TO THE FRAT CROWD: YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ ALL THIS RAMBLY CRAP, YOU CAN JUST ANSWER THE BOLDED QUESTION. THANKS!
To simplify matters, I'd define the two groups the following way:
- The "casual fan" is your generic UFC-watching TUF noob. He catches most of the cards by forking out a $10 cover charge to watch it in a pub or by splitting the PPV costs with a group of similar-minded friends. He'll probably skip cards with no big names on it. He enjoys the sport but has little interest in further educating himself beyond listening to Joe and Mike once a month.
- The "hardcore fan" is.. well, that's you guys. You might not have followed the sport since the vale tudo days, but you're aware of the history and evolution of the sport. You actively use the internet to increase your knowledge. You may still be a UFC-watching TUF noob like the casual fan, but what separates you is a vested interest in the organization and your favorite fighters. And you know who the fuck Fedor is.
What I want to know is this: How many casual fans are there compared to hardcore fans?
There's obviously going to be some overlap between the two, and without market research it's probably impossible to come up with an accurate estimate, but it should be possible to come up with some ballpark figures. Being Norwegian, I know close to nothing about what happens in the MMA world outside of the internets, so I'm hoping you guys can help shed some light here.
The reason I find it interesting is that the answer may serve a valuable indicator for the growth potential of non-UFC orgs, in particular Strikeforce/M-1/Fedor. In our insulated internet bubble, we may recognize UFC as the top dog, but nobody generates as much interest and discussion as Fedor. Some people might be upset that he didn't sign with the UFC, but everybody has an opinion, and his accomplishments in the sport and GOAT status is pretty widely recognized.
So here's the thing: In most sports, hardcore fans play an important role in educating and shaping the opinions of casual fans. In the case of MMA, you'd think that the biggest name among hardcore fans would spread organically to the casual fans. To illustrate by example: Say you only know the sport through UFC and you think Brock is the mightiest man on the planet. You catch a card headlining Brock with a group of friends, and you start a discussion about how great Brock is. If one of your friends is a knowledgeable fan, he will know about Fedor and his accomplishments, and he might argue that Fedor is the only man alive capable of beating Brock and probably a favorite going into the fight. If I was in this position as a casual fan I think there's a good chance I'd be intrigued and inclined to learn more about him. With enough hardcore fans his name would spread virally through such mechanisms.
Considering the failures of Bodog, Affliction, etc. in selling him, it would seem like this just hasn't happened for MMA and Fedor though. Coupled with the increasing dominance of the UFC it seems like his status as mostly irrelevant to the casual fan has become accepted truth. Maybe there's just too few of us?
But there are a few problems with reading too much into those failures. Other factors may have played a bigger part, such as poor marketing, limited distribution, other fights on the cards not appealing to casual fans, lack of org brand recognition, incompetent management, etc. You simply can't compare Affliction's 70k figures directly to a hypothetical Brock card selling 700k and infer that Brock is 10x more popular.
What I'm driving at here is that if the hardcore fanbase is big enough, Fedor, and by extension Strikeforce, may have a severely underrated growth potential due to casual fans becoming gradually more educated about him by viral spread as described above. Add to that, MMA on the internet seems to be growing rapidly, possibly accelerating the process.
Have we been selling Strikefarce short? Is Fedor on the verge of becoming the draw every hardcore fan wants him to be?
Pretty much if anyone is reading this site they are probably hardcore enough to not be able to answer your questions posed to casuals.
50 casual fans for every 1 hardcore fan.
Most of my friends fall under the category of casual fans. They only know about Fedor through me and another buddy.
Personally they think Brock is king of the world and would not shell out money to see Fedor fight. We've pumped his nuts a long time but they still see Brock as No 1.
Mind you, there is a HEEEUUUUUUGE amount of pressure on Fedor to perform against Rogers.
If he gets beaten, then Fedor can forget gaining popularity here. And strikefore will probably fold if Fedor gets Ko'd.
Dexerion - Pretty much if anyone is reading this site they are probably hardcore enough to not be able to answer your questions posed to casuals.Well, I guess this is actually one of the few threads that the green namers are least capable of providing answers to! But I'm sure there's a lot of posters with more "normal" circles of friends with the odd "casual" MMA fan in it. And I mean, doesn't have to be friends either, could be family, coworkers, random dude you met in the pub, etc. etc. Just looking for general impressions.
Most of my friends fall under the category of casual fans. They only know about Fedor through me and another buddy.
Personally they think Brock is king of the world and would not shell out money to see Fedor fight. We've pumped his nuts a long time but they still see Brock as No 1.
Mind you, there is a HEEEUUUUUUGE amount of pressure on Fedor to perform against Rogers.
If he gets beaten, then Fedor can forget gaining popularity here. And strikefore will probably fold if Fedor gets Ko'd.
I can't tell you how many times i've been watching MMA and someone is confused because they are fighting in a ring yet they still appear to be "ultimate fighting" rather than boxing.
Randy is God - Most of my friends fall under the category of casual fans. They only know about Fedor through me and another buddy.
Personally they think Brock is king of the world and would not shell out money to see Fedor fight. We've pumped his nuts a long time but they still see Brock as No 1.
Well then you haven't been shilling good enough!
Mind you, there is a HEEEUUUUUUGE amount of pressure on Fedor to perform against Rogers.
If he gets beaten, then Fedor can forget gaining popularity here. And strikefore will probably fold if Fedor gets Ko'd.
Probably true. The principle of hardcore->casual education should extend beyond Fedor, but I mean, if he falls, this might not matter as much due to hardcore fans dropping interest in the smaller orgs and becoming UFC-bots themselves. :p
watching since #1 i was 10 and still followed other orgs after that. i remember my cousin having a black box and getting free ppv.
i'm prolly not going to make any friends by saying this but....
....you guys need to get over yourselves.
Anyone else see the irony in the TS's screen name and join date in relation to the topic of the thread?
Mad Xyientist - I can't tell you how many times i've been watching MMA and someone is confused because they are fighting in a ring yet they still appear to be "ultimate fighting" rather than boxing.Well, that's not very encouraging. I trust you ranted some sense into them though. ;)
Casual fans are UFC fans, not MMA fans. Most couldn't care less who Fedor is, and unless he actually fights in the UFC, they will never give a shit about him.
Mike Russell - Anyone else see the irony in the TS's screen name and join date in relation to the topic of the thread?Heh, I chose the nick because I had this brilliant drunken idea that I was going to troll the shit out of you by seriously arguing that Brock is #1 P4P in the world, but since it took two days to get the account approved I sobered up and forgot about the whole thing.
I've followed the sport longer than my signup date indicates, but not all that long either relatively speaking (4-5 years, think UFC 47 was the first complete MMA event I watched) but I'd like to note that I've watched every single UFC and PRIDE event along with a ton of other stuff (Sengoku, WEC, Dream, K-1) and only two seasons of TUF!
not that many hardcore fans
not that many at all
the casual fan doesn't give a SHIT about any other org other than the UFC
I was talking to a co-worker and found out they like the UFC. they were saying that they LOVED it! they even went to the shows and got passes for the weigh-ins and stuff...I mentioned about fedor/arlovski, which was coming up at that time
they got some meh look on their face and said, "I don't care about that stuff" then continued talking about how awesome gsp was
klsadjf;asdf
that's how I felt when they said that
MaiaFaceHurts - not that many hardcore fans
not that many at all
the casual fan doesn't give a SHIT about any other org other than the UFC
I was talking to a co-worker and found out they like the UFC. they were saying that they LOVED it! they even went to the shows and got passes for the weigh-ins and stuff...I mentioned about fedor/arlovski, which was coming up at that time
they got some meh look on their face and said, "I don't care about that stuff" then continued talking about how awesome gsp was
That happens a lot anymore. I actually cringe when I speak to a stranger about the sport, because if I don't want to argue with them I usually have to bite my tongue about a lot of things throughout the conversation.
With that said, I don't mind that "UFC only" kind of fan. They support the sport as much as a hardcore fan does, they just have a more limited viewpoint to enjoy it. The NFL is not the only league for american-style football, but yet that is what most people watch. No one considers the guy who watches the CFL, or NFL Europe or the AFL more of a football fan than the die hard NFL guy, it's just different strokes for different folks.
TheBear228 - With that said, I don't mind that "UFC only" kind of fan. They support the sport as much as a hardcore fan does, they just have a more limited viewpoint to enjoy it. The NFL is not the only league for american-style football, but yet that is what most people watch. No one considers the guy who watches the CFL, or NFL Europe or the AFL more of a football fan than the die hard NFL guy, it's just different strokes for different folks.I see your point, but a key difference here is that all the best football players are in the NFL, while in MMA the fighter most people consider the best in the sport in the most important weight division is fighting outside of the major org.
Mad Xyientist - I can't tell you how many times i've been watching MMA and someone is confused because they are fighting in a ring yet they still appear to be "ultimate fighting" rather than boxing.
I was showing my friend when Fedor fought big Tim, and the first thing he said when he seen the ring was..."Wait, Fedor is a boxer? I thought you said he was a UFC'er?" Yes, UFC'er...haha, not hating on casual fans though, without them there is no MMA imo.
I got into dis sport by watching Kimbo fight on Knockingnigzout.com
Watched Kimbo become street certified. Now I'm finna watch him be Ultimate fighter certified then I'm finna watch him beat Brock to get dat gold to match his teef's.
So yeah, I'm the Hardcore type-O-fan.
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