The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) recently reported that the WEC sold 734 out of a possible 1,008 tickets for last Sunday’s WEC 35 event at “The Joint” at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, raking in a total paid gate of $116,900.
An additional 272 tickets were handed out free of charge, leaving just two seats unoccupied.
This is being widely considered a big success for the Zuffa-owned organization to have nearly every seat in the house with a butt in it, but as stated above it was not a sellout.
With all the recent praise it would seem that the WEC wouldn’t have a problem selling out such a small arena, especially considering rival promotion Elite XC was able to unload more than five times as many tickets for its “Unfinished Business” event only one week earlier.
“Unfinished Business,” however, was reported by most outlets to be a failure as far as ticket sales go because nearly half the stubs printed were left unpaid for.
It’s hard to compare the two because there are a ton of different factors involved such as: location, date, fight card, venue, fighter payroll, etc.
But if WEC 35 producing 734 ticket sales for $116,900 is considered a success, then shouldn’t Elite XC selling 3,701 tickets for a total gate of $268,715 be considered at least somewhat of an achievement regardless of the size of the venue?
19 Comments »
I simply have a hard time understanding how such a quality, if small, production can’t sell that few amount of seats in a town like Vegas.I mean, my town could do 1,008 tickets!
I agree with you chefdaddy. And mmmamania, the reason it’s not really considered somewhat of a success is that “the larger the venue, the more it costs”. So production cost was more to put on EliteXC.
Do you think the Stockton Arena cost more money to rent out than the Hard Rock in Vegas? I’m not so sure. If it was, it probably wasn’t $100,000 more, which is the difference in the total gate made for the events.
You are right that production cost was more for Elite XC though. Their fighter payroll was almost double WEC’s. But the fact still remains that Elite sold 5 times as many tickets. Take that for what it’s worth I guess. Like I said, there are a lot of different factors involved.
being on a sunday night probably didnt help as far as the live gate is concerned. VERSUS needs to move thier big events to sat night. being on a sunday night might actually help the ratings though, the ratings being a far more important factor in both orgs success.
i agree they got a good show no need to put it on a sunday
not to mention i’m sure the total amount paid to the EliteXC stars was significantly more than what the WEC paid out.
elite sold far less than that, it was reported here, they gave 60% of tickets away. right?
WEC-734 tickets sold for $166,900
EliteXC-3,701 tickets sold for $268,715
Do the math.
Maybe EliteXC is not considered a success because of the difference in payouts to the fighters? And EliteXC is suppose to be a bigger promotion than the WEC.
not according the sherdog forums.
ekc, what do you mean?
plus dont forget the ratings. the ratings of live free shows is a big indicator of being succsesfull or not. if the wec’s ratings were higher or about the same on VS as compared to elite’s show on CBS, then the wec show will have been a much better succsess.
I highly doubt WEC on Versus pulled as many viewers as Elite XC on CBS. No way.
the last wec show did 1.5 million viewers. i know alot of that had to do with faber. but i think that event will have had some after-effect on codit/miura. the ratings should come out soon i would think.
Considering the high caliber product the WEC provides – there’s no excuse for not selling out.
Maybe they need to make L.A. or Phoenix the new home of the WEC – someplace with more appreciative fans. It seems the average Vegas attendee is less interested in great MMA, and more interested in getting wasted, getting their groove on, and getting a fresh batch of STDs.
10 years ago, those were my favorite things to do…bottle of belvedere, 1/2 oz of coke and 2 or 3 hookers…sounds like a fun time to me, add a UFC event, that’s KEVIN heaven
We probably hung out together somewhere neither of us remember in the old days. lol
OKC. Seriously. We set records for the NBA and NCAA. This place is hungry for pro teams and high profile sporting events. Ford center is awesome and they are about to pump millions into it to make it even better since the Sonics are most likely relocating to OKC soon.
Wow. I gotta say I am surprised all the WEC shows at the Joint aren’t sold out. This was an outstanding card. My wife and I actually talked about how cool it would be to check out a WEC event at the Joint next time we’re in Vegas. I also got the feel that the Joint was kind of a local staple. I guess there’s just too many other great shows in Vegas for the locals to show up in droves. I also agree with previous posters that WEC has been putting on top quality shows for a while now. I’ve actually enjoyed watching WEC more overall than any other shows lately. UFC has had more high profile fights but WEC seems like almost every fight is good.