UFC has gotten great mainstream exposure this year thanks to its new contract on FOX, and the two events that have been run on the network. However, there is no excuse for the company to schedule a show against the Summer Olympics and hope that it is a ratings success.
It was announced on Tuesday that UFC would run a show on August 4 in Los Angeles. This year’s Olympics get underway on July 27, with the Opening Ceremony in London.
The problem with the show is not that they can’t attract an audience to watch, but whether it will be big enough for network television. They need casual fans to tune into the show, and if the choice comes down to UFC or the Olympics, most casual sports fans will choose the latter.
As Maggie Hendricks of Yahoo Sports wrote, UFC has a history of putting on shows during the Olympics.
The UFC hasn’t shied away from the Olympics in the past. UFC 110, which featured Cain Velasquez taking out Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in the first round, aired against the 2010 Winter Olympics. Georges St. Pierre defended his belt against Jon Fitch at UFC 87 on the second night of the 2008 Summer Games.
But unless the company is going to put one of its biggest attractions—Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Anderson Silvain the main event of a free show and forego all the money they would make on a pay-per-view, it is going to be hard to sell this show.
St-Pierre probably won’t be healthy enough to fight in August. Silva is fighting Chael Sonnen at a Brazil show in June, so he won’t be ready to fight.
Jones could be available, since his next scheduled bout is with Rashad Evans on April 21. Depending on how that fight goes, he could be ready to fight in three months.
Other than those three fighters, who is going to draw the casual fan? Junior dos Santos is a great fighter, but he does not have the personality needed to sell a fight.
UFC is trying to make a statement going head-to-head with the Olympics on network television, but it is one that is going to backfire on them. The company would have been better off scheduling a pay-per-view, because all they have to do is bring in hardcore fans for it to be successful.
Getting 4-5 million viewers watching a show on FOX is a much taller task. Unless the company is able to put together one of the best cards in recent memory, it is not going to happen.
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