UFC 102 far from sold out; economy, taxes problema

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UFC 102 Far From Sold Out; Economy, Taxes Problematic

A story that’s seemingly flown right under the radar the last couple weeks is the fact that the UFC is having trouble selling tickets for its 102 event to be held at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. The venue holds nearly 20,000 people for an MMA event, but has sold just over 9,000 tickets to date.

It’s surprising news for a number of reasons: Randy Couture is an Oregon boy, MMA is fairly popular in the state, and the UFC has built up a tremendous amount of momentum in recent months. When you look deeper, however, it’s not so surprising at all that UFC 102 is struggling to fill its arena.

The UFC was actually slated to bring their show to Portland back in November of 2008, but it is believed that the organization cancelled those plans and chose Las Vegas instead due to a combination of the poor economy in Oregon and exhoribidant event taxation in Portland.

Fast forward to 2009 and the economy is only getting worse:

    Oregon’s economy, bad as it is, will get even worse over the coming months, threatening double-digit unemployment and early school closures while sucking billions of dollars from the state budget, according to a forecast released Friday.

    “We’re falling basically into a pit,” said state economist Tom Potiowsky. He had the unenviable job of telling stone-faced state officials how much — or how little — they can spend on education, aid to the poor and other programs.

    According to Potiowsky’s forecast, which is used to set state spending levels, the current state budget will come up short by $855 million. For the 2009-11 budget, the gap between projected revenue and the rising cost of state services grows to $3 billion.

   The sharp drop stems from the same forces that clobbered the nation’s economy: dried-up export markets, tumbling home values, falling stock prices and frightened consumers.

    “The perfect storm is here,” Potiowsky said. “And Oregon is feeling the recession stronger than many other states.” He predicted

Exacerbating the problem even further are the 6% gross receipt taxes levied by both the Oregon State Athletic Commission and the City of Portland for MMA events held in the city - ie., 12%.

Brad Darcy, the Executive Director of the Oregon State Athletic Commission captures the heart of the issue:
    “It’s an obstacle, I’m afraid,” Darcy said. “There is a six percent tax on gross receipts of live events to the commission. And on top of that, there’s a city tax of six percent. We rank pretty high (nationally) in terms of our level of taxation.”

In order to maintain their bottom line the UFC has subsequently priced tickets for 102 at the $600, $400, $300, $200, $100, and $50 levels, which has obviously left some UFC fans quite reluctant to pony up their hard earned cash in a very drab-looking economy. A telling indication of over-pricing on the UFC’s part is the near sell-out at the lower ticket ranges while the higher priced tickets still remain available in great quantities.


read full article...


 

Pain4Blood2 - well, hopefully the ppv is a success.


 Holding 2 PPV's at $50+ a pop in the same month is going to make this PPV not a success. People just aren't willing to shell out the cash for 2 PPV's in a month.


Need to hury up and get MMA sanctioned in Ontario. It would sell out the Sky Dome at 60k people.

translation:

The UFC will never be coming back to Oregon ever again.

 I wouldnt be to concerned, people with less money dont buy advanced sales. If they buy $600 tickets they have to save money for them. I bet they sell 13,000-15,000 tickets. They wont break any records but I dont think it will affect anything.



Promoting is a tough rackett and sometimes you do well, sometimes you dont. There is only one way to test a market.



ACDC may sell out 28,000 in North Dakota and only sell 14,000 in ohio. Overall they have good numbers. I doubt the UFC is on a paycheck to paycheck budget.






One thing about that article that strikes me as odd is they say:

"Exacerbating the problem even further are the 6% gross receipt taxes levied by both the Oregon State Athletic Commission and the City of Portland for MMA events held in the city - ie., 12%."

Even in North Dakota when we have a show we pay 3% to the commission and 6.5% to the city. Sales tax is nothing new. They are blowing that out of proportion.

Brigham - 
Pain4Blood2 - well, hopefully the ppv is a success.

 Holding 2 PPV's at $50+ a pop in the same month is going to make this PPV not a success. People just aren't willing to shell out the cash for 2 PPV's in a month.



I think brigham is right here.. I still think it will do in the 300-400k range though thanks to that old guy who is fighting :)

 as an example I believe the Nevada Athlitic Commission rate is 7.5% plus



Nevada's state sales tax rate is 8.10 percent. Counties may impose additional rates via voter approval or through approval of the Legislature; therefore, the applicable sales tax will vary by county from 6.85 percent to 8.1 percent in Clark County. Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, imposes four separate county option taxes in addition to the statewide rate - 0.25 percent for flood control, 0.50 percent for mass transit, 0.25 to fund the Southern Nevada Water Authority, and 0.25 percent for the addition of police officers in that county. In Washoe County (which includes Reno), the sales tax rate is 7.725 percent, due to county option rates for flood control, the ReTRAC train trench project, mass transit, and an additional county rate approved under the Local Government Tax Act of 1991.[69]


For travelers to Las Vegas, note that the lodging tax rate in unincorporated Clark County, which includes the Las Vegas Strip, is 12%. Within the boundaries of the City of Las Vegas, the lodging tax rate is 13%.

 “It’s an obstacle, I’m afraid,” Darcy said. “There is a six percent tax on gross receipts of live events to the commission. And on top of that, there’s a city tax of six percent. We rank pretty high (nationally) in terms of our level of taxation.”



Not as high as the UFC's home state of Nevada

The PPV will still do 500K buys. The live gate is just gravy.

 Well I would say you have it all wrong, Zuffa's pay scale for guys like couture are based off of PPV sales. Randy has made (what) 250,000 plus maybe $2 per pay perview? Maybe $3 per pay per view?



What is 12% of 1.5 million gate vs 16% of a 4 million dollar gate? Where do they lose more money?



My point is that they make a big deal of the taxes when in fact most shows the UFC holds have more taxation. This article is full of shit.

Wow. Honestly I want to got to this event, and I just might since its relatively close to me (not to mention that im facing 4 years in Japan) which guarantees i wont see one until after 2012) but this card isnt interesting enough.

Bring er back to Canada, we'll sell that place out.

Yeah, tough economy. And it's just not the best card.

As an aside, Randy isn't my idea of an "Oregon boy" like the article says. But he certainly has a connection and I'm sure he'll get a nice response from the crowd. For those who don't know, he was actually born & raised in Seattle WA area and lived in OR after his Army & college years. I'd guess he regards Las Vegas as his hometown at this point, but I know he comes back to the Pacific NW here & there, so whatever :)

TH

 not their best card.

 ufc 102 is a very solid card

 Ticket prices have been going down with us but ticket sales have been doing as much I would have expected.

Couture vs Nogueira is a solid main event...


... in 2002.

Noguiera looked so bad last time out he had people thinking Frank Mir is an elite striker.

It's a good card. Not a great card, but a good card. The main event would have been better 2 years ago but Maia/Marquardt is pretty much main-event caliber for hardcore fans which I think makes up for it. Jardine/Silva is a very good undercard fight as well.

Really the only lame fight is Leben/Rosholt, which has been bafflingly put on the main card in place of the more interesting Gonzaga/Tuchscherer.

maybe they should lower ticket prices if they want to sell out?



i could give a shit either way, i have no stock in that corporation