Socialism is here but will it affect the UFC?

ESPN's Outside The Lines, recently did a story regarding that very question. The report dealt mostly with personal seat licenses and the expense of tickets . Personally I think that the major sports will be able to handle the downturn much easier than other economic sectors. Sports is the business of entertainment and people want to be entertained when times are shitty. They may not be willing to buy three $7 beers though.

MMA is a different story. The next three months will be interesting for both the UFC and the greater U.S. economy. While the Treasury Department begins buying stock in banks, UFC 89 will air free on Spike. People tend to stay at home more often when money is short so viewership should be expected to remain strong. But the following week UFC 90 occurs in Chicago. With two products so close together, it is possible that the second shows PPV numbers are hurt.

Then there is the UFC's next two events in Vegas. Many economic experts view Vegas as ground zero for the Housing crisis and credit crunch. The proximity of these events have led some to question whether the UFC is bleeding their most stable market dry. Both of these events are key end of the year matches featuring many prominent fighters. While the UFC's future is not dependent on the shows successes the financial numbers will give us a clear perspective as to how well the UFC will be able to weather the economic storm.

If they are down say several percentage points that would reflect events in other sectors, (yesterday relators reported a 1% drop in sales, a report that sent the markets tumbling). But if they are down over four percentage points that would be a serious blow to the UFC's. The worse case scenario is that the economic down turn exposes MMA as a fad or dependent upon lower middle class white suburbanites. I don't believe either are true, but if Nobel laureate Paul Krugman thinks it is going to get worse before it get better I will trust him.