MMAJunkie is reporting that last week’s WEC 47 card, which featured a bantamweight title bout between Brian Bowles and Dominick Cruz, did $401,000 at the gate.
This month’s WEC 47 event at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, drew an official live gate of $401,000.
Ohio Athletic Commission Executive Director Bernie Profato today confirmed the total with MMAjunkie.com.
Payout Perspective:
While the gate didn’t break the $500k mark, $401k is still a strong showing for the WEC which also enjoyed the fifth largest attendance figure in company history.
This news is certainly more positive than the ratings for the event on Versus (373,000). However, with the return of 18 million DirecTV subscribers to Versus and the WEC about to make some noise on PPV in April, the organization’s next card should fare better on television.
Note: if you factor in the new sponsorship deals with AMP and Musclepharm – and existing Zuffa deals with Tapout, Bud Light, and Harley Davidson – against the payouts and other costs to run the event, it’s likely the WEC came out well ahead on this event.
Finances are sort of taken for granted in this business; but the truth is there aren’t exactly a lot of promotions out there making money. The WEC has done a good job of it over the past few years, but even its PPV debut isn’t a guarantee. It’s not easy.
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