How Serious Is Affliction About July 19th?

by Luke Thomas on Jul 17, 2008 10:03 PM EDT in MMA News

In Saturday's upcoming battle of counter-programming with the UFC, Affliction has again raised the stakes with its debut "Banned" card.

Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that Saturday night's pay-per-view broadcast will run a full four hours and will feature eight bouts. Additionally, FSN will air three bouts, rather than the previously reported two fights.

In other words, between FSN and PPV, the entire "Banned" fight card will be televised.

Saturday's event features a headline bout between longtime PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC heavyweight title-holder Tim Sylvia. Other notables such as Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Ben Rothwell, Matt Lindland, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Vitor Belfort and Aleksander Emelianenko have formed what many are calling the greatest fight card in MMA history.

"Banned" was previously set to feature two fights on FSN and five fights on PPV. Four preliminary fights were expected to go un-televised.

However, Atencio said that will not be the case.

"Every fight except the three that are going to be on [FSN] will be on pay-per-view," Atencio said.

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Affliction wins one! This is S-E-R-I-O-U-S. Bring on Savant vs. Hominick.

by Chris Nelson on Jul 17, 2008 10:09 PM EDT reply actions

Atencio has given some recent interviews lately that if Affliction doesn’t break even on this upcoming event on the 19th, he will consider it a failure. Kind of gave me the feeling that if this event doesn’t to do well, especially with the most stacked card they could possibly put on or WILL EVER put on, there might not be too many Affliction events following.

by steveoc24 on Jul 17, 2008 10:17 PM EDT reply actions

Does anybody have a rough idea on how much money Affliction needs to make on this event just to break even?

by steveoc24 on Jul 17, 2008 10:20 PM EDT reply actions

I have no idea, but I’ll guess $8MIL. Non-UFC PPV’s usually max out at 50,000 buys. I guessed 200K buys and was laughed at.

It’s gonna take a whole lot for Banned to not be a ‘failure’ in Atencio’s eyes.

by steak_knife on Jul 17, 2008 11:02 PM EDT reply actions

Wasn’t trying to mock in that other post, it’s just after reading and hearing everything there is (and more importantly isn’t) to read and here about this card, I don’t have faith in its ability to sell a ton of PPVs. I think if they do 100k that would be a big deal, but my gut feeling is more like 50k. It feels like they’re prepared to take the hit at this point; as long as they do decent buys and can sell out the Pond I’m sure this won’t be the last Affliction show.

Also, Atencio won’t reveal in any interviews what the total cost of the card is. He says it’ll come out afterward regardless.
(See what I mean?)

by Chris Nelson on Jul 17, 2008 11:22 PM EDT up reply actions

No offense taken, but this is supposed to be the biggest non-UFC PPV card in MMA history. Even 100K seems paltry when you consider that UFC now pulls in 400K buys on the regular.

by steak_knife on Jul 17, 2008 11:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Except it doesn’t have the UFC brand behind it and the marketing leading up to the event has been fairly lackluster.

I’ve thought that 50k was a pretty solid ceiling, with anywhere from 35k-45k as a more realistic number. I’d be pleasantly surprised to see 100k.

by Mike Fagan on Jul 18, 2008 6:23 AM EDT up reply actions

I think $8MIL only covers the fighters payroll. What about production and advertising and employee costs over the last few months that need to be accounted for in the overall figure. I think it reach almost $20million.

by steveoc24 on Jul 17, 2008 11:10 PM EDT reply actions

Don't forget that major buildings for an event this size..

...aren’t cheap.

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

"The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls and looking like hard work." -- Thomas Edison

by Brent Brookhouse on Jul 18, 2008 10:10 PM EDT up reply actions

I thought it was more like 6mil…Who knows for sure?

Back on topic:
I think showing the entire fight card is great for those of us who were already planning on shelling out 40 clams. However, if Affliction thinks including some more under-card bouts will draw more casual fans, then they are completely mistaken. So much talent, so little markeing toward the casuals…shame really.

"I'm ready. It doesn't matter with who or where. On foot or on horseback. With maces or poleaxes. To fight. To first blood or to death. It doesn't matter, I'm ready to fight." -- Александр Емельяненко

by BlazinSkunk on Jul 17, 2008 11:17 PM EDT reply actions

I agree

I’ve seen no advertisement what-so-ever for Affliction on TV or Radio. Affliction might do some OK numbers from the hardcore MMA fans, but it’s going to get to the point where fans are going to have to choose between UFC or Affliction when willing to spend $40-50 on a PPV. I have a feeling the UFC will win that battle. So I’m not sure how they think they can go head to head with the UFC.

by steveoc24 on Jul 17, 2008 11:29 PM EDT up reply actions