The Sports Business Journal reports that UFC 300 will sell 1 million PPV units on Saturday per Dana White. The benchmark will make it one of the first events post-pandemic to hit the mark.
The event takes place at the UFC’s home arena, T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The card does not have one of the company’s superstars but features 12 former and/or current champions which is the most of any in UFC history. The price point is $79.99 on ESPN+ which would means 1 million PPV buys would gross roughly $80 million. However, if you purchased the PPV ahead of time, a consumer would pay $69.99. The early purchase window by ESPN started this year and its the fourth PPV it has made the offer.
White also said that the gate for the event is expected to be $16.5 million which would be the third largest of all-time behind the 2016 MSG fight between McGregor and Alvarez and McGregor and Nurmagomedov in 2018.
Payout Perspective:
It is interesting to note that the event is being driven by a collective of athletes and not just a huge name (e.g., Conor, Jon Jones, the return of Khabib, etc.) at the top of the card or a hotly contested feud. The underlying theme is that the brand is bigger than the athlete (or star). The selling of this event reminds me of the projection of how the NBA In-Game Tournament was such a big thing. It was not the selling of athletes but the brand that was the star of the show. Nevertheless, UFC 300 will be a huge business success and could make stars out of several fighters at the top of the card.
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