MMAPayout notes new package sponsorship at UFC 129
Welcome to another addition of Payout Perspective. This time we take a look at UFC 129 held at Rogers Centre…
Welcome to another addition of Payout Perspective. This time we take a look at UFC 129 held at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario Canada. The three and a half hour PPV set records in attendance, gate and bonuses. It was the organization’s biggest event in its history.
On a far lesser note, it was also saw sponsors beginning to take over every inch of branding opportunity. Both Kyle Watson and Rory MacDonald wore drawers with logos specifically for the weigh-ins, a marketing advance referred to colloquially as ‘package sponsorship’ 🙂
Sponsorship Watch
Due to the enormity of fans at UFC 129 and the many ordering the PPV, we saw more mainstream sponsors participating at UFC 129.
The Hamilton Tiger Cats sponsored Mark Hominick. Unfortunately for the Ti-Cats, the hematoma on Hominick’s head was so huge; he could not properly put on his cap during the post-fight.
Amor All sponsored Fightmetric’s Fantasy MMA Tournament on Rogers Sportsnet.
Sailun Tires sponsored Kyle Watson and Vladimir Matsushenko.
Dodge sponsored the UFC Fights on Facebook. A sponsor on The Ultimate Fighter, it’s nice to see Dodge having more of a presence. For the UFC, having a sponsor for its Facebook fights is the exact reason for airing fights on Facebook.
Blue Grace Logisitcs, a transportation, logistics and technology provider, represented Ben Henderson and indicated that it would sponsor more fighters in the future.
1-800-Radiator was the sponsor for the front of Jake Shields’ shorts and DC Solar Systems sponsored the back. As I stated in the UFC 128 Payout Perspective, the last two fighters that won titles had tool manufacturers as its sponsor. DC Solar Systems is a renewable energy system company. Sorry, no go.
Odds and Ends
Biggest non-sponsor featured at UFC 129: Costco water. The Kirkland brand of water was used throughout and received a lot of airtime when GSP doused his eye with water. In prior UFC events, the water bottles were either sponsored or covered the true manufacturer. In the arena of monetizing every inch of real estate, I was surprised the water bottles did not receive one.
Sponsors are taking advantage of the weigh-ins as Kyle Watson and Rory MacDonald sported undershorts with logos specific for the weigh-ins (i.e., logos in the groin area).