It’s a lesson learned by amateur scalpers holding a handful of tickets minutes before the doors are set to open: ticket demand for UFC events peak in new markets. Our friends at SeatGeek.com have concluded that Saturday night’s UFC 129, headlined by Georges St. Pierre and Jake Shields, is the most highly demanded UFC event* we’ve seen since last year.
Here are the quick numbers:
- Tickets are averaging $336 for the sold out event.
- This is a 25% increase over 128 in Newark, New Jersey, which averaged $270.
- The “get in” price for UFC 129 is $111 for tickets in the mezzanine.
- Seats by the cage are going for up to $5,000.
Coincidentally, I’m watching the True Story of Wrestlemania. The documentary just touched on Wrestlemania VI, which took place at the Rogers Centre (then Skydome) and featured a main event between Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior. If that crowd in April of 1990 is any indication, we may be in line for quite an atmosphere.
* – SeatGeek.com excludes UFC 126 in Vegas, which they view as an outlier due to the Super Bowl.