Former UFC exec Don Gold: I don't think pay-per-view is going anywhere

Jon Jones and Don Gold

Entertainment executive Don Gold remembers hocking UFC videos to chain stores around the country, and the tough sell it often was to convince people a new and exciting sport had arrived.

Gold also remembers years later when Blockbuster employees lined up to meet Chuck Liddell, who stayed several hours to sign autographs in the era of “The Ultimate Fighter 1.”

“Everybody wanted to meet Chuck,” Gold told MMAjunkie Radio. “He’s such a great ambassador. These fighters built the sport. You don’t see other basketball players going to other basketball games and willingly signing autographs. But this was a fan-driven sport, and it was built by the fans.”

These days, there’s no longer a gap to bridge with media buyers. The UFC is a worldwide brand. Maybe that’s one reason Gold is moving on to the next phase of his career, ending a long tenure with the industry-leader after selling a lot of VHS tapes, DVDs and video games.

But among some fans and MMA observers, there’s been a lot of fretting over how the UFC will adapt to the changing world of content distribution, even as the promotion celebrates one of its most successful years on the drawing power of ex-women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey and featherweight champ Conor McGregor. Gold is very familiar with the worry that the Internet will overtake pay-per-view, creating a void in revenue for a company that charges fans between $50 and $60 for marquee numbered events.

One signal of a shift includes the creation of an online digital network, UFC Fight Pass. Reports of declining pay-per-view numbers have accompanied recent years where injuries forced major changes to events or even cancelations.

UFC President Dana White has for several years said all entertainment content will eventually move online. But Gold sees a more symbiotic relationship between the the pay-TV and online platforms.

“I can’t speak for the UFC, because I’m not privy to what their plans are for the next 10 years, but if you look at where the music business was when you were growing up, and you remember going into a store and buying plastic, packaged entertainment, now, you wouldn’t even think of it,” he said. “If you look at the rest of the world, the Netflix and Amazons of the world, people are consuming their entertainment digitally. And yet if you look at the case study of movies versus VHS, and I used to have to debate this – now that you can buy VHS, now that you can buy DVDs, are people still going to go to movies? Well, people are still going to movies, more than ever, because it’s an experience.

“The fact that somebody like me can have people over to the house and it becomes a social event, you can only really do that on pay-per-view.”

This year, the UFC reportedly garnered over one million pay-per-view buys each for two events, UFC 189 and UFC 193, and drawn into the high six figures on another, UFC 190, based on the pop culture phenomenon around Rousey. The now-former champ’s three fights, including a massive upset at the hands of Holly Holm, and McGregor’s breakout turn at UFC 189, offset continuing injury problems for the promotion.

The way Gold sees it, people still tune in for big fights. If the UFC can continue to offer those, he can’t see any sag in the promotion’s PPV future.

“The pay-per-view has become so important for the fans,” he said. “They recognize if it’s on pay-per-view, it’s a big event. It always comes back to, what’s the fight? Some fights don’t work on pay-per-view. Obviously, (UFC 194) should only be on pay-per-view, because it’s such a social event. There’s so many stories within that card that need to be told, and I think pay-per-view is the right vehicle for that. I don’t think pay-per-view is going anywhere, nor do I think the digital world is going anywhere. I think they’re going to co-exist.”

MMAjunkie Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show, available on SiriusXM Ch. 93, is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.