With ticket sales down again this year, all of us in the event & entertainment business are looking for what does sell. How about Ultimate Fighting?
To my surprise, today’s Boston Globe has not one but two articles on the Ultimate Fighting Championships. One is front page center and the other is front page top of the sports section. That is extraordinary to get that much ink in a major newspaper. The sport has gone from underground to prime time and real money.
The UFC is coming to the TD Garden here in Boston this Saturday. According to the article ticket prices range from $75 to $600, with an average ticket price of $244. That is really impressive with the state of our economy when we can’t sell $100 concert tickets. Not only are they doing this big event at the Garden but they are also hosting a fan expo with prices running from $30 to $50. All of this is really big money.
The fans and organizers of mixed martial arts are very passionate about the sport. I have several Twitter followers that are part of that world. I do read their tweets. There passion also gives them the gift of being really good marketers.
The success of this sport is a perfect example of ticket buyers looking for new and exciting things. Our job is to continue looking ahead of the curve and find these ticket selling events before they happen. Do you want to be a trendsetter or someone that jumps on the wagon when it’s already reached its destination?
Tags: mixed martial arts, passion, TD Garden, The Boston Globe, Twitter, UFC, Ultimate Fighting Championships
August 25, 2010 at 5:48 pm
I would respectfully disagree with the above premise, that it is a struggling time for ticket sales. Currently, I work in sports & entertainment ticket office in LA and we are having a record year for our ticket sales – almost 5% a head of where we were last year (which was a record year itself). In addition, my friends who are concert promoters in the Midwest are winding down for the best summer in ticket sales since ’06. From what I’m hearing, the only type of entertainment that is struggling is family entertainment.