Will the success of the past few UFC PPV's hurt the next few?

by Zack Gobie on Jan 20, 2009 12:06 AM EST Comment 6 comments

Without a doubt the past couple months have been incredible for the UFC. UFC 91, that featured the superfight between Brock Lesnar and Randy Couture, have rumored to have broken the 1 Million+ buy mark which would put it right there with the record setting Liddell/Ortiz 2. Even more impressive was that the NYE card has rumored to have surpased that number which is nothing short of amazing. With Penn/GSP 2 being hyped like there is no tomarrow, you have to think that PPV will do equally as impressive of numbers.

But beyond this fight, not a whole lot seems to be going on as far as buzz producing fights. With three straight PPV's over a less than three month span, that's $135 out of my pocket in a pretty short amount of time. Thankfully the February card will be free, but with the all the titles except MW likely on hold until at least May, that doesn't leave many, if any, big name fights over the next few months. With the big names stretched thin, how will the next PPV's fare? UFC 96 is headlined by an interesting but not so anticipated of Rampage Jackson vs Keith Jardine, while UFC 97 has Chuck Liddell vs Shogun Rua which could do well but I'm not entirely sure. While I'm a very big fan of MMA, my disposable income can only go so far and I'm not sure in the state of this economy that these strong numbers can continue for these cards. Anderson Silva could be thrown in here somewhere, but unfortuantly he has proven to be a zero draw despite all of his talents.

Then again, mabye I'm underestimating the spending ablility of MMA fans and if so, feel free to take my words with a grain of salt. I'm just wondering if these PPV's are going to be hurting for numbers.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

0 recs | Comment 6 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

I think the opposite will happen

I think Lesnar-Couture brought in a lot of first time buyers, and UFC 92 probably did the same thing. There will be at least two humongous Lesnar main events this year, a card in Germany, BJ/GSP II, the possibility of GSP/Anderson Silva, Thiago Silva’s title shot (eventually), same for KenFlo, the ascent of a young and hungry heavyweight division…

I’m eternally optimistic that UFC can beat the PPV record they just got done setting this year.

by subo on Jan 20, 2009 12:15 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Agree and Disagree

I think the subo is correct – the UFC will beat the PPV they set this year (if there are great fights put together). BJ-GSP is going to be huge. Lesnar-Mir will be huge. Rampage-Evans should be a big fight if it happens.

However I do think that the UFC will see quite a few PPVs without high buy rates. Previous buyrates seem to suggest that around 250,000 people will buy every UFC pay-per-view (maybe this figure is a bit too high, but that’s what i’m guessing). If that’s the case it seems like the UFC is looking to increase the number of pay-per-view shows per year and relying on this figure as a support.

I think putting on too many pay-per-views is definitely going to hurt the UFC in the long run and Dana and co have to work hard for a network deal that works for them. The ideal situation for the MMA fan would be to have a WWE type balance where there are regular fight shows (maybe about one a month – at most two a month) and big PPVs about 6 – 8 times a year. For this to happen the network deal would have to be good enough to make those small shows profitable and the UFC would have to increase it’s roster.

Hopefully Zuffa can work something out. The longer they take the more fans will they will start losing merely due to the fact that we can’t afford to pay for such regular PPVs…

by rainmaker6 on Jan 20, 2009 12:57 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I like how I’m ‘the subo’ now. Like ‘The Ohio State University’ or like ‘The Swamp Thing’? :-)

by subo on Jan 20, 2009 3:00 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Having thought about it

8 pay per views per year would be near perfect.

Given that there are 5 belts and each belt should be defended twice a year – that would leave two super cards that could have two title fights. One for Superbowl weekend and one for end of the year.

by rainmaker6 on Jan 20, 2009 1:36 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

This year they could be testing the market just to see how far they can push it. They can always go back to a schedule similar to 08 if that makes the most cash.

These super fights could be a bad thing for the UFC in the long run. People are going start buying fights for names only, rather then the brand and the names. Thus, top end fighters are going to get more power and start demanding more cash and freedom. I don’t think this is beneficial for the UFC and I’m not even sure it is beneficial for the sport. It’s a situation that hurts the up and comers, making it difficult to build new stars, grow the sport, and keep things fresh. Just look at boxing.

1.5 million buy rates are great and grab media attention, but in the long run you can only have 2-3 super fights a year. If the super fights get all the attention, everyone else could suffer, as could the PPV buy rates overall.

Maybe I’m being overly pessimistic, I hope so. The UFC has been fairly sound business wise to date so maybe they should get the benefit of the doubt.

by nidge on Jan 20, 2009 5:51 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I don’t think the UFC is looking to increase the number of PPVs over one per month, yea they had two in January but Penn vs GSP is on the very last day of the month and there is no PPV in February. Once a month is about right and you can’t have a big show every time so yea they might have a couple of months of average cards but overall it should be a pretty good year for shows. Will the economy hurt the buyrates, who can tell but so far it’s had the exact opposite effect, the economy flopped and their buyrates have been recordbreaking. It will be really interesting to see if 93 breaks the 250k that these overseas shows seem to average.

What I think they really need is more free shows to try and build attention for more guys to fill the gaps in the future. You don’t have to have title fights for big shows but you do need compelling fights and drawing power. The free shows are a good way to build interest in fighters and future match ups for PPV.

by who me on Jan 20, 2009 1:18 PM EST reply actions 0 recs