[wolf137]

JR shares his thoughts on the big event...

- Jim Ross recently blogged on UFC 129, here are the highlights…

The hard working people at UFC are to be commended for promoting such a successful extravaganza recently in Toronto. TO was the perfect city for UFC to have their first stadium show as UFC was able to make a huge splash in the market, media wise, plus key UFC executives have strong Toronto/Canada ties that helped promote the live event and subsequently helped sell what one has to assume was a large number of PPV's in Canada.

With no hockey to compete with and with the baseball season so young, UFC was able to position their event as essentially the biggest, sporting event in the city of the year which means by and large the biggest sporting event in the country if one buys into the fact that Toronto is THE media market in Canada.

Point being is that UFC made a sound, strategic call on selecting Toronto as the host city for their stadium event.

This logic will be imperative to have in place for future stadium shows that UFC decides to promote.

Some observations on UFC 129 (BTW for future stadium shows giving the event a theme name/subtitle other than a number ala UFC 129 is essential for marketing):

The event felt special but between rounds, on entrances, and in other non 'bell to bell' moments, UFC could have benefited by shooting the expansive crowd more. It's imperative to continue to reiterate how big the gathering was which helps validate the overall growth of the brand and the genre. Size matters to TV viewers. Take a look back at the 'beauty shots' at the Super Bowl and Wrestlemania.

More backstage pieces of business would be welcomed by most viewers to enhance he 'live event feel.' Fighters arriving is on the money but so would short, sound byte oriented pre fight interviews as they help build heightened anticipation which is and always will be viable for MMA fans.

Personally, I love to have to fight to hear the announcers over the crowd which makes me feel as if I'm more emotionally invested in what I'm seeing on TV for my PPV dollars.

A tip of the hat to UFC for their new fighter's insurance referendum. Many fighters seem to need ample help in managing their lives and this aspect of their life is imperative to address. Very strategic maneuver by UFC notwithstanding it is the right thing to do.

The UFC is akin to the NFL as it relates to being able to utilize colleges as prime recruiting ground. By bringing more college educated, high character, world class athletes into MMA, UFC positions itself well for the long haul as I feel the evolution of MMA will begin to migrate away from the handful of men with questionable character who are generally tattooed from head to toe and were formerly sponsored by such auspicious entities as 'Condom Depot.' (For the record, I have no issues with tattoos or with Condom Deport but some big time, big money sponsors do.)

Point here is that the insurance issue, the recruiting of top amateur talents, the move to stadium events on a timely basis all points to the long term growth of MMA as it continues to establish itself as a major sport around the Globe. With long term growth comes necessary changes in corporate infrastructure especially with the backup plans for key, decision makers as no one is immune to misfortune as it relates to health, etc.

I would be extremely selective if I were UFC about running stadium events. Utilizing a NFL stadium during the NFL season is iffy. These stadium events need to be positioned as the biggest event in the market and that will not happen if UFC is competing with the local NFL team who plays in the same stadium. Any thing significantly less than a full stadium, even though the gross ticket sales number would likely be impressive, can become fodder for a negative spin by less than supportive media.

UFC 129 was a major success story and injected tons of cash into the Toronto market. That data can be utilized in a major way as UFC promotes other markets especially stadiums.

Bottom line, and this will never change IMO in the MMA world (or boxing or wrestling), is that every event is attraction driven, or should we say 'attractions' driven, and when taking unpredictable injuries into the equation it's obvious that every stadium event has to be 'stacked' with a minimum of two main events and hopefully another nice personal issue or two. In other words, UFC stadium shows need to be packaged with enough diversity to appeal to marketable ethnicities, IE Hispanic stars in Hispanic marketplaces ala Houston, and ticket prices that can appeal to all budgets.