeballs is worth for approximately 40 minutes of airtime (9 fighters X 4 minutes of ring time + 30 seconds of before and after)

If you take a pair of MMA shorts, let's say its worth $5,000 of advertising. You can divide the areas of the shorts into advertising space.

a$$ area = 50% - $2500
Back waistband = 20% - $1000
Front knee area = 15% - $1500
Front waistband = 15% - $1500

You could do the same for the t-shirts. With the t-shirts, you'd require that the winning fighter would put it on before they announce the winner. Front chest would get good exposure for around 20 seconds. You also want their trainers and buddies wearing the shirts as they are around the ring.

 

[RealOG]

Well, things are rolling right along here. We are currently in negotiations with a couple potential sponsors for our October 9th event. This week we meet with a motorcycle dealership as well as a nutrition supplementation franchise.

We have found that our pricing is WAY too low. So low that most people don't take us seriously. Given this, we are tripling our pricing going forward and may cut deals if we need to.

Oh, and got a logo contest going for our new corp. Check it out. PM and feedback on which logo you like (and why) so we aren't filling this thread with non-topic replies.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I like #6 ... the gothic script thing aKa Ed Hardy is so overdone and I'm sick of seeing it.

Woops, sorry i should have PM'd. Congrats on your concept ... sounds solid.

 

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[biophase]

Don't like any of the logos so far. I sort of like the fight 5 logo on the superion website. That's a good simple clean logo.

I think you need other designers to come in. One thing you should do is find logos that you like and add it to your design brief. It gives the designers a place to start.

 

[RealOG]

Here is our final set of choices. Thoughts:
99designs » Mixed Martial Arts Sports Agency Logo Needed!

Designs still in the running:
81, 80, 76, 61, 52, 42, 32, 29, 26

 

[RealOG]

A lot has happened since a month ago. Thought I would post some updates if anyone is interested.

First, we got our logo:

Second, the website is now up:
Superion Management

Third, we have had three successful promotions. Our last promotion, of our 8 fighters we had, seven of them won. It was incredible and the steam generated from that event has carried us.

We have six sponsors already and are in negotiations with more. We are sending three fighters to The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 tryouts this monday.

It has been very exciting, especially for someone who is very focused on apartments. Things happen much quicker in business than they do in apartment investing. Also, the MMA business is much more reliant on relationships which I can see as a roadblock to any exit strategy.

Fortunately, I have positioned myself as the behind-the-scenes guy. That way the business does not become dependant on me. This is new for me as I am normally the faceman in most of my operations. I have to say that is was tough at first to deprogram myself from the outgoing first point of contact, but I think that is key to making this fastlane for me.

:boxing_smiley:

 

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[Chitown]

RealOG,

Your new venture sounds exciting. I wish you and your partners much success going forward.

 

[RealOG]

Hey folks,

It's been another three weeks and I thought I would report on the growth we have been seeing.

The Bad news:
None of our gighters made it into The Ultimate Fighter Season 11. They actually cut the entire Light Heavyweight category and decided to just go with middleweights.

The Good News:
Our company has almost doubled in size in three weeks. It has been incredible. We are now to the point of planning events for some promotions. We have been able to sign enough fighters that if anyone wants to do a show in Phoenix, they need to include our athletes.

Some of you might be asking how the company makes money. Wanted to give you a look from the inside:

1. Management Fees - this is the basic premise of the company. We take 15% of our pro fighters' winnings. Our pros make anywhere from $500-$2000 for small shows, and $15k-$100k for the big shows (Strikeforce, UFC, etc.).
2. Sponsorship Fees - we split with the fighter 50/50. Any funds we get for our fighters is split. This is passive income at its core. Fighters get sponsored more the more media coverage is present at an event.
3. Matchmaking - Promoters pay people to find and match up fighters for their events. This ranges from $50 (for amateurs) to $100+ for pros. Big headlining names can be even more.
4. Event Planning - Events like to have vendors there with booths. Our sponsors often like to attend the shows to sell their products when they know their logos are going to be seen. We get 20%.

Look at our first show in October, where we had two fighters show up. They each got paid minimal. Our company walked out of that first show with $100 for our troubles. That was nothing.

Now look at the next show we have end of this month. Here is the break down:

• Management fees - 4 pro bouts featuring our fighters averaging $800 each. That's $480.
• Sponsors - Our take home from fighters will be relatively small as we are turning the sponsor money back to the fighters. Our income is still $300.
• Matchmaking - Our matchmaking is for every fighter on the card (4 pro @ $100 + 8 amateur @ $50). That's $800.
• Event Planning - we are bringing 5 sponsors to the show for a total of $1250 provided to the venue. We take 20%. That's $250.

So end of this show, we will take home $1820. Our business is high margin as we dont have much along the way of costs. We are really just networking people together. The trick is to have those exclusive contracts.

So we have grown from $100/event to $1820/event in two months. Given we do 3-5 events per month, we are really starting to build up. Our fastlane plan is two step:

1. Corner the southwest on talent so that all fighters are under our company. Then no fights can happen without us. It will allow us to raise some of our pricing.

2. Nuture that talent and take the best to the larger shows. When that happens, the returns are several orders of magnitude larger.
​

Hope this sheds a little light on a budding sports management business. Will keep you guys in the loop on this as time goes on.

Keep fighting the good fight! :urock2:

 

[RealOG]

For those of you following, here is an update on our first show where we played a major part. We did run into some snags:

1. The city council at the original venue voted down the MMA show at the last minute. This caused us to delay the show 2 weeks while we scrambled to find another venue.
2. The new date of the show conflicted with my wife's xmas party. If you met my wife, you know she is the most flexible wife on the planet. Almost no expectations from her. So when she tells me she expects me to miss the fight to go to her xmas party its a done deal.
3. The new date required the promoter to sell a bunch more tickets for the fight.
4. Some vendors had to drop out with the new date, but we were able to keep a few.

Despite these issues, it went off well. We got about 700 folks to attend and a bunch of our vendors as well. I brought the sponsors, the vendors, and the ring card girls (hey, its a tough job but...).

Final tally for us is still being calculated, but looks like we made about $1500 in one night. Not what we were shooting for, but still decent. As we scale in size of show, so will our income.

For those of you interested in photos, I included them below. (Ring Card Girl photos specifically for Hakrjak.)

Brad Peterson, our fighter, beating up Giovanni Sarran, not our fighter. Brad took home $1500.

Jillian Lybarger, our fighter, loses via submission.

Nadeem Al-Hasan, our fighter, TKOs Tim Gidley, our fighter.

Ring card girls with our biggest sponsor, Last Round Best Round.

Overall, I am shocked at how this business is growing despite the gruesome economy. While I struggle to even locate another apartment opportunity, promoters all over the country are pinging my company for fighters. It has grown very quickly. Maybe I can bring my partner to the next B&P and present on what we have learned in this business.

You AZ folks should come join us at the next fight!

RealOG

 

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[Caesarion]

Keep it rolling bro. Thats exciting! Have you ever thought about music sponsors? I have a small record label. Maybe you could have them pay for the song spot when the fighters come out to the ring? Just throwing ideas around.

 

[LightHouse]

Never saw this thread before, Excellent progress, I will have to read this thread a bit deeper when i have a bit more time.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

I didn't see it either,

Great job RealOG, you the man.

Have to love someone taking martial arts to the next level :yourock:

 

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[MonTexan]

Nadeem Al-Hasan, our fighter, TKOs Tim Gidley, our fighter.

Hold on. Did a girl just TKO a guy in the octagon??

 

[RealOG]

LOL, no that caption applies to the photo below it. Nadeem is a dude.

Jillian is a girl and so was her opponent. Though either of them could quite possibly TKO most gents.

 

[randallg99]

just saw this thread and wow, this is exciting. congrats on your progress and best wishes for continued success.

 

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[MonTexan]

LOL, no that caption applies to the photo below it. Nadeem is a dude.

Jillian is a girl and so was her opponent. Though either of them could quite possibly TKO most gents.

10-4. I have no doubt they could kick my arse in the ring!

Great job on the new biz! I'm enjoying following your success.

 

[RealOG]

Well, Superion continues to grow at an explosive rate.

It's only six days into the new year and already I have signed two more sponsors at monthly recurring rates. Their logos will be featured on specific fighters as well as getting free marketing help in getting their products out to market.

One of the more exciting things happening today, I spoke with the casting director of a production company looking to do a reality show on us. We talked about the company, our fighters and asked me if I would be willing to have a camera follow me around on my meetings and my day-to-day stuff for this business. I am apprehensive of this - I'm not looking for fame, I just want money.:smug2:

The publicity for Superion and it's sponsors is worth a heckuva lot of dough. And we havent discussed compensation.

I plan on focusing on this for my B&P 2010 presentation. Maybe I will teach you something useful, like how to win in a bar fight... :boxing_smiley:

 

[biophase]

asked me if I would be willing to have a camera follow me around on my meetings and my day-to-day stuff for this business. I am apprehensive of this -

Would it look like an episode of Jersey Shore?

 

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[biophase]

BTW, Did you notice the adsense ads for this thread?

AFFLICITION Signature Tees. MJ's favorite brand.

 

[RealOG]

More updates for you all:

We have put a hold on signing new fighters, we maxed out our southwestern fight network (CA, AZ, NM, NV, TX) and are turning out efforts towards action eastwards.

Just recently had the first amputee MMA fighter in history (our guy), extend his win streak in AZ. Check the photos:

We have 20 individual fights over the next two months, ranging from CA, NV, NM, AZ, TX, and SD. Two of them are supposed to be televised: one on HDNet Canada, the other on ESPNSports.

We just had a writeup on Sherdog about one of our fighters (he lost) which they got fight photos of him in their article showing some of our sponsor's brands. Good stuff. Feels like we are hitting an inflexion point...

 

[ZDS]

Great job! I really enjoyed your presentation at BnP over the business! Good luck.

 

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[bflbob]

Congrats!

Hey...my son went to school with Arthur Jones and Jon Jones. If you are looking for East Coast talent, there's a good place to start.:boxing_smiley:

 

[RealOG]

LOL! Jon Jones is an absolute stud and is already signed with UFC, they have him under contract. Hope he does well.

If fastlaners are interested in getting some exposure to MMA crowds, let me know.

 

[Sparlin]

If you decide to open up Kansas City, Omaha, Denver, Oklahoma City, and Wichita... I'll do what I can to help.

 

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[MonTexan]

Mike, if you make it out Houston-way you've got a place to stay! Enjoy reading your updates on this biz, sounds like you guys are blowing up!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Mike, is there any opportunities on the woman's side of this business? I really enjoyed the female fighters moreso than the men.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Great job Mr. Mariani! I'm excited for you!

 

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[RealOG]

If you decide to open up Kansas City, Omaha, Denver, Oklahoma City, and Wichita... I'll do what I can to help.

We got stuff going on in CO. Bad Boys in Denver and another show in Pueblo on the 24th - forgot to include that one in here.
​

Mike, if you make it out Houston-way you've got a place to stay! Enjoy reading your updates on this biz, sounds like you guys are blowing up!

No doubt! Will take you up on that next time I am out there.
​

Mike, is there any opportunities on the woman's side of this business? I really enjoyed the female fighters moreso than the men.

Ahah! Have you read about the first twin female mma fighters (we have them both under contract), Jillian and Jocelyn Lybarger? Joc fights next wednesday in CA. I have been surprised how much interest has been generated by those two. Jillian is in the upper pic where she was submitted by Tsui-Jen (also our gal).
​

If you folks in the fastlane with businesses that aim at males 18-35 want some marketing, send me a PM and I can try to work something out. I would be willing to get your name out there for our variable cost as a thank you to the fastlane. Be a nice way to test out the market. Would only ask that you write about Superion in your blogs or twitter or whatever to help us get some exposure to other industries.

For you locals here in AZ, I need to bring you to a show so you can see the excitement. Lots of fun.

 

[ScottHardy]

Very interesting! Will your guys/gals be in the next Rage in the Cage event in the Phoenix area? I may attend. I'm a BIG MMA fan and have some thoughts on a way to sponsor fighters... And give them health insurance. Are any sponsors currently doing that?
I'm hoping to have it worked out by the end of the year and would like to talk to you about it.
KEEP THE UPDATES GOING! Thanks for helping grow MMA!

Scott