UFC's Attendance Bomb
Dave Scholler, UFC's head flack (technically Director of Communications, but I view the ol' Variety-style term "flack" for PR people with some fondness) took me to task a bit on Twitter recently because I wrote that UFC scaled the pricing too high for the UFC pay-per-view in Milwaukee on August 31. Dave correctly pointed out that tickets had yet to go on sale to the general public, so my criticism was unfair. My point was that anyone who wanted to but a UFC Fight Club membership for about $80 USD could gain the right to buy tickets, so essentially the event was on sale with an extra $80 tax added to each ticket order.
Tickets to the August 31 UFC pay-per-view in Milwaukee are on sale now, and sales are meager thus far. The Ticketmaster arena map shows that the cheap seats on both the upper level ($70 plus fees) and lower level ($150 plus fees) sold pretty well. The best ringside seats ($400 plus fees) have also sold. The problem is that the other sixty percent of the arena isn't selling at all. Thousands of face value tickets remain that were overpriced at $100, $200 or $400 (all prices plus fees). [Pic below shows the available face value tickets of a sample section of the lower bowl:]
My original argument was that UFC overpriced the event for the Milwaukee market. I am a Bucks season ticket holder and most of my family lives in the Milwaukee area, so I consider myself an expert on sports ticket pricing in Milwaukee. An event that asks $400 for premium lower level seats, $200 for ordinary lower level seats and $100 for most of the upper level at the BMO Harris Bradley Center better be huge. When Justin Bieber played last October, his secondary market prices were in that range. When Notre Dame played Marquette in college basketball, secondary market prices were even higher. A Brewers World Series game or a major Packers game two hours north in Green Bay would also be a draw on that level. But a Benson Henderson lightweight championship defense? No way. As much as I like Henderson, only Brock Lesnar or Chuck Liddell would have sold out the arena at that pricing scale.
The good news for UFC is that Milwaukee is a unique market in that there are a ton of sports fans, but they tend to eat up tickets only when prices are between about $20 and $50. In cities like New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and Las Vegas, there are more people who are willing to spend over $100 per ticket for UFC (or, so I thought).
Then I looked up the Ticketmaster inventory for the International Fight Week UFC pay-per-view on July 6 in Las Vegas and saw that the attendance problem is more broad. The arena looks like it is scaled for about a $5 million gate. At least $2 million worth of tickets remain unsold. [Pic below shows face value tickets still available for the July 6 UFC:]
In UFC's defense, the gate will probably still end up around $3 million. More tickets will be sold over the next two weeks. Casinos will snap up some tickets to offer to second and third tier players. UFC will begin heavy papering with Twitter, Facebook and radio station giveaways to fans who are in Las Vegas the week preceding the show. So in some ways UFC is smart. Which is better for a promoter: a $3 million gate where 30% of the arena is free tickets given to fans who will love the fact that UFC gives out free stuff or a $2.2 million gate where every box office ticket was sold?
The worry for UFC is that fans will follow the ticket brokers and start avoiding Ticketmaster altogether.
Modern ticket brokers thrive on touring events like UFC and often shy away from seasonal sports like the NHL and NBA. I am a season ticket holder for both the Los Angeles Kings and Los Angeles Clippers (I know, I have a ticket buying problem and I need help) and the seats owned by professional ticket brokers for those teams' games are relatively minimal. The secondary market price for most Clippers seats is below what the Clippers charge at the box office and for many games below the 25% marked down price that season ticket holders pay. Even the Kings, who are seeing ticket demand at an all time high due to the championship season of 2012, see secondary prices for most games dip below the box office price in several areas of the arena. Teams like the Clippers and Kings have employees that study ticket markets, thus allowing them to squeeze almost every dollar of value from each seat. Touring acts often either lack the staff to study true market value, or feel a sense of guilt in pricing out their most ardent of fans. Ticket brokers take advantage of that with many touring acts, but they have begun to abandon UFC because UFC chooses to price so aggressively.
Fans may be following the ticket brokers' lead. I am going to Las Vegas for International Fight Week, but as of now I plan to skip the actual fights. Tickets in sections where I am accustomed to paying $200-$400 per seat are $850 plus fees for this show. Lower priced tickets in upper sections where I am willing to sit for $100 or less are $175 plus fees for this show. I know full well that Dana White and other UFC folks will be handing out free tickets like crazy around Las Vegas, so I'm going to roll the dice (pun intended) and see if I can get free seats before I even consider paying a box office price. (The irony is that I have a charity wager with Front Row Brian where the loser has to donate to Brian Stann's Hire Heroes. If Anderson Silva loses to Chris Weidman I'll have to donate more money [$250] than I'm willing to pay to get into the arena.)
Back when UFC was on a pay-per-view roll, pricing policy barely mattered. In 2010 UFC promoted Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin for the Independence Day weekend show. Tickets moved poorly for that fight, drawing a $2 million gate only six weeks after Rampage vs. Rashad drew almost $4 million in the same city. It barely mattered. Brock Lesnar drew over one million pay-per-view buys. Who cares about a having three thousand fewer paying attendees when your pay-per-view grosses fifty million?
Las Vegas (at least on July 6) and Milwaukee are lost causes, but UFC can still learn a lesson. Fox Sports 1 is starting up and UFC will have to produce more arena events than ever. Adopting a less aggressive pricing policy for live event tickets will go a long way towards avoiding an attendance collapse down the road.
Tickets to the August 31 UFC pay-per-view in Milwaukee are on sale now, and sales are meager thus far. The Ticketmaster arena map shows that the cheap seats on both the upper level ($70 plus fees) and lower level ($150 plus fees) sold pretty well. The best ringside seats ($400 plus fees) have also sold. The problem is that the other sixty percent of the arena isn't selling at all. Thousands of face value tickets remain that were overpriced at $100, $200 or $400 (all prices plus fees). [Pic below shows the available face value tickets of a sample section of the lower bowl:]
My original argument was that UFC overpriced the event for the Milwaukee market. I am a Bucks season ticket holder and most of my family lives in the Milwaukee area, so I consider myself an expert on sports ticket pricing in Milwaukee. An event that asks $400 for premium lower level seats, $200 for ordinary lower level seats and $100 for most of the upper level at the BMO Harris Bradley Center better be huge. When Justin Bieber played last October, his secondary market prices were in that range. When Notre Dame played Marquette in college basketball, secondary market prices were even higher. A Brewers World Series game or a major Packers game two hours north in Green Bay would also be a draw on that level. But a Benson Henderson lightweight championship defense? No way. As much as I like Henderson, only Brock Lesnar or Chuck Liddell would have sold out the arena at that pricing scale.
The good news for UFC is that Milwaukee is a unique market in that there are a ton of sports fans, but they tend to eat up tickets only when prices are between about $20 and $50. In cities like New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and Las Vegas, there are more people who are willing to spend over $100 per ticket for UFC (or, so I thought).
Then I looked up the Ticketmaster inventory for the International Fight Week UFC pay-per-view on July 6 in Las Vegas and saw that the attendance problem is more broad. The arena looks like it is scaled for about a $5 million gate. At least $2 million worth of tickets remain unsold. [Pic below shows face value tickets still available for the July 6 UFC:]
In UFC's defense, the gate will probably still end up around $3 million. More tickets will be sold over the next two weeks. Casinos will snap up some tickets to offer to second and third tier players. UFC will begin heavy papering with Twitter, Facebook and radio station giveaways to fans who are in Las Vegas the week preceding the show. So in some ways UFC is smart. Which is better for a promoter: a $3 million gate where 30% of the arena is free tickets given to fans who will love the fact that UFC gives out free stuff or a $2.2 million gate where every box office ticket was sold?
The worry for UFC is that fans will follow the ticket brokers and start avoiding Ticketmaster altogether.
Modern ticket brokers thrive on touring events like UFC and often shy away from seasonal sports like the NHL and NBA. I am a season ticket holder for both the Los Angeles Kings and Los Angeles Clippers (I know, I have a ticket buying problem and I need help) and the seats owned by professional ticket brokers for those teams' games are relatively minimal. The secondary market price for most Clippers seats is below what the Clippers charge at the box office and for many games below the 25% marked down price that season ticket holders pay. Even the Kings, who are seeing ticket demand at an all time high due to the championship season of 2012, see secondary prices for most games dip below the box office price in several areas of the arena. Teams like the Clippers and Kings have employees that study ticket markets, thus allowing them to squeeze almost every dollar of value from each seat. Touring acts often either lack the staff to study true market value, or feel a sense of guilt in pricing out their most ardent of fans. Ticket brokers take advantage of that with many touring acts, but they have begun to abandon UFC because UFC chooses to price so aggressively.
Fans may be following the ticket brokers' lead. I am going to Las Vegas for International Fight Week, but as of now I plan to skip the actual fights. Tickets in sections where I am accustomed to paying $200-$400 per seat are $850 plus fees for this show. Lower priced tickets in upper sections where I am willing to sit for $100 or less are $175 plus fees for this show. I know full well that Dana White and other UFC folks will be handing out free tickets like crazy around Las Vegas, so I'm going to roll the dice (pun intended) and see if I can get free seats before I even consider paying a box office price. (The irony is that I have a charity wager with Front Row Brian where the loser has to donate to Brian Stann's Hire Heroes. If Anderson Silva loses to Chris Weidman I'll have to donate more money [$250] than I'm willing to pay to get into the arena.)
Back when UFC was on a pay-per-view roll, pricing policy barely mattered. In 2010 UFC promoted Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin for the Independence Day weekend show. Tickets moved poorly for that fight, drawing a $2 million gate only six weeks after Rampage vs. Rashad drew almost $4 million in the same city. It barely mattered. Brock Lesnar drew over one million pay-per-view buys. Who cares about a having three thousand fewer paying attendees when your pay-per-view grosses fifty million?
Las Vegas (at least on July 6) and Milwaukee are lost causes, but UFC can still learn a lesson. Fox Sports 1 is starting up and UFC will have to produce more arena events than ever. Adopting a less aggressive pricing policy for live event tickets will go a long way towards avoiding an attendance collapse down the road.
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