gate
You are currently browsing the articles from MMA Factor matching the category gate.
When launching Adrenaline MMA, Monte Cox spoke of his plan to model the promotion on the Bay Area power Strikeforce. One of the key components of success mentioned by Monte was a strong showing at the gate, but judging by the early numbers the promotion seems to still have a ways to go to measure up to Scott Coker's creation from a business perspective.
MMAJunkie's Steve Sievert
reports attendance of around 2,000 while
Sherdog is a little more generous with an estimate of 2,500. Either number represents a weak gate for such a large metro area. Cox commented to MMAJunkie:
"I talked to other promoters in music and other things, and everything seems to be down right now," he said. "Last time I did a show here, we had people driving 100 to a 150 miles. We didn't get that tonight. It's hard. A 150 now is costing you 70 bucks, and I think people factor that in. Plus, the Quad Cities, where we normally draw really well from, is flooded. We just didn't have a lot of things go our way."
With no big stars on the card the payroll was likely on the low side, but with that level of attendance I doubt the card was profitable. While the show had several local fighters on the card, the show lacked a mainstream name or charismatic fighter to break through to a larger audience. Strikeforce has been lucky in that respect in that they have two charismatic guys in Cung Le and Frank Shamrock that both have strong local ties from which to draw strong crowds. Next week's card being head lined by Gilbert Melendez should be an interesting test of how well Strikeforce can draw without either of their big two on the card.
The September card being put on by Adrenaline will face much more pressure at the gate. On that card will be Adrenaline's two big ticket signings, Tim Sylvia and Ben Rothwell. Rothwell is set to make $200,000 for his Adrenaline fights and one has to believe that Sylvia is making somewhere slightly north of that, so right there you are looking at a half a million on payroll. If you are going to bring in half way decent names to face these two, you are looking at probably another 100 grand and then you have to fill out the undercard as well. Adrenaline will have to have a close to capacity crowd to break even with those kind of salaries being thrown around.
Written by admin on June 15th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on gate and Adrenaline and Monte Cox and Strikeforce and MMA.
Throw another name in the mix of possible fighters who might be able to headline a stadium show for the UFC. Dana speaks with the
Lancashire Telegraph.
"He (Michael Bisping) looks better every time he is out," he said. "And it would be great to bring a Bisping title fight to a football stadium in England."
Promoter promoting or legitimate business move for the future? Who can tell? If Anderson Silva moves up to 205 as rumored the bout would be an infinitely easier sell to the British public.
Written by admin on June 9th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on gate and international and UFC and MMA.
The Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas is putting on a
hybrid card of boxing and MMA on the same night, June 20th. The card is free to the public, with all 16,000 tickets for the night of fights already distributed.
"We thought this would generate some interest, but it has surpassed our expectations," Libonati said. "We think this is the first time that boxing and MMA have been offered on the same card at the same venue on the same night."
This is an interesting concept. With the gate being non-existent, I imagine they are looking to make their money back in several ways. The boxing portion of the card will be televised on ESPN's Friday Night Fights while the MMA portion is rumored to be aired on HDNet.
There is generally a decent license fee from ESPN for their show and possibly a fee from HDNet, so that should offset some costs. They should also be able to make money from some of the usual live event revenue staples, merchandising, local sponsorships, and concessions. This looks to be more of a foot in the door, leading to future cards that they can charge for. With all the sniping that has gone on between the heads of boxing and MMA, a move such as this to bring the two combat sports together is more than welcome.
Written by admin on June 9th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on gate and TV and Boxing and HDNet Fights and MMA.
Attendance for the card was 15,327 according to
TSN.com. Most media reports are pegging the show as a sellout. More information on the gate when we receive it.
MMAJunkie.com reports Thiago Alves, Kevin Burns, Matt Wiman and Thiago Tavares each earned $50,000 "fight night" bonuses for their performances at UFC 85. The bonuses are $25,000 less than UFC 84 bonuses, but that is to be expected with most overseas cards and Fight Night cards having a lower bonus threshold. There was actually an increase from their last UK card, UFC 80 in Newcastle, which had bonuses of
$35,000 .
Written by admin on June 8th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on gate and international and payouts and UFC and MMA.