According to ufcjunkie.com (who got their info from Dave Meltzer), it looks like the UFC came up short of their ppv projections (1.2 million) for UFC 66. Apparently, they did pass the 1,000,000 mark (still a great achievment).
Also, insiders are predicting that UFC 68 will break UFC records for live attendance, live gate and ppv sales.
"ThonolansGhost--Haha, I think the bigger story is that it surpassed 1 million buys, not that it did not reach the early estimates of 1.2 million."
Maybe for you. But I bet someone that it would surpass 1.2 million ppv buys. Obviously, I was wrong, and I figured I might as well admit it.
ttt
TTT for ThonolansGhost being a man!!
Those numbers are f'n crazy!!! Way to go.
damn, that is awesome.
Here's the article:
"Report: UFC 66 Falls Short of 1.2 Million PPV Buys
January 30th, 2007
UFC 66, which took place Dec. 30 and featured a much-anticipated main event of UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell and former champ Tito Ortiz, did not garner the 1.2 million pay-per-view buys that the UFC and president Dana White had anticipated, according to a report from Wrestling Observer.
In the weeks leading up to the event, the UFC's publicity drive was geared heavily around that 1.2 million number. But it does appear that the event, which culminated with a third-round TKO victory for Liddell, did earn more than one million buys, making it the biggest non-boxing pay-per-view event in North American history.
(Most of this information is limited to Wrestling Observer subscribers, so if you want more details about the event?s success, I'd suggest you become a subscriber. Dave Meltzer's MMA coverage for the publication is top-notch.)
UFC 66 wasn't just a success on pay-per-view, though. The event sold out the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., with an attendance total of 14,607. The live gate ($5.4 million) was the highest in North American MMA history and topped the previous total by more than $2 million.
Although the event provided an amazing end to the 2006 UFC season, early indications are that March 3?s UFC 68 event could shatter the existing records, including total attendance and live gate by an even wider margin.
Quite simply, 2007 is going to be a big, big year for the UFC, folks."
"The biggest ppv of 2007 will be DLH/Mayweather. I see no possible matchups with the current UFC roster that will produce enough interest to exceed over 1 million buys."
I'll predict that the UFC will top a million ppv buys at least twice this year and will reach 700,000 buys on at least four other occasions.
It's hard to beleive just how big MMA has blown up in the last two years.
DLH-Mayweather will be the #1 PPV this year, but after DLH retires, boxing is done. Boxing has no more stars that draw viewers.
Boxing used to have Tyson, DLH, and Roy Jones. Two of those three are washed up/retired now, and DLH will soon be moving on. When DLH hangs them up, boxing will be dead unless it can build up the white HW champs.
Klitsckos are only ones I can foresee becoming really big draws. But so far, it turns out Great White Hope meant Great White AMERICAN Hope, not Great White Slavic Hope.
Mayweather is a huge talent but even if he beats DLH, people hate him, and he's not a spectacle like Tyson.
On the other hand, the UFC has built up its brand. They don't rely on individual stars as much as the fact that it is "Ultimate Fighting."
So even after its superstars like Chuck and Randy are gone, it will be much easier for them to build up new ones because the UFC itself is more of a draw than the individual names.
DLH-Mayweather will be number 1 BUT the next 9 will probably be UFC events. That is incredible.
UFC 68 is an awesome card and Randy is a Huge draw, as is Hughes. Even Franklin drew a PPV over 300,000 when he headlined. I would be suprised if it doesn't do better that 66.
If Crocop and Rampage have impressive debuts then the rest of 2007 is really set for the UFC.
Damn and to think Zuffa bought UFC for 2 million dollars. Now they make more than that amount on live gates alone, lol.
Also, I don't know why Dana predicts things in the press. The title of the article makes it sound like the highest PPV buy rate ever was a disappointment.
Dana did the same thing with the TUF finale predicting a 6.0 which was insane. The 3.0 rating it got was absolutely huge.
"Damn and to think Zuffa bought UFC for 2 million dollars. Now they make more than that amount on live gates alone, lol."
Yeah but if I remember correctly, they sunk nearly $50,000,000 into the UFC before it started turning a profit. Still, it was a great investment.
^ Definitely. Zuffa revived the UFC, brought it back from the dead. I remember when everyone was holding their breath for 100,000 PPV buys, like that was the magic number, now 1 million is the goal. Unbelievable.
Yep. I recall hearing numbers like 40K PPV buys. They have to be rolling in the $$$.
what is also amazing is that Fargo has three large bars getting payperviews also and they are all packed. I wonder what their buy rate would be if they stopped doing that around the country.