I just bought a bunch of $55 tickets for the Combat in the Cage card in AC, and it occurred to me that this is more than I paid for comparable tickets for UFC 41 in the same arena. Just out of curiosity, I checked UFC 60 ticket prices and the median price level is $400! This is like 5 times ticket prices from a few years ago. Now, I realize they will charge whatever the market will bear, but I really don't like seeing this sport becoming prohibitive to the average fan like boxing.
This brings me to my next point. I was considering going to a local boxing card and the ticket prices were almost identical to the Combat in the Cage prices. Additionally, tickets to DLH/Mayorga were about the same as UFC 60 tickets. UFC 59 was reported to have done about the same amount of buys as Mosely/Vargas, which was considered a big success in the boxing world. I guess what I'm getting at is ...
Has MMA become as popular as boxing in the US? Is the future of MMA now?
The UFC 60 prices are roughly 60% higher than previous UFC's because of the Royce Gracie match up. Otherwise they would be much cheaper, but still I have to agree with you. I think for the Raze Fight Night they were trying to sell floor tickets for $350 bucks which was very overpriced for the card they offered.
I should have named this thread something cooler like "the future is now".
people want more expensive talent then the prices is going to go up
Oh well, fucking deal with it. People are still buying tickets at huge prices and people are still buying PPV's at $40. Until that starts not happening, dont look for ticket prices to go down. Aren't tickets for PRIDE events in Japan like, $1,000 for floor?
" Ridiculous Zuffa. Nosebleeds start at 400.00. Hope you get the PPV'S @ 40.00. Crosses the line."
No, not the nosebleeds. That's the median ticket price.
"Boo fucking hoo. Haven't you endorsed Zuffa ripping off every other facet of boxing's business model on here? Did you honestly not expect ticket and PPV prices to follow in the same fashion as the UFC's judging, presentation and PR style?"
Hey, as much as it sucks getting jacked at ticketmaster.com, I know the causes of it and I definitely expected it, just not so soon. That was the real point of the thread, that we all seem to pine for the day when "MMA is as big as boxing" but aside from mainstream media acceptance, it basically already is.
"And the fact that the 'premier' American MMA promotion is still paying peanuts even to their headlining fighters."
There have been a million threads about fighter salaries, but OF COURSE you had to make this another one because you can't stand to let a thread go by without shitting on the UFC like the pathetic uber-troll you are. It's plainly obvious that you don't want UFC fighters to make more money, because then you will have lost something to bitch about. Salaries are on the rise, but it's not going to happen overnight.
Yes, the Pride floor tickets are around $1,000.
I believe that most of those seats hit around $750 a pop. They were telling me that young people will save for months just to go to a show.
"99% of UFC fighters today are still paid no better than they were 4-5 years ago"
This is total bullshit. Yes, there will always be guys at the bottom of the card who are making only a few thousand. Beleive it or not, guys on the bottom of boxing undercards often make even less than that. However, the fact is, for the upper echelon fighters like Chuck, Randy (before his retirement), and Hughes, salaries are going up very sharply. The combined purse for Chuck/Randy I was $205,000. Two years later when they fought again it was $290,000. Then less than one year after that, the total purse was $475,000 plus a portion of PPV revenue that was rumored to push that number over $1 million.
"You can sugar coat it all you want, but the fact is that Zuffa is continuing to pay fighters jack and shit, and patsies like you are all too willing to turn the other way and go "gee shucks, I'm sure they'll be able to feed themselves when the sport gets big"."
I have never said anything like that. I am a realist. The purses at the bottom of the card will always be low. That is how it is and it won't be changing, because those guys are replacable and aren't bringing in any money. They may start making a little more eventually but it won't be enough to make a serious living off of. Do you really think things are different in Pride? You think guys like Paul Rodriguez and Fabio Mello got paid a lot? I sincerely doubt it. The guys who make the big bucks are the guys at the top of the card that draw the crowds, like Yoshida, Silva, and CroCop.