MMA Junkie reports the TUF Live Finale attendance and gate. In addition, bonuses of $40,000 were handed out for Fight of the Night, Submission of the Night and KO of the Night.
1,628 were in attendance at the Pearl at the Palms for a gate of $195,000. The numbers are lower than December 2011’s event. The event drew 1,909 attendees for a gate of $453,000.
Dana White handed out bonuses of $40,000 each:
KO of the Night: Martin Kampman and Justin Lawrence
Sub of the Night: Mike Chiesa
Fight of the Night: Justin Lawrence and John Cofer
Payout Perspective:
A good night for Justin Lawrence as he cashed in on 2 bonuses. Also a good night for The Ultimate Fighter Mike Chiesa as he won the contract and Sub of the Night. He also was the benefit of the sponsors as he received a Harley Davidson and a TapouT sponsorship. Chiesa is a good story considering the adversity he faced during the season. Urijah Faber also received a Harley Davidson for being the winning coach.
Interesting disparity in gate between Friday and last December’s gate. While December had almost 300 more attendees, it earned over $250K more. Numbers were not released for comps for Friday’s event.
Tickets for Finales are very expensive for some reason. It seems the UFC tries to attract the serious fan with these events since it is such a small setting and live on tv. It will cost 200-400 bucks to get in for a card that seldom has any names. But im sure the UFC could careless about these gates and probabley comp the hell out of them anyway as you can see by the gate disparity from this one and Decembers. Without knowing comps using gate and attendance this event averavge ticket price was half of Decemebers. 119 to 236. I woud guess the average price for everyone who paid was 250-300 for both events. They could sell many more seats and get larger gates if they had more reasonable prices but you risk bringin the loud drunks who could ruin the broadcast. Anyone remember Rashads Wife/Sister screeming during his fight with Imes? She may as well have been sitting with Rogan in the booth.