An unsettling statistic: 8 of the past 15 WEC events have been held out of The Joint in Las Vegas, Nevada. For the most recent in the facility, WEC 42 which featured the headline of Miguel Torres vs. Brian Bowles, 1,640 paid entry. 442, or 21% of all 2,080 in audience, were given complimentary tickets. 870 tickets were neither sold nor given away. Ignoring the promotional side of things, whether or not profit can be made in a situation such as this, one must allow that 2,080 is not a sufficient viewing party for some of the best athletes and competitors in the field.
In terms of ratings WEC 42 took in an estimated 670,000 viewers which matches WEC 37 as the high water mark for events not featuring Urijah Faber. Faber vs. Pulver I holds the WEC record with over 1.5 million viewers. Torres also participated on that card against Yoshiro Maeda and looks to be the number two draw for the promotion after “The California Kid”.
Going forward, WEC 43 is newly scheduled for October 10th under the headline of Donald Cerrone vs. Ben Henderson without DirecTV. The last events not featuring Faber or Torres were Brown vs. Garcia and Condit vs. Miura, drawing 530k and 423k respectively.
Table in extended entry. MMA in Numbers: UFC.
Sources for missing entries or items which need to be updated are always appreciated.
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