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Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:00 pm EDT

White gives out 3300 free tickets for UFC 104, but could he do more?

By Steve Cofield

The UFC is battling the economy just like every other business in the United States. It becomes a bigger challenge for them when you hold a live event every three weeks. The promotion is giving Los Angeles another try after so-so results back in 2006 at UFC 60 at the Staples Center. The UFC also rolled the dice with a main event featuring two Brazilian, non-English speaking fighters. Lyoto Machida has the potential to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC, but is that enough to fill one of the biggest arenas in the United States?

Clearly, UFC president Dana White was worried and went on his most aggressive Twitter ticket blitz campaign ever. Before each event, White generally gives his 300,000-plus followers a chance to meet him for free tickets. For UFC 104, White gave away tickets in New York, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. White told Cagewriter that he gave away 3,300 free tickets! (1:28 mark)

Cagewriter then asked why not offer cheaper low end tickets in addition to the free tickets? Not everyone is on Twitter and can hustle in 30 minutes to meet White at all hours of the day.

Boxing did a brilliant of marketing the Shane Mosley-Antonio Margarito fight with $25 tickets across the upper deck. That fight set a record for a fight card at Staples Center with 20,000-plus, and that was with 13,000-plus attending the Affliction 2 MMA event at Honda Center. White also said he was blown away by the results of the Sept. 19 Mayweather fight, which pulled in 1,000,000 pay-per-view buys.

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10 Comments

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  1. event horizon
    1. Posted by event horizon Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:13 pm EDT

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    White does enough...Sure some would say more but really the ufc does a lot especially for the military???? The only thing I could think of he could? would be to give ONE interview where he diddnt sound like some foulmouthed trailer trash hick...
  2. KJ-MMA Armchair
    2. Posted by KJ-MMA Armchair Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:28 pm EDT

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    I think UFC has had it easy in this economic turmoil and it really didn't hit home how bad some fans had it until they went to Portland. They failed to predict how the event would do in terms of live gate because they were still patting themselved on the back over UFC 100 and to a lesser extent over UFC 101 in Philly.
    So yeah, he's giving away a ton of tickets not only to help fill seats (which looks better on TV and looks better to the sponsors) but also for some positive PR with the UFC fanbase. I would think Dana sees it as an investment in loyalty and once the economy is back on track and people are spending again, he's hoping that investment in loyalty pays off with fans spending more money with them.
  3. boxy55
    3. Posted by boxy55 Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:39 pm EDT

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    OMG!! We have some boxing fodder for NUTCRACKERJOEGAYMATH54 to go off with. He won't admit that the MMA portion of the card drew in more fans than the boxing portion!! Just watch and see!! NUTCRACKERJOEGAYMATH54 EXPOSED ONCE AGAIN!!!
  4. Barry McCociner
    4. Posted by Barry McCociner Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:48 pm EDT

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    there is no such thing as consumer loyalty. I like how DW didnt even know about the 25 dollar ticket thing when it's his job to know about that stuff. UFC is hitting its peak, or maybe it already has, and I dont think Dana is doing what he has to to push it further. It is almost like it has outgrown him. Let's see where strikeforce pushes this thing. If they are able to use their knowledge of why past promotions have failed along with what had made UFC succesful, they should be successful.
  5. Hello
    5. Posted by Hello Sat Oct 24, 2009 4:28 pm EDT

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    I buy every UFC PPV Event and scored 4 floor tix for UFC 104 from Dana White via Twitter. Either way I think it's great that he does things like this since fans spend plenty of money on UFC events and merchandise. He knows that you need to give back and that says a lot about the man.
  6. jayyolf1
    6. Posted by jayyolf1 Sat Oct 24, 2009 5:02 pm EDT

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    Dana - if you want people to buy tickets, don't sell them for these outrageous prices! DUH!!!!
    Anytime a ticket goes over $300 for decent seats - that is out of control; I don't care what sport it is
    Sports should not cater only to the rich!!! But hey, business is business, and if people are dumb enough to pay that much for tickets to these events, then I can't get mad at Dana and the UFC, because I would be doing the same thing as would all of you!
  7. Caligulus
    7. Posted by Caligulus Sat Oct 24, 2009 5:08 pm EDT

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    I was ready to throw down 200-400 for 104 but none of my friends could. It's just too expensive if you want to fill the building.
  8. swrestler
    8. Posted by swrestler Sat Oct 24, 2009 5:17 pm EDT

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    So they give away 3300 tickets that they knew they weren’t going to sell anyway... Sounds like working your business angles and taking advantage of an easy press opportunity. It would be 10 times more impressive if they would just lower ticket sales all across the board. Since they are not going to sell these seats anyway, then they really aren’t sacrificing or losing anything. If they knew this was going to be a sold out arena, would they still be giving away the tickets???
  9. Damage Inc...
    9. Posted by Damage Inc... Sat Oct 24, 2009 8:21 pm EDT

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    I fought for Kronk Gym for 8 years and now train up and coming fighters, I have witnessed first hand how these promoters sell a fight. For Dana White to give away 3300 tickets is nothing new, boxing promoters do the same thing all the time, casinos alot time will buy up hundreds at a time and give them away as comps to gamblers or have in a raffle for charity.If an arena has 10,000 seats they will put about 3000 tickets on the side for this reason of comps, charity etc.. believe me when I say this nothing is for free someone paid for those tickets it may not be the normal fan but someone or some company paid for thosr tickets, the arena will always make their money some way or another.
  10. Adam
    10. Posted by Adam Sat Oct 24, 2009 8:41 pm EDT

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    Namath, L.A.'s actually pretty good about sports. Both the Dodgers and the Angels are among MLB's attendance leaders every year. As you mentioned, the Lakers draw a crowd. And even though it's not a big hockey area, both the Kings and the Ducks fill a lot of seats. In the absence of pro football, USC fills the ridiculously big Colliseum. For what it's worth, the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA are two of Major League Soccer's five most attended teams. If boxing and/or MMA don't draw a crowd in L.A., it may be something particular about boxing and MMA.
    Maybe the relatively low big-city population density and local culture make it tough to get Angelenos excited about an "event" like a boxing or MMA match, but that doesn't make the city unfriendly to sports in general. So, if promoters want to have fights in L.A., attendance problems may be solvable; they just don't require the same solutions as other cities. On the other hand, most people who really want to see a fight probably don't mind having an excuse for a Vegas trip. L.A. has fight fans; they just don't need their big fights to take place in L.A.

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Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.

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