WWE and UFC, and the slimeballs who run their carny shows, Dana White, wife beater, and Vince McMahon, serial sexual abuser, are soon to be under the same corporate umbrella.
Wonderful.
The two are to merge as TKO under the aegis of Endeavor Group, which is valuing the new company at $21.4 billion.
The two brands are as profitable as they are because they significantly underpay their talent.
The athletes who take bumps and blows to the head in both companies haven’t been allowed to collectively bargain, so not only is their take of the overall pie dramatically lower than what their peers in MLB, the NFL, the NBA and NFL bring in, they also don’t have access to workplace protections that unions in the Big Four have been able to negotiate for their members.
WWE, famously, still somehow gets away with treating its talents as independent contractors, while at the same time having the right to unilaterally extend contracts for injury time, and holding talents to onerous non-compete clauses at the end of contracts.
UFC pays out 17.5 percent of its annual revenues to its fighters, even as it throws hundreds of thousands of dollars a year at lobbyists to fight legislation that would protect the rights of its fighters to form a union.
McMahon, who paid out $19.6 million to settle a series of sexual-misconduct claims that led him to briefly step down from his leadership role in WWE last year, will be chairman of the board of the new company, once the sale is finalized, which is expected later this year.
White, who was caught on cellphone video hitting his wife on New Year’s Eve, with no repercussions, will continue on as president of UFC.
It’s fitting that those two douchebags and their douchebag companies will be joined at the hip.
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Chris Graham
