Filed under: UFC, News, Sports Business and MediaLast Saturday night’s UFC on FOX 2 posted a 2.6/5 national rating/share, according to data released by Nielsen Media Research on Tuesday. The event, which lasted just over two hours and 19 minutes, avera…
Last Saturday night’s UFC on FOX 2 posted a 2.6/5 national rating/share, according to data released by Nielsen Media Research on Tuesday. The event, which lasted just over two hours and 19 minutes, averaged 4.7 million viewers, and easily won the night’s 18-49 demographic.
Ratings for the show grew as it went on, with more than 6 million viewers tuning in to watch Rashad Evans defeat Phil Davis by unanimous decision in the main event.
Original overnight ratings pegged the audience at 4.37 million viewers, a number that was later adjusted to account for fluctuations in the live broadcast.
Of note, the 18-49 year-old demographic dominated the evening, as the event’s 2.4 rating nearly equaled that of the 2.5 that CBS, ABC and NBC combined for on that night.
The rating though, was down a bit from the first UFC on FOX show. The inaugural outing last November featuring then-heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos drew an average of 5.7 million viewers and peaked with 8.8 million viewers, though that event lasted just one hour.
The next UFC on FOX event will take place on May 5 from the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Only one TV fight has so far been announced, a lightweight bout pitting contenders Nate Diaz and Mim Miller.
Early ratings are in for Saturday night’s UFC on FOX 2 event, and the two-hour broadcast drew an estimated 4.37 million viewers, according to a report by TVBytheNumbers.com.
The final number, however, is likely to increase substantially by the time final ratings are released, as information continues to trickle in on the live broadcast.
By comparison, the initial UFC on FOX show last November featuring a heavyweight title bout with Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos drew an overnight rating of 4.64 million, but when final information was released, it ended up averaging a more robust 5.7 million viewers for the one-hour special.
Saturday night’s two-hour show, which was broadcast from the United Center in Chicago, featured a tripleheader that was void of any finishes. In the main event, Rashad Evans out-pointed Phil Davis, setting up a light-heavyweight title fight against Jon Jones. The co-main event saw Chael Sonnen earn a decision over Michael Bisping, setting up a rematch with middleweight champ Anderson Silva. And the night’s opener saw rising star Chris Weidman top Demian Maia on points.
Despite the lack of big finishes or action-packed rounds, ratings indicated that the event helped FOX carry the all important 18-49 year old demographic, as that segment of the population averaged a 2.2 rating to lead all broadcast networks.
Final ratings should be released on Monday.
The next UFC on FOX event will take place in the spring, with a May 5 date penciled in. To date, only one TV matchup has been confirmed, with lightweight contenders Nate Diaz and Jim Miller squaring off in a bout likely to serve as the co-main event.
Early ratings are in for Saturday night’s UFC on FOX 2 event, and the two-hour broadcast drew an estimated 4.37 million viewers, according to a report by TVBytheNumbers.com.
The final number, however, is likely to increase substantially by the time final ratings are released, as information continues to trickle in on the live broadcast.
By comparison, the initial UFC on FOX show last November featuring a heavyweight title bout with Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos drew an overnight rating of 4.64 million, but when final information was released, it ended up averaging a more robust 5.7 million viewers for the one-hour special.
Saturday night’s two-hour show, which was broadcast from the United Center in Chicago, featured a tripleheader that was void of any finishes. In the main event, Rashad Evans out-pointed Phil Davis, setting up a light-heavyweight title fight against Jon Jones. The co-main event saw Chael Sonnen earn a decision over Michael Bisping, setting up a rematch with middleweight champ Anderson Silva. And the night’s opener saw rising star Chris Weidman top Demian Maia on points.
Despite the lack of big finishes or action-packed rounds, ratings indicated that the event helped FOX carry the all important 18-49 year old demographic, as that segment of the population averaged a 2.2 rating to lead all broadcast networks.
Final ratings should be released on Monday.
The next UFC on FOX event will take place in the spring, with a May 5 date penciled in. To date, only one TV matchup has been confirmed, with lightweight contenders Nate Diaz and Jim Miller squaring off in a bout likely to serve as the co-main event.
Filed under: UFC, Sports Business and MediaEarlier this week, The Associated Press, which provides sports news to millions of readers around the world, named its male and female athletes of the year for 2011. Not a single mixed martial artist was named…
Earlier this week, The Associated Press, which provides sports news to millions of readers around the world, named its male and female athletes of the year for 2011. Not a single mixed martial artist was named on a single ballot. It’s not as if non-traditional, non-stick & ball sports were not represented. Among those who received votes were sprinter Usain Bolt, surfer Kelly Slater and marathon swimmer Diana Nyad.
But not a single voter thought to write Jon Jones‘ name on his ballot.
Given the consistent dismissal of MMA by the mainstream news establishment, this oversight is hardly a surprise. In the past, we’ve always shaped such snubs as part of a larger argument about how far MMA has to go. But not this one. Mainstream sports, this time, it’s on you.
I’m not arguing that Jones should have won the award. The winner, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, had an amazing calendar year. He won the Super Bowl, led his team to a 19-game win streak and has them in position to possibly repeat. Runner-up Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers won both the American League Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards, the first pitcher to do that in 27 years. Third-place went to tennis star Novak Djokovic, who won 10 tournaments — including three majors — and finished the year with an exceptional 70-6 record.
Those three are all deserving of the consideration they received, but it’s a sign of the blissful ignorance of the AP voters that Jones wasn’t considered alongside of other vote-getters like Derek Jeter, Robert Griffin III and Dario Franchitti.
If a boxer like Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather put together a year like that, you better believe that they would have earned votes.
But because Jones fights in a cage instead of a ring, his accomplishments go unappreciated and unrecognized. It’s not like this was a small sample size; 212 alleged experts in sports cast ballots for the award.
Some might suggest that awards like this don’t matter. After all, in the big picture, it’s the opinions of a few. But they are also the same people who help shape the national conversation of sports. As local newspapers continue their slow death spirals, the AP is called upon to provide more and more of the coverage that was once done in-house. That means a homogenized voice spreading a message that is not always indicative of the true, wider picture.
It’s the same voice that shut MMA out of the newspapers for far too long. But at least on that front, there is progress. In 2011, AP consistently began to provide papers with UFC event results. It might not be enough, but it’s a start.
Judging from their awards balloting, they still have a long way to go. MMA always blames itself for its shortcomings, and points out all the instances in which we’re snubbed by the mainstream. It’s proof, we say, that there is still much to do in order to truly break through. That’s partly true, but we must also hold the sports experts to a higher standard. In any part of life, there’s only so long you can disregard something popular before you can be accused of ignorance, and we’ve long passed that stage. At some point, it’s up to the mainstream media to meet us halfway.
Filed under: Strikeforce, News, Sports Business and MediaLast Saturday night’s Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal event at the San Diego Sports Arena drew only 2,995 fans and a gate of $154,075, according to information released by the California state…
Last Saturday night’s Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal event at the San Diego Sports Arena drew only 2,995 fans and a gate of $154,075, according to information released by the California state athletic commission.
That total was far short of covering the payroll for the event, which was $580,000 in disclosed purses.
Topping the athlete salaries list were headliner Gilbert Melendez and Gegard Mousasi, each of whom made $150,000 for their bouts. Melendez retained the lightweight title in a unanimous decision win over Jorge Melendez, while Mousasi outworked Ovince St. Preux en route to a decision.
Women’s featherweight champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos pulled in a total of $66,000 in salary and bonus for her 16-second knockout of Hiroko Yamanaka, while KJ Noons collected $65,000 for defeating Billy Evangelista.
The complete list of salaries is as follows:
Herman Terrado $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus)
Chris Brown $3,000
Fernando Gonzalez $3,000
Eddie Mendez $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus)
Devin Cole $12,000 (Includes $6,000 win bonus)
Gabriel Salinas $3,000
Roger Bowling $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)
Jerron Peoples $2,000
The California commission also noted that it tested eight fighters for drugs of abuse. Those athletes were Mousasi, St. Preux, Santos, Yamanaka, Cole, Salinas, Melendez and Masvidal. All tests came back clean.
Steroid test results for Masvidal, Melendez, Santos, Yamanka, St. Preux and Mousasi are not expected to be completed for two weeks.
Filed under: UFC, News, Sports Business and MediaFresh off the momentum of signing the first network deal in UFC history, organizational executives Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta have been listed among the “50 Most Influential People in Sports Busines…
Fresh off the momentum of signing the first network deal in UFC history, organizational executives Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta have been listed among the “50 Most Influential People in Sports Business” by Sports Business Journal, a leading publication among movers and shakers in the world of sports.
White and Fertitta were paired together at No. 41, sandwiched between New York Yankees general partner and co-chairman Hal Steinbrenner, and Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Michael Weiner.
The publication cited the UFC’s move to FOX-owned networks as well as expansion into South American and Asia as a “watershed year” for the promotion.
It was the first time UFC brass made the cut for the SBD list, which has been released each December since 2004.
White and Fertitta were among the many heads of major sports named to the list. Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig was first among them, followed by NFL boss Roger Goodell and NBA head man David Stern.
The pubilcation’s overall choice for No. 1 was Steve Burke, the president and CEO of NBC Universal Holdings, who heads both NBC Sports as well as Versus, which is soon to be renamed NBC Sports Network. He was cited for his winning Olympics rights bid as well as other major business moves since the recent Comcast-NBC merger.
Meanwhile, White and Fertitta’s new partners at FOX were also named among the leading powers in sports, with FOX Sports media group chairman David Hill, and co-president and COO’s Eric Shanks and Randy Freer collectively ranked at No. 5. SBD cited several FOX deals in 2011 but noted “its biggest splash might been with the UFC, which it brought to broadcast television for the first time.”
The seven-year deal between the two sides is reportedly worth about $700 million over the full term. It officially begins in January with a Jan. 20 show on FX followed by a Jan. 28 show on FOX.
Filed under: DREAM, News, Sports Business and Media, ONE FCOn the same day when the UFC officially announced its return to the Asian market with a press conference in Japan, two of the area’s biggest promotions announced that they would team up to incr…
On the same day when the UFC officially announced its return to the Asian market with a press conference in Japan, two of the area’s biggest promotions announced that they would team up to increase their visibility and bolster their star power.
DREAM and ONE Fighting Championship have declared an intention to co-promote events and exchange fighters between them, the heads of both promotions announced on Monday.
The change is effective immediately. In a press release, the sides said fighter exchanges are expected to happen quickly, and that a joint promotional effort has been tentatively scheduled for March 31 at Singapore Stadium with the name “ONE FC/DREAM in Singapore.”
“DREAM and ONE Fighting Championship will work together to lead the sport of MMA in Asia to a better future,” DREAM event producer Keiichi Sasahara said in a release. “DREAM has some of the best fighters in the world and we also have deep experience of putting on world-class events. ONE Fighting Championship has the largest media platform in Asia and many other assets. I see many great synergies with this partnership. It is certainly a new era for everyone in Asian MMA.”
Of the two promotions, DREAM has the longer history, producing over 20 events in its 3+ years of existence. It also has the deeper roster, with highly regarded veterans including Shinya Aoki, Gegard Mousasi, Katsunori Kikuno and Gerald Harris. ONE FC has only been in business since early 2011 and produced just one fight card with other scheduled into early 2012. Thus far, however, ONE FC has swiftly penetrated the Asian market, reportedly signing deals that make its future shows available in 500 million households across Asia.
Last Saturday night’s UFC on FOX 2 posted a 2.6/5 national rating/share, according to data released by Nielsen Media Research on Tuesday. The event, which lasted just over two hours and 19 minutes, averaged 4.7 million viewers, and easily won the night’s 18-49 demographic. 
Early ratings are in for Saturday night’s 
Earlier this week, The Associated Press, which provides sports news to millions of readers around the world, named its male and female athletes of the year for 2011. Not a single mixed martial artist was named on a single ballot. It’s not as if non-traditional, non-stick & ball sports were not represented. Among those who received votes were sprinter Usain Bolt, surfer Kelly Slater and marathon swimmer Diana Nyad.
Last Saturday night’s 
Fresh off the momentum of signing the first network deal in 
On the same day when the