UFC Plots International Plans
August 23, 2008
Dave Meltzer has a pretty comprehensive article up over on Yahoo on the UFC’s international expansion efforts in the near term. Lots of great info in there, definitely worth a read. This particular passage was informative as to the UFC’s thinking:
“In the spring of 2009, we plan to have two (international) events outside of the United Kingdom,†said Marshall Zaleznik, the company’s U.K. division president, who is working heavily with co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta in the company’s worldwide expansion plans. “We’re looking at Italy, Sweden, Australia and the Philippines. We want to go to Germany (in 2009) but we haven’t launched television.â€
The market for live shows seems to be breaking down in to two distinct groupings:
European Community
From the European perspective, the UFC looks to be using their UK shows as an anchor around which they can build their European plans as a whole. The UK market can bear at least one event per quarter so that gives them four events a year to build around. Hitting mainland Europe for another 4 to 5 shows is probably the goal, allowing the company to achieve economies of scale in their Euro efforts. If they do that number of events successfully, they would be able to dedicate greater staffing and equipment solely for the EC efforts, improving the economics of the proposition. Spreading the four to five shows over the entire continent would allow them to hit some of the smaller markets like Sweden on a less frequent basis (once a year, maybe), therefore conserving the market and not burning it out.
Sweden as a market would be interesting. Sweden isn’t a large country population-wise but could possibly draw well on a once a year basis. In Sweden the UFC PPV’s are aired for free on TV4 Sport, a basic cable channel. It’s normally broadcast live, which means most of their fans in country watches it at 4:00am Sunday morning. TV4sport is basically free if you have cable or a satellite dish. Doing shows in Sweden may also draw fans from some of the other Nordic nations where they have a TV presence, like Finland, where fans watch The Ultimate Fighter on JimTV, a subsidiary channel for large Finnish network.
Germany was another country that was mentioned for doing live shows. Germany has a large population base and a strong economy but little exposure to the UFC thus far. The Yahoo article mentions that they haven’t set up TV in country yet. This is an area where the UFC could be proactive with their website. Dubbing some of their programming and making it viewable on their website could be one way of reaching out to the German market while trying to get a TV deal there.
Italy, France, and Spain would be other possible venues that look to be a little further down the road.
The Pacific Rim & Asia
Japan is mentioned as a possible stop for multiple shows in the future, but on more of a long-term basis. They seem to be trying to get back on the radar in the Japanese market, both in television via WOWOW and in new media. I’ll defer to other’s greater knowledge of the Japanese market, but it would seem the UFC’s problems stemming from the Pride deal as well as some of the inherent things in the Japanese fight scene (Yakuza) would seem to be roadblocks they need to overcome.
The Philippines is attractive because the Fil-Am athletes that the UFC currently have on their roster. Brandon Vera has quite the following there and Mark Munoz of the WEC is being built-up in much the same fashion. The UFC has talked of doing some shows as more grassroots type shows, and The Philippines would be a likely candidate for such shows. The UFC would use a few big name guys on top and seed the show with plenty of local fighters.
Australia is another market that may be better served by some grassroots shows. UFC has TV in Australia via PPV, on the Foxtel pay TV network. All shows are televised at $39.95 each, which could tend to limit the sports exposure there. Fox 8 also plays The Ultimate Fighter but tends to be several series behind. Smaller scale, grassroots shows would be ideal until better traction is achieved there.
Macau and Dubai have also been mentioned as possible UFC venues in the future. Dubai is attractive due to the oil potentates that could help underwrite the venture, much like the ADCC championships that are sponsored by the sheikhs in the UAE. Macau is a Chinese gaming capital that would be attractive market, as it mirrors the Las Vegas environs of the UFC. Promoting in Macau could present some of the same problems faced in Japan, though (Macau with Triads, Japan with Yakuza).
Malaysia, India,and Mainland China seem to be much longer term plays that probably won’t see any live UFC action in the near term.
