UFC's Charges Fans Hundreds to See MMA Inside of a Ball
With the price of Sphere Tickets, who can afford to go outside?
You don’t need me to tell you that it is just getting too expensive to do things nowadays. Inflation this, stagnant wages that, no matter the reason at the end of the day, the dollar just doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. Not to mention we’re living in a time where you just can’t buy something once anymore. Instead, we’re being soaked under a deluge of subscriptions and what you have is a recipe of the “Nah I’m OKs..”
“Hey! There’s a brand new X in town. Maybe we should all go out and…”
“Nah. I’m OK.”
As a fan of Las Vegas (even if most of my friends these days have come forward to say they don’t know what I see in the place), I’ve seen how a city built for entertainment is trying new things to break people out of that cycle. When I first started visiting the town, it was all about The Nightclub Scene: Who’s playing, who’s hosting, who’s on the VIP list, who’s getting bottle service etc… Since then, Las Vegas has leaned on this two-pronged “Sports and Spas” strategy. Bigger rooms and more “wellness” options for the latter, more comprehensive sport-books, and bringing premier sporting events in town for the former. Over the past ten years, Las Vegas has seen its own hockey team, women’s basketball team, a refreshed minor league baseball team, a NFL franchise, a Formula 1 race, a rebooted rodeo, Australian rugby showcases, and a future Major League Baseball team. Something that needed a shot in the arm was its MMA efforts, however. UFC, once “thee” reason to visit the town for sports fans was getting a bit lost in the shuffle in the fanfare department. Enter The Sphere.
The Sphere, (formally the MSG Sphere) is one of those things that could’ve been a flop (and as of this writing it technically is, financially speaking) but it carries with it such a curiosity cachet that works in its favor. I was in Vegas a couple of days ago and in my anecdotal experience, overhead multiple conversations firsthand that involved an out-of-towner’s desire to see it. At it’s core, it’s a performance and screening venue that has the gargantuan glitz that both speaks to Las Vegas, but also lends itself to be repeatable worldwide. (Though the nerd in me wonders how they would keep up with the eventual dead pixels on some of the screens, but I digress.)
UFC has a show on September 14th at The Sphere. Brand impresario Dana White straight up looked at the giant ball and was like “Hell yeah, let’s put some fights in there.” Then he proceeded to headbutt a wall or something. I kid, here’s his actual quote via Forbes:
“This is going to be a (expletive) love letter to the Mexican people.” - Dana White
Oh wait, I forgot to mention. The event this weekend is called “UFC Noche” and it’s going to have a South of the Border theme in celebration of Mexican Independence Day. That mistake is on me. Anyway, the whole thing is costing the promotion $16 million dollars, so you know what that means? Ticket prices are astronomical.
I saw that and I only had one thing to say:
“Nah, I’m OK.”