Read on Twitter
Saw some discussion about this so I thought I'd take a quick look at the UFC's numbers and try to guesstimate how much shutting down events is costing them 1/
Without running events the UFC doesn't have to spend on fighters, event productions, T&E, marketing. Their only real expenses should be for employee compensation, G&A, facilities, annual fighter costs like the USADA testing & injury insurance, & maintenance capex. 2/
(not sure if they'd still have to pay WME/Endeavor's $25m year, management fee) Using the numbers from 2012-2016 (plus inflation) and minus the middle range of their expected cost savings, total costs for these things should be around $75m for year or $6.3m/month. 3/
Their other addition costs is the interests payments on their now $2.34 billion loan which is at Libor (floor of 1%) +3.25%. Libor rates have been cut under 1% so UFC should be paying around $123m year if we include 1% amortization. Or $10m a month. 4/ https://www.reuters.com/article/ufc-loans-leveraged/investors-weigh-in-on-ufcs-us465m-return-to-the-ring-idUSL2N2610X0
So bare-bones, I'd guess the UFC is spending at least $16m a month. & the only revenue coming in is a small portion of the ESPN & int'l deals from rebroadcasts, merch licensing, & fight pass subscribers. Maybe 1/2 what they're spending? Little less if we include WME's fee 5/
UFC according to the Post has $50m cash on hand so that would cover several months. They also have a $165 million revolving loan they can tap into. So the UFC should be able sit this out for several months. Endeavor on the other hand... 6/
Endeavor's EBITDA is supposedly going to drop to 7x debt this year. With $4.6 billion in debt, that's an EBITDA of around $650m. But they have a lot payments due the next two years. Almost $3 billion this year and next, from loan payments, employee & purchases guarantees. 7/
In their SEC filling last year Endeavor reported around $700m in cash plus around $300m available in the revolver. So while they should have enough to cover costs an extended crisis could eat up all of this depending on what their obligations really are 8/ https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1766363/000119312519155034/d681105ds1.htm
So is the UFC going to die without running events? No. Is Endeavor? Probably not, but they definitely are in a more tenuous position. Fin/
