Less than three weeks before Bellator’s first PPV, a report states that only 1,700 tickets have been sold for the event at the Long Beach Convention Center. The arena can hold up to 13,500.
MMA Junkie’s John Morgan tweeted the news of the poor ticket sales. Bloody Elbow reported that the price point may be one of the reasons for the poor ticket sales. Notably, a look at the tickets for the Bellator event has floor seats at $265 per seat. In comparison, UFC on Fox 9 in Sacramento in December has floor seats for less, $260.
Payout Perspective:
The ticket issue will be a problem from an aesthetical standpoint as Bellator would have liked to get some crowd shots of fans for its first PPV. It still may be able to get the crowd it needs if it decides to give away tickets to fill up the arena. Since it is its first PPV, it probably wouldn’t be hurt by comping tickets rather than having the production crew avoid areas of empty seats. Either that, or it will give tight close-ups of just the cage and first couple of rows. The lack of ticket sales can be a disappointment if there is not an influx of sales in the next couple weeks. Both Rampage and Tito make their homes in Southern California and one would think that with the fight in Long Beach more fans would purchase tickets.
As for the price point for seats, it appears that a market has been set for floor seats and seats near the cage. The $260 plus price tag is not uncommon for UFC shows. In comparison, a local show in Seattle running the same night with the likes of Ivan Salaverry, Maurice Smith, DeMarques Johnson and Jeff Monson in the main event has floor seats going for $102. The price for live MMA is not cheap.
Something tells me bellator is more concerned with ppv sales.
Zach Arnold says:
October 13, 2013 at 1:47 pm
Where did you get the 1,700 number? I’ve had people on the ground swear over 4,000 tickets were sold and that they would get around 8,000 at Long Beach.
I’ll probably buy the PPV just to support them, but man, it sounds like this could be a catastrophe. I hope those numbers are wrong and/or sales pick up.
Bellator gives all the tickets away during the event because no one buys them, so why would we start buying them now because I will definitely get them for frees? No body wants to see 2nd rate fighters that they dont know on TV. Bellator needs to make it a better experience. First they should fire Rebney, get rid of that asshole Sam Caplan, and Get some fresh management in there with Innovative new Ideas. Im hatting the production of this show, its no different the CFA or Legacy or anything else I am seen right now. THEY NEED NEW IDEAS FAST!
P.S. I’ve got great ideas, but I dont have a rich uncle to make them happen. And im not giving them away.
Who will I believe: John Morgan or Zach Arnold?
Anyone else taking Morgan?
Capacities are as follows: 11,200 for hockey, 13,609 for basketball and either 4,550, 9,200 or 13,500 for concerts,
8k seems right for a fight ill take arnolds word
Capacities are as follows: 11,200 for hockey, 13,609 for basketball and either 4,550, 9,200 or 13,500 for concerts,
8k seems right for a fight ill take arnolds word
Sure, because Zach has a history of being accurate and unbiased.
For MMA,. the basketball layout would be most accurate Which is the more relevant journalist?.
checked out the layout in ticketmaster?Thats NOT in anyway close to the basketball layout
13k thats about what the ufc pulls in staples/honda center which are about 4 times bigger than long beach arena
Just looked at the layout on the center website it is pretty close. It might be set up to hold 11k, but not much less.
Also, UFC puts over 16k in the Staples center and they take up more space for production.