UFC 129 was an ambitious undertaking for the UFC. It was the first event the promotion ever held in Toronto, Ontario and it was also the first event they ever held in a stadium setting. The fight card was held at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, the home of Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays, and sold out all 55,000 tickets the UFC offered.
From an attendance and live-gate perspective, the event was the largest in UFC history. After the fight card, UFC president Dana White announced that 55,724 fans attended the event and the gate was $12.075 million.
The event, which saw UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre successfully defend his title against Jake Shields, was a success for the local economy as well. The Toronto Star is reporting that the event pumped and estimated $40 million into the local economy.
The financial impact was felt by restaurants which saw their business increase by 19.2 percent while bars and pubs saw a jump of 15.7 percent.
Other businesses that saw huge increases in week over week business were certain retailers, as apparel businesses saw a 41.3 percent increase in business and sporting goods stores saw a 33 percent increase.
The Star reported that the full financial report for the event will not be completed until August.
While this event is the exception and not the rule as far as attendance is concerned, the takeaway from something like this is that the UFC and their fans can have a huge impact on tourism dollars for a city.
It’s somewhat comical that this report comes one day after New York left a bill to legalize MMA in the state off the voting agenda.
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