My original intent for the ‘Bang for Your Buck’ series was to analyze upcoming UFC PPV events to determine whether the fight card is worth the asking price. However, even before I was done writing the first installment in this series (UFC 182), it became readily apparent that most events will not meet this threshold. A part of the reason for this is the ever-increasing PPV prices. The other part is the also ever-increasing number of UFC events: in addition to the numbered PPV events, UFC holds a plethora of fight cards broadcast on Fox, Fox Sports 1, and Fight Pass network. Inevitably this leaves some of the cards stretched very thin, especially after the “injury bug” gets through with them.
So is the UFC making it up to the fans for buying the frankly overpriced PPVs by broadcasting free cards on other networks? Of course, anything that isn’t aired on Fox is not completely free: cards such as the upcoming Fight Night 59 on Fox Sports 1 – a cable network that may require a premium package, depending on your cable/satellite provider. On the other hand, it’s highly unlikely that you are paying your cable bill exclusively to watch UFC on FS1. This makes the price point of an event rather difficult to estimate, but I’ll give it a shot anyway:
Dish Network charges me $69.99 per month for a package which includes Fox Sports 1. After the various fees, taxes, etc., my monthly bill comes out to be near $100. (My actual bill is quite a bit higher than that but the number of TVs with extra HD receivers, or other premium packages I subscribe to, are really not relevant to this discussion). So let’s say $100 it is, which averages out to $3.29 per day. Researchers claim that the average American watches around 5 hours of television a day. This number seems a bit high to me, and for the sake of making the math easier, let’s say that I spend exactly 3.29 hours per day staring at the TV screen. This gives us the price point of $1 per hour, or $5 for a 5-hour UFC event on Fox Sports 1. If you don’t agree with this valuation, feel free to provide a better one in the comments section! Otherwise, keep reading to find out how FN 59 stacks up compared to this generous (imaginary) price point of $5.