All Purpose UFC/MMA/That Kind Of Thing Thread

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

I agree. But, 1.3 million buys at $30 a pop is better than fringe.

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Monetarily, sure.

WWF used to do HUGE PPV numbers. They never made the sports pages.

Look at all the flak the NFL has taken for putting games on NFL Network.

Until you're on network TV -- or at least cable that most people have -- you're not big time. Except in some local situations.

The Vegas paper will continue to give UFC big coverage. Everyone else will wait. Just the way I see it playing out.

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

That's 1.3 million buys out of 110 million TV households in the USA. Congrats on reaching almost 2 percent of American households.

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Now that's how to build a fan base!

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

I'm not saying it's not an impressive feat for UFC. But, my gosh, for people to act like we should start covering it because of that is insane.

I'd wager there are as many, if not more, people watching English Premiership soccer every weekend via FSC than watch a UFC PPV. Does that mean newspapers should start carrying EPL gamers on a regular basis?

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Or, roughly, the number of people who tuned into the WSOP, despite knowing who would win ahead of time...

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

It's this kind of "head-in-the-sand" thinking that has served the industry so well.
I will continue to have a reporter advance each event and I will have one cover the event. My numbers are indisputable. It remains a high-traffic story on our website long after the story appears in the paper.
I have hundreds of emails in response to our coverage. That means someone is reading it. And, these days, that's my job.

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Obviously, you're in a market where MMA is big. It's not big nationwide yet.

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Not to get all crazy and defend MMA, but the PPV numbers are impressive because it means that it is reaching the higher-end demographics. Dropping $50 may not sound like much but it does mean that the fans are willing to pay and media companies will flock to the high income bracket people.
Those people are the ones who have the disposable income to buy some of the worthless junk out there.
And honest-to-God, if the NFL started charging $50 for the Super Bowl, I wouldn't pay it. I'd either go to someone's house and watch it for free, or I wouldn't bother and just read about it the next day.

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

I totally agree. It's a very valid point. There certainly are pockets.

 

Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

Dave Meltzer isn't covering the events for the LA Times. He has though been hired to write a general column on MMA for them. I think he's done three already.

A link to his latest column...

http://www.latimes.com/sports/boxing/la-spw-mmacol8jan08,1,5760477.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Also, a link to a piece he did for the the "LA Times" previewing the big MMA weekend that featured the UFC, Pride and K-1 shows.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw-mmacol29dec29,1,5486573.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

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Re: "60 Minutes" piece on UFC/MMA

If the UFC did do 1.2 million buys, which is the figure that Dana White said that he was expecting, then that would make UFC 66 the biggest PPV of 2006 beating out all boxing and professional wrestling events.

Oscar DeLay Hoya is the biggest draw in boxing. He's an incredible drawing card. No one else in boxing is even close to DeLay Hoya in terms of being a PPV draw. The biggest number DeLay Hoya has ever done on PPV is 1.4 million buys for his fight with Felix Trinidad.