UFC overestimating Hughes/Gracie

Underground
1

I think the UFC has overestimated the value of this superfight. The ticket prices are ridiculously high and it appears to be impeding sales, as is evidenced by the fact that the $50 and $100 seats sold out fast while the more expensive ones remain available. Additionally, they're obviously relying on the main event to sell the PPV, because the undercard is quite mediocre, maybe a slight step up from UFC 55 but that's about it. A lot of hardcore fans (myself included) are not buying the main event as the megafight they are hyping it to be, and this may hurt sales.

It's obvious they're assuming this is gonna be THE event of the year for them, but to be honest, I am less hyped up for it than any of the other UFCs so far this year and I don't think this is gonna do the huge bank they are assuming it will.

2

" So, when fight day arrives, and the most expensive seats are un-sold, what happens ?"

I think they will sell them at a deep discount and/or give them away via radio shows and the like.

3

i actually thought the undercards looked good. vera, lister, sanchez...all good fighters.

5

I heard there was a day in late April where anyone who called the LA based radio station KROQ in the morning got free tix.

Fuck! I want a free ticket!

6

" i actually thought the undercards looked good. vera, lister, sanchez...all good fighters."

Perhaps I misspoke. The undercard is pretty decent. It's not spectacular, it doesn't have anything like BJ/GSP on it, but it's alright. However, for those of us who aren't sprouting wood over the idea of Hughes/Gracie, an average undercard just isn't cutting it.

I will still probably have my same few buddies over to watch it and we'll split it for like $10 each. If I had to watch alone, though, I would not buy it. To me it is the least worthwhile MMA PPV of the year, not counting minor shows like KOTC or the GFC card.

7

"C. They get lower buys, but generate the same amount of revenue. Although this isn't necessarily bad for them, it is not good if they don't sell out the venue. This will probably result in a drop in the higher priced tickets, but will probably keep the same prices for everything else. "

Bad for sponsors, who now will be seen by less people, and bad for the image of "a sport thats growing"

overpricing has a potential to stunt the growth of the sport. at 30 bucks, it could pretty much be an impulse buy. at 40 it becomes harder to sell. We will see.

8

i'm so mad at this card, including the main event...and of course my girlfriend (not knowing any better) went and bought 2 tix @ $400 for my b-day
........ anybody wanna buy em @ face value??? they're front row

9


I think the UFC has made a few mistakes...


Leaving Vegas; Vegas is a great place for the UFC, you can get a cheap flight to Vegas from anywhere in the US, and hotel rooms are always available and inexpensive.  Also it's just a fun place to be, and easy to navigate even for a first timer.


Having to many PPV's; Once a month is just toooo much, the UFC does not have enough fighters under contract to create a card worth paying for on a monthly basis.  Boxing, with a much more established fan base is hard pressed to do a large PPV every month, and boxing only needs one big fight not a whole card to justify the price tag, the short duration of an MMA fight means that the card needs more fights to justify the expense.  It's just not that big of a deal, and not that much of a build up when PPV's are coming every month, plus we have a fight on TUF every week, throw in 4 UFN's a year, and Pride... the market is saturated.


They need a big former fighter on the announcing team.  Joe Rogan is great, but the rest of the team is sub par, the fact that they don't have an MMA fighter is criminal.  Someone who has been in the cage and can commentate from a fighters perspective is a must.


Not signing guys they should, they are making enough money now that they should be getting big names.  Belfort may not be the name he once was, but he shouldn't be fighting in a competing organization, if Overeem is available to Strikeforce, he should be on the UFC 60 card.  Frank Shamrock should be under contract.  As excited as I am to see Royce in the octagon, I can think of a lot of exciting fighters they could have signed with $1.3 million.


Not finalizing cards, it's 12 days before the event, and the card for UFC 60 is just now finalizing.  they really thought that people would buy tickets to this event based on the Royce/Matt fight, and when it didn't happen they had to scramble to build a card.


Pulling someone from another sport, go get a journeyman heavyweight boxer with a bit of a name, and pay him to fight in the UFC, let him get schooled by an established MMA guy, this will create huge buzz, and add a lot of meainstream media outlets to the sport.


Pricing, obviously they are very close if not overpricing the arenas.  For all the BS about the Pond selling out in 2hours, you could buy floor seats in the first 10 rows in the days leading up to the show, and you could get very good seats below face value at the box office the day of the event.


The Staples Center is far from sold out 12 days before the event.  You can probably charge $1k for the first 3 rows, but trying to get that kind of money for the entire floor is to much, a lot of those are not great seats.  They seem to forget that the fan base, is largely 18-34 year old guys, and at least the 18-25 year old part is not a demographic with this kind of bread in a lot of cases.


Short version, less PPV's, better fights, better pricing of arenas, better broadcasting team, better planning.

10

They must be assuming that they were going to have a big turnout since it is in LA and Royce/Gracie family is so well known in the area.

11

tomato can i will disagree with your opinion yet again. here are three reasons why i believe the show will do fine on PPV (not necessarily the gate):

  1. long time fans will pay to see a gracie fight. their name is big enough to warrant that sort of interest, even out of simple curiosity. you are once again unique in your assessment of this and are going on biased hatred for the gracies. tell renzo you're not going to watch his cousin because you find him boring.

  2. TUF commercials: even with fans of MMA who came aboard only with the advent of TUF, they are getting saturdated with this gracie fight and are wondering who he is. if anyone on the planet does a google search on MMA or UFC, the gracie name will inevitably appear. that type of curiosity plus the advertising that the TUF fighters and commericals during the TUf shows will have peopel tuning in.

  3. the gracie name is hitting mainstream. they were singled out as a family of fighters immeidately after the UFC people on stephen a. smith's show "quite frankly" for heaven's sake. mainstream people will now associate the gracie name with the ufc, this new sport. gonna check it out. they are building the hype of the gracie name that i think is sufficient to sell PPVs.

the gate is a diferent story. i agree with you and others who have said that charging $1000 for front seats is ridiculous. btu if their marketing team has done its research and priced that, then they'll just have to live with that mistake. i'm sure a few will go as handouts on radio shows and some to celebs. but they should have kept the gate prices lower for a few more shows or raised them incrementally. this seems excessive. havign said thatr i hope they do sell out because it's good for the sport and good for the fighters.

lastly: you are a tool that has too much timke on his hands. get back to work, fool.

12

They might take a hit on the live gate, but PPV should be through the roof. People who haven't seen the UFC since the '90's are going to be ordering this one.

13

"1. long time fans will pay to see a gracie fight. their name is big enough to warrant that sort of interest, even out of simple curiosity. you are once again unique in your assessment of this and are going on biased hatred for the gracies. tell renzo you're not going to watch his cousin because you find him boring."

I believe even Renzo has said Royce has damn near no chance in this fight. It's not that Royce is boring that bothers myself and others, it's the fact that he has damn near no hope of winning.

"2. TUF commercials: even with fans of MMA who came aboard only with the advent of TUF, they are getting saturdated with this gracie fight and are wondering who he is. if anyone on the planet does a google search on MMA or UFC, the gracie name will inevitably appear. that type of curiosity plus the advertising that the TUF fighters and commericals during the TUf shows will have peopel tuning in."

Curiosity may get some buys from the new fans, but I'm not sure how Hughes/Gracie is more appealing to them than Tito/Forrest was.

"3. the gracie name is hitting mainstream. they were singled out as a family of fighters immeidately after the UFC people on stephen a. smith's show "quite frankly" for heaven's sake. mainstream people will now associate the gracie name with the ufc, this new sport. gonna check it out. they are building the hype of the gracie name that i think is sufficient to sell PPVs."

I think you are overestimating how people who aren't long-term fans really care about the Gracies and this matchup.

"lastly: you are a tool that has too much timke on his hands. get back to work, fool."

Have you broken the Guinness world record for "oldest man to use his expired student ID to get a movie discount" yet?