Of course the Northeast is having good ticket sales
by Zak Woods on Jul 2, 2009 4:52 PM EDT
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Things are looking great for UFC 101 as the event has already sold 14,000 tickets for an approximate gate of over $3 million.
However, we shouldn't be surprised that an event in the Northeast can draw a big crowd.
Since The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale there have been three, count em, three, UFC events in the Northeast of the United States. Of course it should be stated that MMA is still banned in New York and unregulated by Massachusetts' boxing commission and it was only recently approved in Pennsylvania, but still.
Look, since 2008 the UFC has held more events in Germany and Canada (not put together) than they have in the Northeast. The last UFC event in the Northeast was UFC 78: Validation in 2007 at Newark. That card was headlined by Michael Bisping vs. Rashad Evans, ugh. The previous two were UFC 55 in Connecticut and UFC 53 in New Jersey back in 2005.
WKR's point is don't act surprised that people in the Northeast are buying up tickets to go see UFC 101. The fight card is good (compared to the UFC 78 fight card, UFC 101 is a 12 on a scale of 1-10) and the UFC hasn't been in the region in two years.
Also Kelvin Hunt, of MMAforReal, makes the case for the UFC to return to the east coast as a whole not just New England..
WKR incorrectly stated that UFC 51 was held in New Jersey, it was in fact UFC 53. Also, MMA is legal in Massachusetts but is not regulated by the boxing athletic commission.
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it is NOT banned in MA
MMA is not banned in MA. There are events here every few weeks. It is the fact that there is no sanctioning body that keeps the UFC away.
Also, UFC 78 was in Newark, not Atlantic City…
by The Bronzeville Bully on Jul 2, 2009 7:27 PM EDT reply actions
It’s cools Zak…also I believe I heard this from Meltzer but I do not remember 100 percent…I think one of the reason for hardly coming to the east coast might have to do with the PPV buyrates not being strong enough. I’m probably wrong but I think I heard that may have something to do with it.
Also speaking of Newark, and the Jersey area in general, does anyone think it would be a good idea if UFC ran shows more often in the Prudential Center? Wouldn’t that help tourism a lot in the Tri-state area, thus, making a good case for legalization in NY? Just wondering?
by The Bronzeville Bully on Jul 3, 2009 8:07 AM EDT reply actions
well I think when we look at this we have to observe it from the diff eras of the UFC and the US economy. For instance since the UFC really exploded, after TUF 1 Finale, there were two shows immediately in the NE. But those were already scheduled. It would take 2 years (‘05-’07) before the UFC returned.
Now why is that? Well the legal issues could be part of it. NY has it banned, PA, MA, MD and DC didn’t regulate it. So that means Philly, NYC, Boston, Baltimore and D.C. are all out of play. (I believe RI and Providence are out of play as well). So you can see why an expanding organization would skip out on a region where they can’t go to most of the major population/media centers.
It could also be that they were afraid of getting politically torpedo’d again. While John McCain was the most prominent opponent the NE was the most proactive in banning it.
Also the UFC decided the U.K. expansion was more important than holding events in the NE.
Also it shouldn’t be dismissed that Zuffa is completely a Las Vegas company. This works fine when Vegas is the fastest growing city in the country and there is a shit ton of easy $ to go to Vegas.
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