Despite slower-than-expected ticket sales, company president confident event will boost sport’s fan base on West Coast
The Vancouver Sun – June 10, 2011
Despite the ominous grey skies lurking above Robson Square, UFC president Dana White offered fight fans a rosy forecast for the return of future UFC contests to Vancouver.
White assured fans and media gathered for Thursday’s pre-fight press conference that Saturday night’s UFC 131 event at Rogers Arena won’t be the last card his company plays host to in the Lower Mainland despite flagging ticket sales.
The event has struggled to capture the public’s attention during the Canucks’ Stanley Cup Final appearance.
Interest has also been affected by the withdrawal of original headliner Brock Lesnar and the absence of a Canadian in a high-profile fight.
However, White embraced the reality of sharing the spotlight with the Canucks and anticipated an exciting local sports weekend ahead.
“The thing about coming to Canada is people love their hockey here. It’s the only thing anybody cares about; it’s part of this culture. They’ve treated us so well here, I feel like we’re the No. 2 sport behind hockey,” said White. “When they have their championship going on, I absolutely respect that 100 per cent.”
The UFC isn’t accustomed to sharing the stage in cities where it operates events.
“Maybe we’ve been in the same city as something else but not something that means so much to a city as this does,” said White.
The event was still not sold out as of Thursday afternoon, but tickets sales had improved from earlier in the week.
Official re-seller Ticketmaster had sold out its cheapest level of pricing, but was still selling pairs of floor-level seats.
Popular ticket re-seller StubHub had more than 1,200 seats available on Tuesday afternoon, but now lists fewer than 120 tickets for sale, two days before fight night.
UFC 115 was held almost a year ago to the day in Vancouver and sold out in less than 30 minutes.
That event was finalized at the last minute, only after a great deal of political and legal wrangling between the organization and the city over sanctioning, security and insurance.
The absence of a provincial athletic commission in B.C. empowers individual cities with the legal discretion to sanction MMA contests if they so choose.
Last year, Vancouver council voted to approve a two-year trial period for MMA events.
Tom Wright, the director of operations for UFC Canada, said there have been fewer administrative issues this time around.
“The second time through is always much easier,” he said.
Wright said the UFC’s extra effort to get into the Vancouver market made its return to the area more likely.
“We were always hell-bent to make sure that we took care of a great community of MMA fans here. From a regulatory point of view, this is the most expensive place we’ve been in terms of getting that stuff through,” he said.
“But to us, we don’t think of it as one show or one year, we think of it as this sport will be here for another hundred.”
As originally published in The Vancouver Sun