Amid Athlete Pay Debate, UFC Top Dog Spites NFL, NBA Comparison and Looks at $17.1 Billion F1 Instead

Pay parity is always a hugely controversial topic of discussion, no matter the field. Apart from the pay gap between men and women, there is a disparity between different sports as well. A question pointed out the pay gap between different sports during a press conference with the UFC CFO Jason Lublin. Lublin used F1 to draw comparisons on the UFC pay scale, stepping away from sports franchises like NFL and NBA.

Pay scale in F1 also became a topic of discussion after the budget cap was introduced. The ever-changing upper limit did not include the drivers’ salaries. However, a discussion emerged to put an upper limit on the drivers’ salaries as well, which the drivers ridiculed, including Max Verstappen. Although compared to sports like the NBA and NFL, F1 and UFC salaries are minuscule. This was exactly the point of discussion when the UFC revenues were revealed by the CFO and this is when he defended the athlete’s salaries.

In the press conference, when asked about the salaries and pay gap, the CFO drew comparisons. “We agree there has been a lot of comparisons drawn to team sports such as the NFL and NBA, and we actually don’t think that is the right comparison to the UFC,” Lublin said. “We think the right comparison is to other individual sports, such as the PGA tour, F1, NASCAR, and ATP.”

He further explained, “If you look at those athletes and what they’re paid as a relative percentage of revenue for those leagues, it’s right in line where the UFC is with their athlete compensation.”

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However, his comparison would’ve been invalid had the $17.1 billion franchise F1 introduced the driver salary cap.

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Lewis Hamilton is the highest-paid athlete on the grid. Most agree the seven-time world champion deserves it as well. This is exactly why Toto Wolff discouraged the idea of a salary cap when it was proposed.

Talking to The Sun, as reported by Planet F1, Wolff said, “It certainly has come up as a controversial topic. But we have a cost cap. We have $140 million for 1,000 people. With inflation, we haven’t been able to even pay the inflation. The talk about a $30m or $40m salary allowance is inadequate when you take that perspective.”

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The salary cap would’ve automatically made Hamilton cut down on his salary according to his current contract. However, the proposed rule never left the discussion room, and rightly so.

Although we doubt the salaries would ever touch the NFL and NBA numbers.