UFC
UFC News: Timeline of WWE executives making statements on UFC PPVs affecting WWE's business
Dec 14, 2009 - 6:01:59 PM UFC News: Timeline of WWE executives making statements on UFC PPVs affecting WWE's business

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WWE executives have recently made statements on UFC's business potentially affecting WWE's business. The following is a summary of recent quotes and statements from WWE executives that is relevant with today's news that UFC has booked a major PPV fight card one night before WWE's WrestleMania event in March 2010.

-- June 10: COO Donna Goldsmith said WWE is competing with UFC for "share of entertainment dollars," but they didn't feel UFC was affecting their business.

"I must tell you, up until this point, we have not really felt any of that pain from those competitors," she said at a conference with advertisers. "I think somewhat, it's a different audience. We're still learning because it's still relatively new on that front."

-- Sept. 16: Goldsmith said WWE watches every move UFC makes very closely. She speculated WWE's PPV business could be affected by UFC's PPV business.

"WWE PPV dollars in general are down a bit. Could it be from that (UFC)? Yeah, maybe. UFC has good PPV numbers," Goldsmith said. "I can't say they are direct competitors other than everyone's share of the dollar. It has not affected any of our other business areas at all."

-- Oct. 10: CEO Vince McMahon says WWE is in a different market than UFC, who he said has a less sophisticated product than WWE's.

"You really can't compete with that," McMahon told the AP. "Why not deliver a more sophisticated product and not go to those extremes? If the audience wants those extremes, they know where to go and how to get it."

McMahon added: "We just followed our audience and tried to listen to them. It's a more sophisticated product. It's just the right move business-wise, but more specifically the right move in terms of reaching our audience."

-- Dec. 7: CFO George Barrios said UFC is a "different type of entertainment." Barrios added that the information they receive from cable companies indicates WWE's PPV audience does not overlap with UFC's PPV audience. He said UFC competes for eyeballs, just like any other form of entertainment, but he said they're "competitive, but not directly competitive."

[Vince McMahon art credit Grant Gould (c) MMATorch]