Las Vegas, Nevada (USA) – The Ultimate Fighting Championship® announced today that it has reached a multi-year sponsorship renewal agreement with Harley-Davidson. The world’s most famous motorcycle maker, which first became a core sponsor of the UFC® in 2008, will continue to be featured across multiple platforms including Pay-Per-View and television broadcasts, online, and in the UFC’s famed Octagon®.
On the heels of this major announcement, the companies also jointly announced the launch of a new promotion that gives fans the opportunity to bring a UFC event to their city in late 2012. Beginning next month, fans can visit http://www.ufc.com/hometownthrowdown and vote for their city to win the Hometown Throwdown event. The fully-interactive site will include all of the latest information on the promotion, as well as unique offerings from Harley-Davidson. The city finalists will be announced in early 2012, with the winner being crowned in the spring. The event is expected to be held next summer.
“Harley-Davidson has been a great partner for the UFC since 2008 and we’re excited to continue working with them for years to come,” UFC President Dana White said. “We love keeping the fans involved and so does Harley-Davidson, so we’re also excited to partner with them for the Hometown Throwdown. This is a great promotion. Fans are always asking for us to bring a UFC event to their city and now they’re in control. If they want the UFC in their city, they just have to rock the vote.”
Further demonstrating its commitment to the UFC and its athletes, Harley-Davidson was instrumental in the UFC putting on its first event in the state of Wisconsin last night. In front of thousands of fans at Bradley Center in Harley-Davidson’s hometown of Milwaukee, Chris Lytle defeated Dan Hardy in the exciting welterweight main event. For his victory, Harley-Davidson awarded Lytle with a 2012 Harley-Davidson HD BLACKLINE motorcycle with 103 Cubic Inch Engine.
“We were excited to have the UFC visit Harley-Davidson’s hometown of Milwaukee this weekend for the first time ever,” said Harley-Davidson Chief Marketing Officer Mark-Hans Richer. “To celebrate UFC’s arrival in our hometown, we wanted to present the winner of the main event with a gift that only Harley-Davidson could pull off. So, Chris Lytle is going home with a new, 2012 Harley-Davidson HD Blackline. Now, we look forward to the Hometown Throwdown promotion and giving UFC and Harley-Davidson fans the opportunity to bring a major UFC card to their city next year.”
More information on the Hometown Throwdown promotion will be made available in the weeks to come. Promotion subject to change.
For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit UFC.com.
About Ultimate Fighting Championship®
Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC® produces over 12 UFC live Pay-Per-View events annually around the world. UFC programming is distributed in the United States on Viacom, Inc.’s Spike TV and on Comcast, Inc.’s VERSUS network. UFC content is distributed commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada. Globally, UFC programming is broadcast in over 132 countries and territories, reaching 597 million homes worldwide, in 21 different languages.
UFC® also boasts a powerful presence online, with UFC.com attracting over six million unique visitors per month, while also possessing one of the most powerful social media followings in all of professional sports. To date, UFC has over six million fans on Facebook and over 300,000 followers on Twitter. In addition, UFC President Dana White is one of the most accessible and most followed executives in sports with over 1.5 million followers on Twitter. On January 22, 2011, UFC continued to set trends in social media, becoming the first major sports league to stream live, broadcast quality action on Facebook.
Ancillary businesses include the best-selling UFC “Undisputed” videogame franchise distributed by THQ, UFC Gym™, UFC Fight Club affinity program, UFC Fan Expo™ festivals, branded apparel, trading cards, articulated action figures and other media including best-selling DVDs and a bimonthly magazine.
About Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson Motor Company produces heavyweight custom, cruiser and touring motorcycles and offers a complete line of Harley-Davidson motorcycle parts, accessories, riding gear and apparel, and general merchandise. For more information, visit Harley-Davidson’s Web site at www.harley-davidson.com.