Elite XC ticket sales in Stockton for 'Unfinished Business' not so snappy

by James Iannotti on Jul 30, 2008 6:49 PM EDT

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Television ratings weren't the only low numbers produced by Elite XC's "Unfinished Business" event this past weekend at the Stockton Arena in Stockton, Calif., on July 26.

In fact, out of the 8,541 tickets printed up for the Showtime/CBS primetime event, only 3,701 were sold, according to the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC).

Obviously, Elite XC couldn't afford to have an event on network television with less than a half filled venue, so the promotion improvised by giving away a staggering 2,817 tickets, putting the final head count at 6, 518.

The collective face value of the 2, 817 complimentary tickets was $340,960, which was considerably higher than the $268,715 that came from tickets that were actually sold. In addition, 2,023 fell by the wayside -- no one used them.

Not exactly a success for Elite XC and not exactly what the network executives at CBS like to see from its investment, either.

Therefore, Elite XC either did a lousy job putting the word out about this event -- and people in Stockton just didn't know about it -- or maybe Stockton wasn't the best place to hold a major event after all.

Considering all the home-grown talent on this card, it doesn't make sense that the locals wouldn't come out to support their hometown fighters. It appears this has more to do with the poor marketing of this event.

Perhaps low numbers like this reflect the down side of having a guy like Gary Shaw leave your company. If nothing else, Shaw -- who recently resigned -- was a great promoter and hype guy. Not that it should have been a hard sell, but something tells me Shaw wouldn't have had any trouble getting that Stockton Arena more full than it was on Saturday night.

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Comments

Damn, this thread gets No love! Kind of like an EliteXC show in Stockton! lol

THis was just a dumb idea by EliteXC because stockton isnt the richest area and the people in neighboring cities like Sacramento probably nothing to do with going to stockton, just to see a fight.

by john on Jul 30, 2008 8:16 PM EDT reply actions

True. Also, I noticed the hype on television wasn’t even 1/10th of what they did when Kimbo was fighting. This sends a terrible message to the higher ups, put on a shitty card with circus style promotions, and get great ratings. Put on a solid card with no bullshit and a better production, and get terrible ratings. It seems that it really is just way too hard to compete with the UFC brand name.

by naturalshadow on Jul 31, 2008 2:11 AM EDT up reply actions

thats really a bummer… i wish they had sold better, im lovin that there is an mma event every weekend with all the competition. also i think they did a really good job on this card, no early stoppages that i saw, no nonsense entrances… i think Elite XC is starting to come around, I hope they can make it.

by brendan (on TheNEgation's case) on Jul 30, 2008 8:17 PM EDT reply actions

If Stinky hadn’t bought tickets for himself and all his buddies the total attendance would have rivaled a junior varsity basketball game.

by PW on Jul 30, 2008 8:20 PM EDT reply actions

not everybody in stockton is a middle income fight junkie yuppie that have $ every month to order a fight or drive all the way down their to a live event. you gotta at least chose a major city like san jo, frisco, oakland or sactown to even have a chance in the bay. they bay is a place where you gotta get the local buzz around. make diaz wear a raider beanie or pay bay area rappers to get the word out.

by kama kaze on Jul 30, 2008 8:29 PM EDT reply actions

Mr. James Iannotti , I’ve been bashing wamma all week and then I saw your name on the wamma rankings committee. Your reports ar unbiased. What’s wamma all about? Whats the point of it?

by kama kaze on Jul 30, 2008 8:35 PM EDT reply actions

If Affliction was serious about building an organization perhaps they should buy EliteXC’s contracts and call themselves Affliction XC. EliteXC is in trouble.

by Muscle Dolphin on Jul 30, 2008 8:48 PM EDT reply actions

How come Affliction could not get on CBS instead of EliteXC ?
a 100,000 ppv buys split in half for the cable companies take equals 2,000,000 dollars, are you telling me that CBS would not have paid 2,000,000 for that 3hr chuck of programing, hell a stupid sitcom cost more to produce than that and it only gives you 20 minutes of programing.

by anonymous on Jul 31, 2008 1:37 PM EDT up reply actions

I live near Stockton and they did market it to a certain degree. I heard numerous radio ads everyday, there were some billboards up, however i didn’t see any t.v. ads.

by asmiley420 on Jul 30, 2008 9:15 PM EDT reply actions

Wow the Main Event loser gets 14k.

They should have gave him a brand new Ford Focus.

Rob Dib

by Rob Dib on Jul 30, 2008 9:32 PM EDT reply actions

One word: Stockton.

by the_mexicutioner on Jul 30, 2008 9:36 PM EDT reply actions

In one year or less, Elite XC and Affliction will be no more and the UFC will have a major TV deal done, on their terms, with Dana calling the shots. Mark my words.

by Eric on Jul 30, 2008 9:38 PM EDT reply actions

B’Jesus…have you ever been to Stockton? The place is like the murder capital of California!!! Who ever was the clever executive that thought hosting an MMA fight in Stockton would be a great idea should be castrated.

I’ve got relatives in Stockton. Last time I’ve visited was 12 years ago, and have no plans in visiting anytime soon.

by TabascoSAUCE on Jul 30, 2008 10:29 PM EDT reply actions

The sad part about all this is that EliteXC, more then ever now, will need to have Kimbo Slice on every card in order to sell tickets and PPV. I don’t care for EliteXC because, well, because it’s nothing more than Kimbo Slice and that’s a fact, because they will have their next event in Fort Lauderdale again for the single purpose of attracting local Bimbo fans. It’s just sad they can’t afford to put a show without Bimbo.

by Cristiano from Brazil on Jul 30, 2008 10:30 PM EDT reply actions

put kimbo, and gina on the card and everything will take care of itself..

and experts said lawler vs smith should have been the main event the first time also..

by shamo84 on Jul 31, 2008 5:52 AM EDT reply actions

scott smith is a bum, lawler is a bum. how can you compete with the ufc when the main event is composed of two ufc rejects. Kimbo has been exposed, and Gina has more important things to do like acting and not making weight by a long shot. The next event they need to do is Frank Shamrock against his Bro. otherwise they will be “consultants” for the ufc by the end of the year.

by Katch22 on Jul 31, 2008 7:44 AM EDT reply actions