I can across an interesting Tweet yesterday. Josh Gross of ESPN.com spoke with Strikeforce President Scott Coker about projected ticket sales for this weekend's Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva event in East Rutherford, New Jersey. With only one real major star on the card - Fedor Emelianenko - yet with decent buzz for the kickoff of the heavyweight tournament, there were some very real questions about how well the card would do. Here was Coker's take:
Fedor Emeliananeko, Strikeforce Trying To Fill IZOD Center
Scott Coker says he’ll fill the IZOD Center this weekend. The question is whether he can also sell it out, too.
The IZOD center will be configured for 14,500 seats and Scott Coker said he expects it to be full on Saturday.
Josh Gross
JoshGrossESPN
I caught up with Ben Kessler, Director of Communications at SeatGeek, and here’s his take on ticket sales for this event:
Ticket Data
- Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva is currently averaging around $160 a ticket on the secondary market
- Lowest priced tickets are available for around $70 in the upper 200 level
- Highest priced tickets are available for up to $1,934 on the floor near the octagon
- It's important to note that tickets are still available on the primary markets for the event
You can see our event page with tickets in realtime here.In comparison, UFC 128 (Rua v. Evans) which takes place only minutes away in Newark, NJ is currently averaging around $266 a ticket, a 66% premium over Strikeforce.
There’s an important things to consider here. First, buzz builds late and I suspect they’ll be an additional ticket rush as the fight draws closer.
Second, the lower ticket price makes sense. Strikeforce doesn’t have the brand power or the fighter star power that the UFC does and Strikeforce’s event this weekend, as good as it does, doesn’t really match up to the market value of what UFC 128 delivers. But that cuts both ways. While Strikeforce cannot So, will Strikeforce sell out the house? Probably not, but they’ll come close and they’ll likely fill it with very modest papering. For the number two MMA promotion in North America, that’s plenty of success and an excellent start to the heavyweight grand prix.
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