Enough with the "Let's Kill World Extreme Cagefighting" Posts

by Zak Woods on Oct 5, 2009 2:10 PM EDT Comment 8 comments

While Versus and DirecTV continue their dispute (and take ~~veiled~~ direct shots at one another) MMA fans are left pondering the fate of World Extreme Cagefighting.

Zach Arnold, Jake Rossen, Kid Nate, David Wolff, everyone and their brother has an idea about the future Zuffa's second promotion.

Speculation about the WEC's viability or whether Zuffa will fold the smaller promotion into the UFC is routinely kicked around on blogs and message boards. Yet there is one small, tiny, petty, insignificant fact that is preventing any movement on the WEC front. Versus.

As long as Zuffa is legally bound by their television contract with Versus they will be unable to make radical changes with their second promotion.

If any change is coming it will have to occur once the current contract expires. When will that occur? I am glad you asked because we don't really know but in March of this year Zuffa signed a "multi-year" extension with Versus; meaning that the WEC will remain on Versus for at least two more years.

Those are the facts. End of discussion. There is no point in talking about it or speculating about what Zuffa will do.

Well, unless there is a serious game changer like bankruptcy or Versus being dropped by DirecTV, wait, that already happened and the WEC still exists....

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if their ever was a time to kill it

now is that time with the direct tv mess. dont get me wrong. i love the wec, i probably have enjoyed it more this past year than the ufc actually. it just might be that time though.

its going to force the ufc to add more divisions of course and with that comes more fights which brings about more free shows on spike is a good thing imo.

i wouldnt’ mind the ufc dumping goldberg and going with whats his name from the wec as well. or maybe some of the spike shows will feature him and mir? less goldberg the better.

@mikefareri on twitter.

by sonofapsycho on Oct 5, 2009 2:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Zuffa makes a fair amount of $$$ off the T.V. deal.

Seriously, as long as they are under contract they are not going to do anything radical

watchkalibrun.com

by Zak Woods on Oct 5, 2009 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

btw

about the contract aspect. i think the ufc can claim something of a breach of contract due to the direct tv mess. i dont know. im not a lawyer but i would think something can be done to get out of the contract.

@mikefareri on twitter.

by sonofapsycho on Oct 5, 2009 2:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I alluded to that at the end their, but unless Zuffa had a specific get out of jail clause, they would most likely have to fight to get out of the contract. Which makes the whole thing more expensive!!!!

watchkalibrun.com

by Zak Woods on Oct 5, 2009 2:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Are you saying that Zuffa is legally bound to keep the WEC running simply because they have a contract with Versus? I don’t think so. Versus cannot compel Zuffa not to make business model changes simply because they have a TV deal.

It may not be in Zuffa’s interest to make a change that would break the TV deal, but …they could.

by scoozna on Oct 5, 2009 2:38 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

they will be breach their television contract if they simply pull the WEC. Versus could recoup money.

if the WEC declared bankruptcy then things would be diff

watchkalibrun.com

by Zak Woods on Oct 5, 2009 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

remember Versus is PAYING Zuffa to show WEC events

watchkalibrun.com

by Zak Woods on Oct 5, 2009 2:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ahhhh.. I get it now. Then you’re right, they would have to be losing so much money that violating the contract would be less painful than staying on. Seems unlikely.

by scoozna on Oct 5, 2009 5:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs