Penick's Take
PENICK: WEC's plans for pay-per-view in May ill-advised, overly expensive in already packed pay-per-view landscape
Jan 29, 2010 - 4:19:33 PM PENICK: WEC's plans for pay-per-view in May ill-advised, overly expensive in already packed pay-per-view landscape

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

For some time now, the Zuffa-owned World Extreme Cagefighting organization has discussed plans to move beyond their Versus television broadcasts and put on a pay-per-view event. While they now have the fight they want to put on pay-per-view, the month and price point being discussed is an ill-advised move that may just be doomed for failure from the outset.

WEC General Manager Reed Harris joined Las Vegas radio program Dave and Mahoney on Friday morning, and during the conversation he confirmed that the WEC was moving to pay-per-view. The card being planned will be headlined by the Featherweight Title bout between Urijah Faber and Jose Aldo, the event is expected to take place in May and will come at a charge of $44.99 according to Harris.

Now, putting Faber vs. Aldo on pay-per-view is not a bad move in and of itself. That is one fight that people would definitely part with some money to see, the operative word being some. Due to the number of events running on pay-per-view, however, and the fact that the WEC is not a proven brand outside of the Versus network, the timing of this event as well as the pay-per-view price will negate this event being a successful venture for the brand.

The first issue is the running of what will be a fourth pay-per-view event in the month of May. The UFC is already set to run two pay-per-view events that month, with UFC 113 and 114 taking place in May. On top of that, what could be the biggest selling boxing bout of the year, should Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio not fight before the year is out, is in the works for May 1st, as Mayweather is likely to face off against "Sugar" Shane Mosely.

While Urijah Faber vs. Jose Aldo is a highly intriguing fight on paper, and will likely be a great fight once it comes to pass, in the eyes of the pay-per-view purchasing fanbase it will absolutely be on the bottom of the ladder after Mayweather vs. Mosely, Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua II and Rashad Evans vs. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Faber is the one major star fighter on the WEC's roster that can sell a pay-per-view, and Aldo is coming right up there with the performances he's had, but this is simply not the month to attempt to sell this fight.

The other problem comes with the pay-per-view price. Charging the same for a WEC pay-per-view event as is expected for a UFC event is unacceptable. They are owned by the same company but are very different in many aspects; mainly their television exposure, star power and fanbase.

While the WEC draws respectable numbers on Versus, and they rise when Faber's on a card, they are not anywhere close to what the UFC draws on Spike, or will likely draw on Versus themselves when they mark their territory on the network in March. The numbers for their free events simply don't warrant optimism for even a decent buyrate, especially at the $44.99 price.

In addition, outside of a handful of names, the WEC simply doesn't have anywhere near the draws that the UFC does, and trying to sell the WEC brand on pay-per-view is an entirely different beast than trying to get people to tune into Versus. Again, if they're doing pay-per-view this is the fight to move forward with, but it's the wrong time.

Back to the numbers they draw on Versus, while they have been decent for a network the size of Versus, the people that tune in regularly won't necessarily be keen on paying $45 for the same broadcast or the undercard bouts on this one. Even hardcore fans are balking at this $45 dollar price considering the other events taking place that month.

This is an error in judgment, should they go through with this plan, to put this fight on in the middle of one of the busiest pay-per-view months in combat sports history. In this economy, even those who get every UFC event will question the value of what the WEC will bring them for this card. For as much as this fight is anticipated and for how much people will want to see this fight, ultimately it will prove to be a futile business move and a misstep by Reed Harris, the WEC and Zuffa for what has been a very good organization.

I don't say this to be completely negative towards the WEC, as they almost never have a bad card and almost always put on extremely exciting events. This is simply the wrong time at too expensive a price to expect it to be any type of success.