The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) expects to take advantage of New York City's high ticket-price culture to make a record $15m (£12.5m/€13.5m) from “live event revenue” at next month’s UFC 205, which is to be staged at Madison Square Garden.
According to an investor presentation created during the UFC’s sale and obtained by mixed martial arts (MMA) news website MMAjunkie, the organisation expects to make that huge figure through gate receipts, merchandise and other add-ons alone.
If UFC 205 performs as expected, it will break the promotion’s previous live event revenue record of $12m set by UFC 200 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, earlier this year.
While sponsorship opportunities in New York are seen as key to the spike in revenue, the document suggests that UFC operators intend to raise ticket prices in line with other major sports events in New York City. It cites the New York Knicks NBA basketball team, whose tickets sell at 2.4 times the league average when they play at home, and the New York Yankees Major League Baseball franchise, which draws 1.9 the average.
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