Affliction's Fishy Numbers

JoeMimic · 07-29-2008, 12:00 PM

At first glance, it appeared that Affliction’s first-ever pay-per-view on July 19 in Anaheim was a relative success story. It was announced that the Honda Center sold out for “Banned” and Tom Atencio, the company’s Vice President, stated that PPV buys were expected to be over 100,000.

While the 100,000 mark would have been well short of the UFC’s average, it still would have been a milestone for the fledgling company, as it would have represented the highest total in MMA for a non-UFC PPV in the United States.

However, it appears that Atencio may have mis-spoke, as Dave Meltzer of Yahoo! Sports is indicating that early-cable estimates peg the buys in a range between 50,000-85,000. It had been believed that the event would need to do 250,000-300,000 buys to have a chance to break even.

Steve Cofield, another writer for Yahoo! Sports, also raised some questions about Affliction’s attendance figures last week. According to the California State Atheltic Commission, “Banned” was a sellout with 14,832 people attending. However, after speaking with fellow Yahoo! Sports columnist Kevin Iole, Cofield revealed that Affliction may have padded their attendance totals.

“I had a source tell me that Affliction bought $500,000 of those tickets and that goes into the gate,” Iole is quoted. “(Atencio) admitted that they bought a large number of tickets.”

Apparently the inflating didn’t stop there.

“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,” Iole continued. “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.”

Link

That wouldve been a steal to walk up and get a great seat for $39.95 but it just confirms the fact that Affliction didn't do so hot first show.

RearNakedNick · 07-29-2008, 12:21 PM

Interesting. Do bear in mind though that Iole and the rest of Yahoo MMA seem to be in the UFC's pocket.

jarwillie · 07-29-2008, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by RearNakedNick

Interesting. Do bear in mind though that Iole and the rest of Yahoo MMA seem to be in the UFC's pocket.

Took the words out of my mouth. Iole is seriously a shithead. I can't stand him at all.

JoeMimic · 07-29-2008, 12:35 PM

Originally Posted by RearNakedNick

Interesting. Do bear in mind though that Iole and the rest of Yahoo MMA seem to be in the UFC's pocket.

Meltzer while part of Yahoo MMA is usually pretty accurate when it comes to everything he puts in the Observer as far as the 50-80k buys. I remember emailing back and forth Iole about their p4p rankings around the time they were going to stream that Strikeforce card and all of a sudden Gilbert Melendez went on their rankings. I thought it was pretty interesting.

Relentless · 07-29-2008, 12:36 PM

if that's true about the PPV buys, it doesn't look good for them at all

RearNakedNick · 07-29-2008, 12:41 PM

I think Tito alone would easily double those PPV buys if not more.

Relentless · 07-29-2008, 12:45 PM

if they actually market it this time

RearNakedNick · 07-29-2008, 12:53 PM

Be sure Tito will market it with or without them if he gets a PPV cut.

They should have had these guys on a guarantee with a PPV cut on top of that. Then the fighters go out of their way to market the fight more than they would on a straight up guarantee.

Relentless · 07-29-2008, 01:02 PM

i dunno man, affliction better be real careful

God_Of_MuayThai · 07-29-2008, 01:23 PM

the problem is that they threw around to high of salaries.....you think the ufc wants arlovski, tim sylvia, josh barnett if they demand that type of money ? fuck no