Dana White and company have to be happy. The group made a good deal of money here in Chicago. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation announced the official gate numbers for the UFC on Fox 2 that went down last Saturday at the United Center yesterday. 16,963 people pushed through the turnstiles and only 1,091 were freeloaders like me.
Zuffa made almost $1.3 million just from ticket sales from an average ticket price right around $81. Not bad in a down economy. Yet, the only shortcoming from the news is that the gate attendance is down quite a bit from the last time the UFC visited the Windy City. UFC 90 took place at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois in October of 2008 and made the UFC $2.8 million. The reported attendance for that event was 15,359.
Comparatively, UFC on Fox took place last November in Anaheim and made the company just over $1 million. That event drew 11,607.
No news on when the UFC plans on returning to Chicago, but the atmosphere and attendance last weekend seem to indicate it will be sooner rather than later. Let’s hope we’ll be able to see more live MMA action from the group in 2013.
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