MMA Event Budgets 101
I’ve done shows large and small. From 1,200 seats to 11,000 seats. Not saying I’ve filled an 11,000 seat arena, but I’ve tried, and learned a lot from the experience.
Below is a budget breakdown of my last event in a 1,500 seat venue.
Posters and Cards: $800 (Because of the added promotion the venue offered we really didn’t need these, but I assume it helped a little and gave people something to hold onto)
Audio/Lighting: $5,500 (this is on the cheap side and basically paying cost for labor due to a partnership deal with the company that involves profit sharing)
Photography/Design: $450 (Luckily I have one of the best MMA Photographers around and he travels. Drew Reidmen)
Cage/Mat: $1,700 (Cage rental rate with a new Blue mat to be used with Full Color logos)
Mat Logos: $1,200 (Expensive, and the company botched the logos a bit, made some the wrong color and they began to peel up during the event. I’m researching another way)
John House TV Editing: $5,000 (The cost to edit 4 half hour TV shows with our own event promos to be aired weekly over the course of a month)
My64 TV Airing: $2,400 (Cost to air a half hour TV show on local My64 after the late night rerun of UFC Wired)
Gloves: $300
Ring Girl: $50 (Most girls want to be ring girls because it puts them on a pedestal and they get a kick out of the hoots and hollars they get. They will do it for free, but we pay them a little anyway)
Ticket Takers: $100
Fight Coordinator: $1,000 (Basically a friend that helps manage the fighters, preps them and gets them ready for their turn in the cage)
Title Belt: $300
Total: $18,350
This doesn’t include the Fight Card which varies greatly. Average around $5,000 + for a good Pro/Am card with a headliner.
More info coming regarding Sponsorships and profits.
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June 16th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Thanks alot man. This article helped alot beacuse I was wondering what all that stuff would cost. Ill be looking for your one on the profits of a show.By the way I looked at ur show mma big show and I think you guys do good. I think its crazy how mojo horne beat josh haynes cuz horne dosent have that much fights under his belt but I did hear he trains with rich franklin so im sure that helped. Oh yeah and a thing about a cage you said that your logos were peling well I think getting a throwdown cage would be the best bet because it looks like accually paiting on the mat.Im sure its a little pricy but then you wont have too worry about it later. And what I like about throwdown cages is they look like a cage a big company would use. They really look profesinal. If you havent seen the throwdown ones i know purecombatmma.com use them and strikeforce does too.
June 18th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Hey what’s up man? You are doing a helluva a job with this blog and its very helpful. I was lucky enough to find this link on fighteraccess.com…definately a blessing in disquise. You seem like your a very organized/business savy person, which is good to know. I’m the sameway, I don’t like when things aren’t organized properly, so I try to be as organized as possible with anything I do.
I have been looking to get into the business for awhile now, but never really pursued it…mainly because I wasn’t sure where to start. My brother and I have been following MMA, since a little bit before the UFC was founded and started hosting the Ultimate Fighting Championships tournaments.
My father brought me up on boxing and professional wrestling, always showing me old tapes of events…making sure I knew the history of those sports. A passion grew in me for both sports. When MMA promotions started having PPV’s, a few years before UFC was founded…I started watching these events, whenever they came on PPV and thats when I started building a passion for MMA. When UFC came around and the sport really started you grow, so did my passion for the sport. I spend many hours everyday, checking out MMA fights/highlights, playing MMA base games and many other things dealing with the sport on my PC.
You just seem like the perfect person to learn the business under…literally, since your seven feet tall and I’m only six feet tall. lol I’m a nice, honest, trustworthy guy with I guess a lil’ bad boy edge. I’m 29 years old and I live in Baltimore, Maryland with Cough no criminal record Cough.
I don’t know where your promotion is base or what city you have most of your events at, but if you do any events in Atlantic City…that would be a huge plus for me, since I’m in AC alot. I guess you can say I’m a semi-professional poker player, so I can be founded in the casinos alot. I may even be able to get you 1 night or 2 night room comp, if you ever do a event in AC…just to show you I support what your doing for the sport, even if we never get the chance to work together.
Seriously though, no bullshit man…I’m serious about learning the business and I’m no stranger to hard work. I would love to work with you and learn the business under you. It would be nice to work with you and thene build a great business relationship with you.
No matter what, I hope your promotion really grows man. Just like my brother and I like to see guys we seen something special in as amateurs or up & comers become something, is the sameway I would love to see you make a big mark in the business. Like I said before, I would love to help you with that.
OK, thats enough rambling, let me know what you think or if you have any ideas. Once again, thanx for doing these blogs, they are very insightful.
June 19th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Thanks for the comments Sam. Mojo is a stud. He has 15 amateur fights and although a handful of pro fights I’ve seen Mojo take a major beating and still come out with the win in the end. I like Mojo a lot and you will be seeing him in the UFC some day.
July 9th, 2008 at 9:06 am
hey man are you going to write any new articles?
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:43 am
Just wondering if first event how many fights should i start with?