The WEC’s Reed Harris spoke before WEC 41 to The Sacramento Bee concerning his organization’s continued presence in the area:
“I think we will do an annual trip here,” Harris said. “I would actually like to come more than once a year.”
MMAJunkie reports from the press conference as to why that is the case:
While official live gate numbers will be released by the California State Athletic Commission later in the week, WEC co-founder and general manager Reed Harris reported 13,027 fans attended WEC 41 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif., resulting in a live gate of $818,415. […]
The organization’s previous records for attendance and live gate were set at WEC 34 in June 2008. Featuring a main event between Faber and MMA legend Jens Pulver, WEC 34 was also held at the ARCO Arena. That event scored 12,682 attendees for a live gate of $738,855.
Additionally, the WEC is looking to break their ratings record, which was also set at WEC 34, of 1.5 million viewers. WEC 34 featured a stronger promotional push on VERSUS, while WEC 41 had video blogs by Dana White. These vlogs also featured Kimbo Slice and TUF 10, perhaps channeling that hype into this event.
UPDATE: Official numbers for the event are 12,706 in attendance (10,110 paid) and a $815,415 live gate.
Photo from WEC. HT: MMAPayout.