Up, up, and awayyyyyy!
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is raising its pay-per-view (PPV) prices by $5 to offset the rising cost of producing live events. That means the increase for UFC 182, UFC 183, and UFC 184 will remain in effect indefinitely, despite this past promise.
UFC provided a statement to MMA Junkie:
"In an effort to provide UFC fans with the best possible matchups and highest quality programming, we have maintained the same suggested retail price for our U.S. pay-per-view events since February 2008 (UFC 81), with one exception - UFC 168 in 2013. As with most industries, our costs have gone up significantly over this period and we have determined it is necessary to institute a minimal cost increase beginning in 2015. The previous cost to buy a UFC pay-per-view was $44.99 for the standard-definition broadcast and $54.99 for the high-definition version. Now, the SD price is $49.99, and $59.99 for HD."
If the price of PPV events is going up, let's hope the quality of fight cards is going up, as well.
With 11 PPV shows still to go -- one per month in 2015 -- mixed martial arts (MMA) fans can pick and choose which cards to buy without sacrificing how much content they watch, assuming they stick around for the abundance of cards broadcast on FOX, FOX Sports 1, and UFC Fight Pass (see the full schedule here).
Thoughts?