In general, I applaud Zuffa's move to put UFC on Saturday night. It has generally delivered better ratings and probably will continue to do so-- except this time. This Saturday night, UFC goes up against NFL preseason football. I suspect this will hurt UFC 49's buy rate a lot. Maybe that is why the advertising and public appearances seem to be almost nonexistent this time around. Zuffa may be writing this one off as just for the hardcore fans and planning a bigger push for UFC 50.
But just my speculation.
As a rabid football fan, I can honestly say that I would watch the UFC before I'd watch ANY pre-season NFL game.
Now....if the Hawkeyes were playing in prime time on UFC night....
Yeah, many people on this forum probably would agree with you. But this forum is not the whole country. For example, if you weren't aware of how many posters use multiple usernames from their parents' attic, you would think Pride has a huge U.S. fanbase from reading this forum, but its U.S. PPV buys are usually pathetic.
It would be very, very difficult to get the casual fan, or especially the new fan, to watch UFC when his NFL team is playing, especially when there haven't been many NFL games in the last six months and everyone thinks they are going to the Superbowl.
Anyone who would watch preseason football over ufc has no right to call themselves a fan of the sport....though, I do agree that they might lose some buys. Also, the reason why pride has such shitty buy rates is because they don't tell people when it's on. Every mma fan knows the dates of the ufc months in advance, and I can't honestly tell you when the next pride show is. I can tell you when it will take place, but not when it's shown on tv....and while looking for when the show will air, I usually stumble across the results.
I will definately watch the UFC, but may switch over during the yappity-yapping between matches to check scores, numbers, stats, etc.
But dfinately the UFc over preseason football.
ANd I am an NFL-ADDICT.
-R
this is a problem. most casual fans that i know would much rather and will be watching the Bears preseaon. i have even offered to pay for them to watch the ufc at the bar with us. closest i got to someone coming was if the bar would have another tv with the Bears on it.
cheers,
jj
UFC on friday nights would work well for me.
Rickmassmma-
I am not talking about the people who read mma.tv. Obviously, many of us prefer MMA. But my point is that the number of people here is just not enough to really boost PPV numbers. That's why Pride gets such low buys up to now (plus the fact a lot of Pride fans seem to have multiple ids here) even though there are a lot of Pride fans on here.
Here in DC, the Skins' preseason games are the most popular show on TV easily. They outdraw the Olympics. With NFL preseason on, and drawing away a lot of Zuffa's target audience, UFC 49 will have low PPV buys I bet. Yes, the UG will watch it. But as Pride's PPV buy history shows, that doesn't mean a lot. When the UFC gets 100,000 buys, that's not just the UG watching.
Yes, I would definitely rather they take on pro wrestling. The pro wrestling fan base is tiny compared to the NFL, and nowhere near as wealthy. I don't watch wrestling much, but the last time I did I saw an advertisement where a man gets abused by his boss so starts playing with toys. This is the WWE target audience. On NFL games, I see commercials for Lexus. That is the NFL target audience.
Looking at on a selfish point of view.......I`m glad that the UFC is going to be on a Saturday Night because unfortunately I have to work swing shift M-F.
There are 12 games scheduled for Saturday night. Some of them start at 8 EDT, though, so some fans may be willing to switch over after halftime since the second half will be mostly scrubs anyway.
I am not sure you should reschedule, but yeah, during the season or a few weeks ago probably would have been better. I just think we will see an impact on the buys this time.
I'm a huge Broncos fan (thanks Redskins fan for sending us Champ Bailey, but I'll miss Portis). Preseason football is so boring and pointless that I don't watch it unless nothing else is on. During the season that's another story, I won't miss a game.
any redskins game is like a preseason!!!
preseason aint worth a pile of cow dong
How can ou even compare the two? You are officially banned from this forum as you are not a real fan. If the UFC went against the Super Bowl where Pamela Anderson did lesbianism with Jenna Jameson as halftime entertainment, I would still watch the UFC.
LOL. Man, the reading comprehension sinks lower each day here. Where did I say I was skipping UFC? I'm not. I was talking about how this scheduling might affect the overall PPV buys. I know UFC will get at least one (mine).
Tape the games, gotta support the sport ( UFC ) .
GO PATS !!!