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Cagewriter - UFC

Cagewriter

Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:00 pm EDT

'Not so fast my friends' on the Affliction live gate dollars

By Steve Cofield

Some people were shocked when they saw the Affliction "Banned" live gate crushed all three previous UFC shows at the Honda Center in Anaheim. To steal a phrase from Mr. Merkin himself, Lee Corso (pictured)...Not so fast my friends.

MMAJunkie reported the Affliction numbers via the California State Athletic Commission:

This past Saturday’s “Affliction: Banned” event drew a total attendance of 14,832—a small increase from the night’s announced attendance of 13,988 — for a live gate of $2,085,510. Of the 14,832 total tickets, 11,242 were sold, and 3,590 were complimentary and given away.

Yahoo! Sports Kevin Iole explained that the Affliction numbers may be a bit inflated:

"I had a source tell me that Affliction bought $500,000 of those tickets and that goes into the gate. (Affliction VP Tom Atencio) admitted that they bought a large number of tickets."

Iole went onto explain that Affliction came up with an extremely fan-friendly plan on the day of the fights but that it also boosted the live gate numbers:

"Anybody who went to the arena on Saturday to purchase a ticket, was able to buy a ticket for $39.95 no matter what price range it was in. They discounted all the tickets to $39.95. As a result, the tax on (the ticket) is paid by the promoter so they can say it sold as a $500 or $1000 ticket. It happens in boxing all the time."

That was a brilliant move by Affliction but you wonder what someone who actually purchased a ticket for the full price would think when they hear this?

CLICK BELOW TO HEAR IOLE FULLY EXPLAIN FIGHT TICKET COUNTS (w/Cofield & Cokin):

MMAJunkie also compared the CSAC's numbers with those past UFC events.

Affliction’s total attendance (14,832), paid attendance (11,242) and live gate ($2,085,510) figures stack up to the competition?

Here are how three recent UFC events at the Honda Center fared:
UFC 76: 13,770 tickets (11,817 paid) for a $1,985,000 gate

UFC 63: 12,604 tickets (9,343 paid) for a $1,582,370 gate

UFC 59: 13,814 tickets (13,060 paid) for a $2,191,450 gate

This is not to say that UFC hasn't worked the same math to its advantage on past events but I've never heard of cheaper ticket prices for the walk-up crowd for UFC. I was a little suspicious about the close to $2.1 million gate. Back on Thursday, I did a search for Affliction tickets and it appeared there were plenty still available.

Great job by Affliction in nearly filling the arena and building for a fanbase with inexpensive tickets. It was an unbelievable deal for those fans on Saturday.

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11 Comments

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  1. urwrecked
    1. Posted by urwrecked Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:45 pm EDT

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    It happens all the time in the UFC as well. So what is Dana White going to call "Tshirt dude" now?? They are already planning another card, their debut did better than a lot of UFC shows...I guess they wont go away. And Tshirt dude made his fortune on his own. Dana White and the UFC would be out of business if it weren't for his sugar daddies in the Fertittas.. Go Affliction.. When Dana White opens his mouth you cant help but root for "TShirt Dude"..
  2. Tonka
    2. Posted by Tonka Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:15 pm EDT

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    I just wish they would get rid of the ring. Was it just me or could Fedor drop 25lbs. and fight 205. I thought it looked like he shouldn't have any problem.
  3. The Citizen
    3. Posted by The Citizen Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:22 pm EDT

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    All promoters, Ringling Brothers, Major Movie Studios, Major Rap stars -- all of them purchase big blocks of their product. This is a non-news item to me, but I really enjoy this blog so thanks for letting me post.
  4. Kelvin
    4. Posted by Kelvin Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:12 pm EDT

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    Dana is the man.
  5. Ron M
    5. Posted by Ron M Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:12 pm EDT

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    Affliction probably lost 3-4 million on their first show. No way can they keep shelling out over $3 million per event to their fighters. They have 3 HW's and that's it. How many times are people going to pay to watch Fedor beat Arlovski and Barnett. Affliction will have to sign some top level big draw fighters if they have any chance at all to compete with the UFC. I think they are making a big mistake trying to go head to head with the UFC right out of the gate.
  6. Norman R
    6. Posted by Norman R Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:41 pm EDT

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    I believe going at the UFC is smart. Being a Marketing Planner myself I feel if you can use the big fish then do it. Plus Dana is the one who will keep these other promotions on because he runs his trap so much about them. Why would the big dog run his mouth about a lesser product. Man this Affliction dude is smart. He knows retail. Listen when you have your best fighter saying at your event we should fight these other promotions. That is free press. Why would Dana do a show on the same night? Yeah he might win that nights battle but with him doing that he brought on blogs and columnists talking about the other promotion. Every time they mention UFC they had to mention Affliction. See thats great promotion. It doesn't hurt Affliction it may not even hurt UFC But it helps Affliction no doubt about it. Look at the last 8 out of 10 blogs on here. ITs the UFC and Affliction its jsut smart people. This dude knows what he is doing. He is using Dana's big ego against him.
  7. Eric M
    7. Posted by Eric M Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:54 pm EDT

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    I think the cool thing for Affliction which is different than the UFC is they can work with other ORGs to bringintheir fighters for fights. Timmy is actually signed to Adrenaline, bt Monte realizes its best to all collaborate. Affliction will have plent of fighters to choose from if Orgs like Strikeforce, FEG, WVR, and others don't mind pimping their fighters out...its good business
  8. A Yahoo! User
    8. Posted by A Yahoo! User Thu Jul 24, 2008 4:00 pm EDT

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    Just have Fedor fight Silva and watch Silva get destroyed and see what excuses that WUSSY Dana White comes up with.
  9. spiritlifecoachcarolanne
    9. Posted by spiritlifecoachcarolanne Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:18 pm EDT

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    Anderson Silva vs Fedor would be the worst show ever. Anderson Silva isn't that good, why do you think they started him on Irvin in light heavy weight? lol Randy vs Fedor isn't gonna be an exciting one because Randy is gonna play it cool and use his advantages over Fedor. But Fedor has a lot more advantages Silva would get killed.
    Who has Silva fought that was top quality? No one. Rich Franklin isn't top quality either. Now Silva vs Silva would be an alright match up.
  10. BEER R
    10. Posted by BEER R Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:04 pm EDT

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    I laugh at the hilarity of some of the above posts…
    First, Anderson Silva is the best MW in the world, please name someone who would challenge him at 185?
    Second, Fedor is the #1 HW in the world, of course he’d crush Anderson, you should like an idiot even bringing the subject up.
    And last, Affliction banked on selling out their first show, which they didn’t come close to doing. Figure one out of every four seats were given away BEFORE you count the 500,000 worth of tickets they bought and all the tickets they sold to the walk up crowd for $40, add on their disclosed and undisclosed fighter payroll and you’ll see the lost MILLIONS. Their next fight will lose Millions more, the question will be, when do they stop the bleeding…..
  11. BEER R
    11. Posted by BEER R Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:04 pm EDT

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    I laugh at the hilarity of some of the above posts…
    First, Anderson Silva is the best MW in the world, please name someone who would challenge him at 185?
    Second, Fedor is the #1 HW in the world, of course he’d crush Anderson, you sound like an idiot even bringing the subject up.
    And last, Affliction banked on selling out their first show, which they didn’t come close to doing. Figure one out of every four seats were given away BEFORE you count the 500,000 worth of tickets they bought and all the tickets they sold to the walk up crowd for $40, add on their disclosed and undisclosed fighter payroll and you’ll see the lost MILLIONS. Their next fight will lose Millions more, the question will be, when do they stop the bleeding…..

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