MMA Payout has an update on tickets for UFC 170. While Ronda Rousey is an expected draw based on her last two UFC outings, the ticket demands for the event appear low.
Dana White said at his media scrum (19:14 mark) Thursday that the event would do a $2 million gate. However, there are still quite a few tickets in the lower and upper levels left as of early Saturday morning for the event according to Ticketmaster.
Ticket prices were set lower than previous Vegas PPVs, which were held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Saturday’s event will be held in the smaller Mandalay Bay Events Center.
The last event at the Mandalay Bay was the TUF 17 Finale from April 2013. That event drew slightly under 6,000 fans for $569,075. The last PPV at the Mandalay Bay was UFC 156: Aldo-Edgar, which drew 10,275 for a gate of $2.437 million.
A week prior to this event 6,400 tickets had been sold.
According to Seat Geek, the average ticket price on the secondary market is $203. According to the ticket search engine company, only 10 fights in the last 40 going back to UFC 131 have drawn lower average ticket prices on the secondary market.
Seat Geek also had the following information:
– Comparing the prior secondary ticket marketplace for Rousey, the average ticket price for UFC 168 was $536. Of course, that fight was against hated rival Miesha Tate and the ticket resale market was also aided by Weidman-Silva II. For McMann, her last fight at UFC 159 against Sheila Gaff went for an average of $276. The headline for that event was Sonnen-Jones.
– Tickets in the upper-level start at $81 on the secondary market although some have been able to get them for as low as $50, which was the lowest face value for entry in this event. Lower-level tickets are available for $145 and up, and ringside seats are going for no less than $511 per ticket. At the high end, Seat Geek says there are some front-row ringside seats change hands for $1,700+ apiece.
More info on UFC seating from Seat Geek can be found here.
Payout Perspective:
We will see what the final announced attendance and gate will be for UFC 170 but from what it appears, UFC 170 ticket sales have been sluggish despite White’s claim that the event will garner a $2 million gate. With the last minute injury in the co-main event, making Daniel Cormier fight a relative unknown, there are few other fights of note on this card.
It kind of makes sense. Rousey isn’t the most liked person in the UFC. BUt she is polarizing. The large number of people who want to see her lose are more likely to buy the PPV than spend much more money making a weekend of it. I think this is a good fight. But McMann isn’t very well known. People have to know her and like her chances before they come out for the fight. There isn’t anything else on the card to draw anyone in either.
I think this event does well on PPV. It is an extremely weak card. IF it does do any numbers. Those numbers have to be contributed to Rousey. She is getting no help selling this card. Sink or Swim this event is all on here. So we will get to see where her popularity is. I would say 300K buys would be a success. If this does 500K. Then that would make her one of the top draws. Maybe even the top draw with a decent card and more time to build some contenders. Jon Jones isn’t even selling 500K without any help.
This event is garbage.
It wont sell more than 150k buys that is for sure. Anybody who.buys this crap is extremely unintelligent
Will you grow up u POS if you hate ufc stop reading about it
Sampson don’t know anything about business I’m surprised he even has a job
I think the Olympic medalist angle hasn’t worked as well as they hoped. Winter Olympics hype about figure skating and hockey doesn’t seem to have rubbed off on women’s UFC fighters.
Plenty of empty seats at tonight’s event.
Not looking good…