According to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal, UFC 249 taking place on Saturday night drew “north of 700,000 buys.” It was the promotion’s first event back after taking time off due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
UFC 249 without fans in Jacksonville, Florida. The event was under scrutiny as the company implemented protocols to deal with the COVID-19 virus. Unfortunately, Jacare Souza and two of his cornermen ended up with positive tests and needed to be quarantine. Souza’s fight against Uriah Hall was called off.
The event was the first of three to take place at the Vystar Arena in Jacksonville as the company gets back into promoting fights.
The prelims aired on ESPN prior to the PPV on the network’s digital platform.
The main event featured Justin Gaethje and Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight title. Gaethje earned the victory with a 5th round stoppage of Ferguson.
Payout Perspective:
I am surprised by the buy rate considering the high unemployment rate and the uncertainty of jobs in America right now. One may have expected that the viewership on ESPN would have been high but another $65 to pay for more would have been a breakpoint. Not the case. But the buy rate reflects the fact that Americans are starving for sports and the UFC was on the forefront of the return. This bodes well for the UFC as it continues business while other operations are still on pause.
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