Dana White announced at the UFC 113 post-fight press conference that the event drew 17,647 to Montreal’s Bell Centre and generated approximately $3.27 million at the gate.
While UFC 113 marked the first time the UFC was unable to sell-out in Montreal, the event still has to be considered a success. The show generated the largest crowd and second largest gate for an event this year. Moreover, if you’re looking to compare, the first bout between Machida-Shogun drew just under 15,000 people for a gate of just over $1.9 million.
Hi Kelsey,
Brian and I were just blogging about this in another post. Although this is a good number I think it would be prudent not to overlook the 35% drop in revenue from the previous two ventures in Montreal. What was the reason for the drop? Was it the lack of GSP in the headlining position – probably not as UFC 97 did not showcase any major Canadian fighters. Are we really experiencing a bit of a drop in the popularity of MMA as a whole? Is it that the novelty is wearing off in Montreal when it comes to the UFC coming to town? What does this mean for the UFC’s future scheduling in Canada? Will they tend to hit new markets where MMA is sanctioned instead such as Vancouver (as they already have), Edmonton, etc.
I would like to know your thoughts on this.
“Although this is a good number I think it would be prudent not to overlook the 35% drop in revenue from the previous two ventures in Montreal. What was the reason for the drop?”
Good point mmaguru… I also noticed the drop off.
I think it’s possible that the novelty has worn off a little bit, but I also tend to think this was a weaker card than 83 and 97. Some of the casual fans that might have been attracted by GSP or Silva/Liddell probably decided to pass on Machida-Shogun.
Game 5 certainly didn’t help walk-up/last minute purchases, either.
I think the only way they will sell out the Bell Centre again is if they either lower those expensive ticket prices, or bring back GSP for the main event. People are getting wise that it’s just as good to watch the fights at home with a group of buddies instead of paying rediculous prices to see it live when the fighters look like ants – you end up watching the big screen for the majority of the fights anyway.
It seems unfair that great cards like this don’t sell out while Lesner does 2 mil ppv’s. The fact is that the UFC has not ‘arrived’ it is still at war for eyeballs. It needs more hunger in the match making, I worry that is is trying to coast when it has some sprinting left to do.
A good example is Koscheck’s performance against Daley. Not only did Kos rip off the audience by sandbagging his way to a title fight and a TV deal, he set a dangerous precedent that winning takes rank over trying to finish the fight ( better to say ‘finish the fight’ then ‘entertain,’ I’m not making a WWE argument here). I think a distinction needs to be drawn between grinding out a fight and what Koscheck did
http://joeblo.org/daily/2010/5/12/koscheck-did-sandbag-his-way-to-a-title-shot-and-a-tv-deal-b.html