MMAJunkie is reporting that WEC 48, which was tentatively scheduled for May, will now take place on April 24th for a PPV price of $44.99. The event will feature a featherweight championship bout between Jose Aldo and Urjiah Faber.
The organization today announced via the AP that WEC 48, which retails for $44.99, takes place Saturday, April 24, at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif.
Featured bouts include WEC featherweight champ Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber, lightweight champion Benson Henderson vs. Donald Cerrone, and former champ Mike Brown vs. Manny Gamburyan.
Payout Perspective:
The move from May to April is definitely in the WEC’s best interest, but it remains to be seen whether the steep $44.99 price tag will scare off the casual MMA fan, unaware of the WEC, that might have been willing to try out the WEC for a lower price. Moreover, the WEC is forced to absolutely stack this card in order to make it worth $44.99, which leads me to wonder whether this price and strategy are sustainable across multiple events in the future.
Boy, I am a major MMA fan, I’ve ordered every PPV from the UFC, Affliction or PRIDE when a it doesn’t conflict with a personal matter, but this might be my saturation point. I can not see me and my friends ordering this, going to a bar, yes, but this seems like a lot.
I agree Stan. I am also a die hard MMA fan, but even I would find it difficult to justify spending $44.99 on this PPV. I am very surprised, nearly dumbfounded that Zuffa assumes people will pay the exact same price for a WEC PPV, which has never occurred before, as they would a polished UFC PPV. With no track record for WEC PPV so many questions immediately come to mind: Will the show have the exact same production values as a typical WEC card broadcast on Versus, or will it be a new production redone from the ground up? Will all WEC title fights now be relegated to PPV? It is very bizarre that the WEC, which clearly has nowhere near the same level of popularity or awareness of the UFC, is being priced equally. Lucky for me the event will be in Sacramento, so I will be there live, but if I were forced to have to decide whether or not to purchase the event I would be confused and possibly angry at Zuffa’s pricing.
I can’ think of too many WEC bouts that I would pay that much for, but this is one of them. Maybe Miguel/Uriah as well.
I like the bouts so far, but they will need to make sure all five main card bouts are strong.
If the WEC wasn’t owned by Zuffa I’m sure Dana White would be the first to point out what a stretch this is.
I guess the real question for consumers is what is the added value to the show that will truly differentiate this event from those we’re all used to viewing on Versus? Even multiple title fights on one card has been done before by the WEC…
First off, I have no idea how anyone can afford buying every UFC PPV. If it wasn’t for the local bars showing the event or reruns on Spike, I would have only seen 5 UFC PPVs in 2009.
Back to the topic on hand. Of course they know this is not going to garner a zillion buys. The event may do 30K buys and if pushed heavily anywhere up to 70K buys. But maybe that’s enough for them who knows?
The real deal breaker will be if Strikeforce does go CBS April 24th as Josh has just tweeted. If Strikeforce goes CBS on the 24th, it’s lights out for WEC. Bonus for Strikeforce will be the fact that Zuffa would not dear to counter program that night as it would kill any chance of WEC having any success.
If the WEC fails in their first attempt at PPV, it won’t be because of the price tag, it will be because Strikeforce on CBS will be a much more appealing product and it will be free.
STRIKEFORCE might schedule CBS show the same day. Ouch!
Funny thing is the UFC wouldn’t care if they had to counterprogram against SF and the WEC because their fanbase is loyal to them and them alone.
Basically you can have a huge night in mma on April 24’th but the UFC fan won’t be the one split part since it’s been proven they only watch the UFC. It would basically be a fight between the hardcore fans.
Personally speaking no other company puts on better cards month in and month out than the WEC, if they have a stacked card i’ll gladly watch it over any other mma org period.
EJ, i don’t think your are right. UFC will not counter program on the same night as WEC. Strikeforce has pulled this stunt off a few times already going head to head with WEC. This time it will not only be bad for WEC, it can be a game changer.
Guru, as far as affording all the UFC PPVs it’s really not that expensive if my friends and I take turns getting it. At a minimum we get 3 people for a PPV, so even the HD feed that’s less than $20 bucks each, even adding some drinks and food it’s less than going out. Often times we get a lot more people, then it’s extremely cheap.
“EJ, i don’t think your are right. UFC will not counter program on the same night as WEC. Strikeforce has pulled this stunt off a few times already going head to head with WEC. This time it will not only be bad for WEC, it can be a game changer.”
UFC won’t counter SF on a night where the WEC is live on Versus that would hurt their partnership but on ppv they don’t have to worry about that. Like I said the mainstream UFC fans that will watch a free Replay of a UFC ppv is an entire different audience than the hardcore fan who will tune in to watch SF or WEC shows. So IF and only if SF decides to counter the WEC, Zuffa will have no problem doing the same to them but I doubt it’ll come to that in the end.