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Friday news and notables
By Zach Arnold | February 16, 2007
If you are interested in writing a guest op-ed or two for the site, e-mail me.
From Josh Thomson’s MySpace: KNOXX GEAR WILL BE GIVING AWAY FREE PRIDE TICKETS!! FREE
KNOXX GEAR and PRIDE FC will be at 40055 Mission Blvd Fremont, Ca 94539 at 3:00-4:00pm in the Main Plaza on Sunday, Feb. 18th!!!!
There will be FREE PRIDE FC tickets for the Feb 24th event in Las Vegas!!!! YES!! PRIDE FC will be giving away FREE tickets!!!! Come to get free PRIDE clothing and win tickets to watch the PRIDE FC event!!!! KNOXX Gear will also be there to pass out free shirts and prizes!!!! Don’t miss out on this event!!! Special guest Pride fighters will be there for autograph signing and picture taking!!! Wild 94.9 will also be there with their street team giving away prizes!!! Dont’ miss the fun and most importantly…. Don’t miss out on the free prizes!!!
Onto today’s headlines.
- UFC Mania: Eric Schafer vs. Sean Salmon booked for UFC 71 on 5/26
- The Des Moines Register: Iowan Doug Onstot fights to make it big
- Kakutolog: Hideo Tokoro vs. Katsuhiko Nagata announced for HERO’s 3/12 Nagoya event (Akira Maeda talked about wanting to get involved in the red-hot US scene, which is confirmation HERO’s wanting to run in California or Nevada)
- The Orange County Register: Fight clubs flourishing
- The Orange County Register: Teen fights cause concern – growing sport of MMA has some local deputies worried
- The Nanaimo News Bulletin: Submission tournament this weekend
- CBS Sportsline: Herb Dean made the right call
- UFC Junkie: UFC to hit daytime television in America
- Joe Rogan: My agent dropped me because of the Carlos Mencia incident
Topics: All Topics, HERO's, Japan, Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 41 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
this is exactly what DSE should be doing!!!
this is marketing genius. i was getting a bit worried when the only advertising and marketing was outside the building where the event will be a and on a truck, but now the dse promotion machine is kicking into full gear
this is what grass roots marketing is all about. get into the sports shops and give away tickets and merchandise, its great, it builds a big buzz at the sports shop, especially for those people who get stuff, and they will tell all their friends, and before you know it, pride will have a massive grass roots appeal in the US like it has in Japan
Pride giving away this many free tickets (military & radio shows), should tell fans everything they need to know about the success of Pride in the United States.
The hardcore fanbase (you and me) comprises of such a minority of the potential fan base that we alone can’t keep an organization afloat. And Pride does not have enough casual fans right now to make money in this country.
Today, if I’m not mistaken, they’re supposed to meet in front of the commission to ask to give away 1,000 tickets. So they are papering this show for certain.
I don’t know what the break-even point would be, but we’re one week away and they are publicly papering (much like the IFL is doing two-for-one ticket sales for the Atlanta event). These are all troubling signs.
Do not judge PRIDE yet on their marketing practices.
Any new business / venue has to generate interest and loyalty somehow. They are giving away tickets because they have faith in their product and they feel that by giving away free comp passes that they can engender loyalty. They will just write off the losses as a loss leader on their business plan and be done with it.
Whether the PRIDE investors will accept these losses on the books as being a satisfactory return on investment is the question that needs to be asked.
Giving away tickets in Fremont, California for a show in Las Vegas is the equivalent of papering a show that’s taking place in Los Angeles by giving out tickets in San Francisco.
There’s a difference between papering a show to try to attract local groups, charities, etc. (and you do this at least a month in advance, and in private) and publicly making requests to give away free tickets.
PRIDE investors? Oh, you mean the people that Sakakibara didn’t allude to when Ed Fishman was talking about buying PRIDE out in the Sherdog interview? 🙂
This particular deal promoted by Thomson has all the signs of a regular sponsor/affiliate ticket contest. And as for them doing it in California, I thought the great thing about running Las Vegas was it being the best place to bring in fans from all over the country. I do concur that the timing can be questioned, but then again they could be handing out 20 tickets for all we know. I would love to read a witness account of what actually happens at this thing in Sunday.
ANYWAY, the request to paper 1.000 sounds…. I don’t know what it sounds like. They could be in serious trouble or they could be trying to fill up the arena. Or anything in between, including exactly the same as last time out.
Are there any news on ACTUAL TICKET SALES for this show? I’m wondering about both the US tickets and special packages from Japan. Also, how are the tickets priced compared to last time?
Well, considering that the tickets are being given to the US military, perhaps it’s a necessary meeting so as to conform to all standards and not have the free tickets being given away considered as a form of bribery.
I just got back from Vegas, and stopped off at Thomas and Mack to take a look at ticket sales. There are still plenty available from what I was told at the box office, but then again the focus was all on All-Star Weekend for the NBA, and not at all on PRIDE. The game is happening this weekend, also at Thomas and Mack, and right now NBA talk is dominating the city.
Ticket prices ranged from ~70 for a terrible seat to ~700 for a floor seat. From what they told me, tickets in every area are still available. The lowest-priced decent seat was around ~150, with additional seats available for ~350. Obviously with those prices, they’re not catering to a walk-in crowd, but they’re advertising heavily all over LV. They have ads on the back of about 20% of all the cabs in the city, there are billboards on the freeways, and there are giant video ads on some major intersections across Vegas.
All of the ads focus exclusively on Henderson/Silva, with the video ads showing highlights of their fights. I wish I was going to be there next weekend for the show, but at this point it looks like they might be willing to give out free flights and tickets for anyone willing to go.
One other thing — arena capacity is almost 20,000 for boxing. Even with the PRIDE stage, I imagine they can fit at least 15,000 for the event. Zach, do you know if there was any mention of what max capacity was for the last PRIDE event in Thomas & Mack?
http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=6777
This Shooto preview is good for your soul.
They wre talking about 18,000 for T & M on the last show as far as max capacity…
Man, I don’t know. There is zero heat in Japan (PRIDE was doing a heavy push for the 10/21 show by flying Japanese fans over on vacation trips) for the show, and I’m not sure what can be done right now.
Mr. Breen I have to say u are the Bobby Heenan of Japanese MMA…and that is a GREAT thing! Kudos to u.
That SoB Art Dore is running the Dow despite the C&D!!
http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-8/117155621017110.xml?bctimes?NEB&coll=4&thispage=1
Serious question: Did anyone here predict or believe that there was enough interest in PRIDE to fill up the Thomas And Mack Center when they weren’t able to do it last time after giving away 4,000 tickets? Tons of tickets are obviously going to be given away by Harrah’s again as comps. How is this at all “shocking” or “troubling”? The idea is to build up PRIDE in the US, right? Does anyone have a good idea how to do that from overseas? Because looking at the success of televised UEFA league soccer or Formula 1 (much less cricket or rugby), I don’t think running endless shows in Japan is the solution should they want to break through to the American market.
“Mr. Breen I have to say u are the Bobby Heenan of Japanese MMA…and that is a GREAT thing! Kudos to u. ”
It better be a great thing, humanoid.
Geez…PRIDE really needs to hire some new minds over here in North America. With mma being so hot and PRIDE being one of the biggest promotions, you’d think they’d have no problems selling out. Their marketing strategies really are the pits!!
And this is coming from one of the staunchest PRIDE fans around…
LOL @ Breen.
Btw the NSAC suspended Randleman indefinitly and Gilbert Yvel was denied a license to fight (due to punchign a ref in a previous fight) So the Yvel/Kharitinov fight is off of PRIDE vegas show…oh well not a big lost IMO.
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3447&zoneid=2
Oh how I love all these “NSAC screws Pride over…again”-threads. Yeah, the NSAC totally has it in for Pride, and let’s the UFC go every time….
They didn’t suspend Barnett, Sylvia, Baroni, Marquardt, Alves, Bonnar, and now they’re continuing this dastardly tactic by letting Zuffa-WEC’s Pearson and Cope go!
Oh, wait…
http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=4517
The April Figth Night everyone has known about for ages now is FINALLY made official, including the announcement of Stevenson vs. Guillard. I can’t wait to see how the Palms arena looks with UFC on TV, but April is going to be the biggest MMA & Wrestling month in ages, so this event might just be an after-thought come show time.
Mike: Thanks big time for the Vegas report! And to everyone else too for the interesting thoughts and observations about the ticket sales. This is one hell of an interesting story leading in to the PPV.
The Stevenson vs. Guillard fight was a much needed main event to that card. And a solid one at that.
Here is the biggest potential news story in TV today. If put into place, the IFL & Bodog could be gone from MyNetworkTV and ION. People laughed at me a week or two ago when I said the FCC would be the killed of MMA on Network TV. Looks like I could be right:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/16/tvviolence.ap/index.html
This probably would not effect the UFC since it is on cable, unless viewers are allowed to pick and choose more of their cable. But that might never go into effect.
Am I wrong or is that suggested law thingy the same stuff the UK and others implemented many many MANY years back? Is there really ZERO gouvernment implemented regulation(time-of day/censorship) of violence on TV in the US?
There is very little to no regulation of violence currently.
This potential law really has much larger impacts than MMA. However, if I am the IFL, I have to be praying that this thing does not happen. The IFL is not a big enough company to combat these regulations.
As for cable, almost nothing is regulated. A lot of the channels self monitor (and have general guidelines), but that is why a station like F/X can have a 3-sum on Nip/Tuck that is semi graphic and get away with it. Cable is still technically an unregulated medium that even the FCC refuses to get involved with (due to people paying for the product). However, since Broadcast TV is free, and can be delivered over the airwaves, this is why the government feels it is their right to regulate it.
Hey, I am all for protecting children during morning cartoons. But the government is wacked on this topic. They have no problem with advertising to children, but worry about violence at 10pm. In some European countries, it is basically illegal to advertise to children 12 and under. Which I completely agree with. The government has their priorities wrong. As do these parental and Christian committees who are the ones pushing this topic.
To clarify my previous statement….
The article does mention cable. It is the courts that have time and time again supported that the FCC has no jurisdiction on cable. Even if this is passed, it would probably only effect broadcast TV in the long run.
Some idiots wanted Bush in power. This is what you get. A crap war and censorship. Way to go democracy!!
Thanks a lot for the info, Critic.
Yeah, it is all Bush’s fault. It is a bipartisan effort and it is just the latest incident in the eternal struggle for governemnt to make itslef more powerful. Democracy has nothing to do with this either way, so I don’t know what you are yelling about.
It isn’t even close to happening right now so just relax.
4 of the 5 board members were appointed to their post by President Bush. The fifth one, Mr. Copps, I could not find out who appointed him, so it could be 5 for 5. Bush was voted in, and Bush appointed these board members. It doesn’t have more of a straight line cause and effect than that.
And that “bipartisan” committee, as you should know with all politics, is never truly bipartisan. It was formed while the Republican Party had control over the house and senate, and therefore almost guarantees to be slanted towards that party.
Also, the Republican based chairman, Martin, is trying to extend his hand into cable, which I said before has been ruled down by the courts time after time. The committee formed that was bipartisan was intended solely for broadcast TV. The fact that the FCC is trying to extend that to cable in various ways won’t work… but also shows their true motivations.
The NSAC cancelled a planned Wes Sims vs. Kazyuki Fujita fight for “competitive reasons”????
I mean I’m not heartbroken that I wont see it…but where’s the rationale behind that??? I’m assuming they’re saying Sims isnt on Fujita’s level – however he’s fought Mir and Sylvia (past and current UFC HW champs) and is 10-1-1 in his last 12 fights.
To me that type of reasoning stinks and it does show there IS bias in what they will allow UFC to do and every other organization to do *COUGH*CroCopvs.Sanchez*COUGH*…and then they blow up the idea of Fujita vs Kharitonov on a filing technicality. I guess that’s PRIDE’s fault but I’m sure it’s something they’d be far more lenient with the UFC with.
And Preach:
That’s a bad example to try and show a “fairness” by the NSAC equally punishing violations on drug testing. It’s something that is BLACK AND WHITE – while these other decisions rely on some level of discretion, discretion that is more stringently applied in the cases of PRIDE, IFL etc and far looser with the UFC. It’s pretty apparent on the face of it in my opinion.
*Sorry – gotta make a correction: IFL hasn’t run in Nevada iirc, thus I should not have used them in my example.
Send me an e-mail, Gaijin.
Re: the FCC… Martin (listed as a Republican) and crew are socially-conservative from both sides of the aisle. InstaPundit and Jeff Jarvis can give you all the information you need on the FCC politics if you use those site’s respective search engines.
Outside of a few activist groups, I generally don’t see much FCC support from either side of the political aisle (at least with voters).
Where did the Sims/Fujita news come from?
“Where did the Sims/Fujita news come from?”
It’s buried deep in the MMA Weekly story about the NSAC suspensions.
Re: Sims/Fujita.
The big question is where is the outcry about this, the NSAC bias towards the UFC and against smaller promotions is so blatant there’s no denying it. I haven’t heard this mentioned elsewhere except for this little blurb on MMA Weekly.
“Oh how I love all these “NSAC screws Pride over…again”-threads. Yeah, the NSAC totally has it in for Pride, and let’s the UFC go every time….”
Well they did turn down a Butterbean/Mark Hunt fight because it was a “mismatch”…yet they let Jens Pulver, a former UFC champ fight an 18 y/o rookie (who he ironically ended up losing to.) They also let Cro Cop fight Eddie Sanchez. I’d really like to see a Mark Hunt vs Sergei fight, but I’m not sure if they can do open weight over 205lb or if that fight cant get sanctioned cuz Hunt is a SHW while Sergei is a HW. Yvel vs Sergei was a fight I was looking forward to cuz its always fun to watch Yvel get beat down.
Gaijin, it was just to show that the majority of the nuthuggers saying that the NSAC gives the UFC too much leeway is completely false. The NSAC suspended the UFC’s heavyweight champion in Barnett and Sylvia, they suspended Baroni for one year for “attacking” referee Larry Landless (not for using steroids), i wouldn’t call that “interpreting it looser”.
Yet these “fans” are claiming that the NSAC has it in it for Pride, by not granting Gilbert Yvel a license. Everyone in their right mind could’ve told them that he’d never get a license. Not from the NSAC, not from the CSAC, from none of the State Athletic Comissions. Here’s a guy who was repeatedly disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct, here’s a guy who not just “accidently” poked someone in the eye like say Belfort, but intentionally tried to gouge out Don Fryes eye. A “fighter” (and i use that term very loosely), who punched a referee out, broke his jaw, and then started to stomp away on his limp body. And contrary to Baroni, who openly apologized for his actions, Yvel never apologized, but instead tried to justify what he did. Yet it is the NSAC that doesn’t want Pride to succeed, and give the fans a fight between Yvel and Kharitonov, and therefore didn’t grant Yvel a license. Not the NSAC keeping out a dirty fighter, and protecting other athletes from a violent, uncontrolable idiot.
They are claiming that they suspended Randleman because he fought for Pride, not the UFC. No, they suspended him indefinetely because he intentionally tried to deceive them by providing a fake urine sample. Guys like Sylvia ‘fessed up, got their suspension and were back in the fight game after doing their time and providing a clean sample.
Zack: First off, Lauzon was not an 18 year old rookie. You’re thinking of his younger brother Dan, who was 4-0 when he fought Spencer Fisher. Joe Lauzon was 22 yrs and 13-3 when he fought Pulver. Eddie Sanchez was 6-0 when he faced CroCop.
And the difference between them facing Fisher, Pulver and CroCop is quite simple: they fought MMA-fights, whereas Butterbean simply didn’t, at least not if we’re the NSAC who rules everything from their perspective of the unified rules.
Just take a look at Butterbean’s record and you’ll see exactly why they didn’t want him to fight Hunt. At the time of “The Real Deal” he had fought 4 guys who had never won a single fight, four that were several weight-classes below him and a fight with a former UFC-fighter (who was also a weight class below) under “special rules”. Which more or less leaves him with not one fight that somehow fits within the NSAC regulations of fighting in your own weight class and/or fighting under unified rules. Whereas Hunt fought four times in his own weightclass by that time, and faced a former KOTC champion, a KOP champion, a former UFC and KOP champion, as well as the No. 2 heavyweight in the world and Pride OWGP winner, which i would call a slight difference in fight records. So had Butterbean fought at least a few “real” MMA fights and credible opponents the fight would surely have happened, well, if Hunt had gone to BK a few times, since he’d had to move up to Superheavyweight.
But since all that didn’t happen they tried to make it a boxing match. Well, Pride did, but got turned down by the NSAC. And the reason for that is simple as well: they don’t allow mixed cards in Nevada. So it was more or less tough luck on Pride’s side, and not the ill will of the NSAC.
Preach you failed to mention Fujita/Sims and Hunt/Sims, but those fights didn’t fit with your argument so I understand why.
There are two fair conclusions to make:
1) The commissions arbitrarily choosing what fights should go based on ‘mismatches’ is not a process without some level of ignorance or hypocrisy.
2) Defending Wes Sims is usually not much of a winning argument to support point #1.
Personally, I think the Rob McCullough (14-2 entering the fight) vs. Kit Cope (1-3 entering the fight) WEC main event was the most shocking matchup that the NSAC recently approved.
Wow, so UFC is going to be featured on the Dr. Keith (Ablow) Show. IMO, any time the UFC is mentioned on the Dr. Keith Show, it’s a good thing :D.
And as far as the whole Rogan-Mancia thing goes, obviously Mancia’s agent hasn’t seen how the mainstream media (or at least G4TV) has treated the web video between those two. If they did, they would be thinking that Mancia was going to do a B-rated buddy cop film with Michael Richards a couple of years from now. I guess Mancia’s agent is banking on the next season of his show being very good.
I apologize. McCullough was actually 13-3 entering the bout with Kit Cope.
Preach:
You’re doing a great deal of rambling without providing much of a point. Randleman, Sylvia et al. were all suspended and suspended in about the same manner b/c they clearly violated the rules and there are precedents that have been set as to how long the suspensions will be.
Phil Baroni was suspended b/c he punched and official in the face multiple times…how is that any requirement of discretion on the NSAC’s behalf?? He broke the rules – he laid his hands on an official and no doubt he was given a penalty in line with what is normally given to fighter’s who assault officials. Very few people (who aren’t drolling trolls on some forum) are making a huge outcry for Yvel not getting licensed. I’m not sure whether or not Yvel faced sanctioning for his actions that occurred in 2004, but if he did and the sanctioning was completed and honoured then I would think that it would seem unfair to continue to punish a fighter who was already punished and had “served his time” so to speak.