The Sports Business Journal has named UFC 129 in Toronto as one of the nominees for Event of the Year in its annual sports awards. The awards will be handed out May 23rd in New York.
As you know, UFC 129 was the biggest show in UFC’s history. It was the first stadium show for the company and received the biggest gate and attendance for an MMA event.
UFC 129 will compete in the “Event of the Year” category with the 2011 Carrier Classic (November’s men’s college basketball game held on an aircraft carrier between North Carolina and Michigan State), 2011 Humana Challenge, 2011 NBA Finals, and Super Bowl XLVI.
As MMA Junkie points out, it missed out on nominations for “Sports Executive of the Year” and “Best in Sports Event and Experiential Marketing.” Notably, Fox Executive, David Hill, who worked with Dana White with the UFC-Fox deal was nominated for exec of the year.
Payout Perspective:
While the awards are not an indication of the success of the UFC, its a recognition of its accomplishments in the sports industry. UFC 129 may have a shot at winning its category although the 2011 Carrier Classic may be the front runner for that award simply due to the uniqueness of the event. As Junkie points out, its interesting that Dana White was not nominated for Sports Executive of the Year although Hill was named. Obviously, Hill did other things for Fox this past year but the UFC deal was one of the bigger acquisitions.
The main event itself was probably one of the most boring “sporting events” of the year. Period
hehe, that’s probably right…
Yeah, thank God Aldo and Hominick had the decency to bust each other up for 25 minutes before that.
Unfortunately based on the PPV buys and live gate, 99 percent showed up to see GSP “fight”. In reality they got the UFC “champion” throwing wild haymakers all night. The same kind that you would see when a toddler first steps into the boxing ring for the first time….