via Getty
NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 04: UFC President Dana White speaks to the media during the UFC 217 post fight press conference event inside Madison Square Garden on November 4, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
via Getty
NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 04: UFC President Dana White speaks to the media during the UFC 217 post fight press conference event inside Madison Square Garden on November 4, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
The cost of being a UFC fan gets even higher. Earlier this year, UFC’s pay-per-view costs were increased to $74.99. As ESPN+ will now also raise its subscription fee by 43%, this news has caused unhappiness among sports fans.
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As per reports, the monthly cost of ESPN+ was $6.99 and from August 23 onwards, it will increase to $9.99. The hike is said to be because of the growing amount of live sports as well as original programming on the streaming service, as reported by ‘Bloomberg‘.
Many UFC fans reacted to the recent hike news.
A twitter user was annoyed because they had to watch the advertisements in between the rounds.
Annoying thing about it is even though I was paying for ESPN+ I still had to watch the ads in between rounds. As a fan it’s pretty lame because I enjoy watching the coaches and athletes during that time. They should at least allow an ad free option for those that want to see
— Dominic (@NicDreary) July 15, 2022
Another fan had a similar opinion. They wanted to see the corner reactions. However, it has not been possible because of the commercials.
Espn have to get their commercials in on their paid subscription, I hate it, I want to hear the corner work
— Dillon Harvey (@DHaavey) July 10, 2022
With a certain chunk of UFC fans being unable to afford PPVs and fighter pay issues being talked about so much, a fan speculated about where all the money was going. Hence, they shared a meme involving Dana White gifting Kyle Forgeard money.
The majority of UFC fans can’t afford the PPVs.. and the UFC can’t afford to pay thier fighters.. so where’s all this money going? pic.twitter.com/1hgky6mNxf
— Vercingetorix (@vercingetorixAV) July 16, 2022
Another fan explained how the UFC affected their budget with a perfect MMA reference and wrote, …Ufc got my pockets in a rear naked.”
Yeah my yearly subscription of espn + is almost up soon as it is I’m taking a few ppvs off. Ufc got my pockets in a rear naked
— LoserWithTheUzer (@ImThatLoser) July 15, 2022
One fan realized they would have to shell out more than $1,000 a year to follow the UFC.
With ESPN+ annual subscription fee of $99.99 in addition to the 13 Pay Per View events at $74.99 each, the annual cost to watch every UFC card the promotion has to offer is $1,074. Won’t stop me, but never really realized how much I was spending to watch all of these events.
— AFeldmanMMA (@afeldMMA) July 15, 2022
A social media user said they would cancel their subscription owing to the recent news.
@Disney I’m am canceling my ESPN+ and @disneyplus subscription. This is a rip off. @ufc fix this!
— jam- ber (@tim_ber475) July 15, 2022
Fans are not happy with the price hike news. Hence, it would be interesting to see if sports fans choose to unsubscribe from the platform post application of the hike in August.
What are UFC President Dana White’s thoughts about raised prices?
While the promoter is yet to comment on the ESPN subscription price hike, he had commented on the PPV prices being raised earlier this year.
via Imago
HOUSTON, TEXAS – MAY 15: UFC President Dana White waits to place the UFC lightweight championship belt on Charles Oliveira of Brazil after defeating Michael Chandler in their lightweight championship bout during the UFC 262 event at Toyota Center on May 15, 2021 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC)
White wasn’t happy with the decision to increase the PPV prices. However, he had no say in that.
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“We don’t; we don’t have any say in that; you know. We gave the pay-per-views to ESPN. So, yeah, that’s their decision. You know how I feel about that stuff. I don’t love when prices get raised, but it’s not my decision, it’s theirs,” explained the UFC President.
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What is your opinion about ESPN+ raising their subscription fees? Let us know in the comments.
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