The UFC has maximized site fees as an important factor when deciding which cities, states or countries will host events and act as one of the latest places Azerbaijan will try to pay for fight cards.
Site fees are essentially financial components paid by local governments to the UFC and introduce events. The UFC has negotiated handsome fees to begin holding events in Saudi Arabia after already shocking previous long-term deals with cities like Abu Dhabi in the past.
The exact fees paid to the UFC to bring the card to Baku in Azerbaijan have not been revealed, but TKO Group Holdings president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro touted the expensive bill to land the June 21 event across the state of Georgia and the border.
“We look under all the stones,” Shapiro said Tuesday at the JPMorgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference on pursuit of site fees. “When you’re doing a Royal Rumble for two days at a meaningful site fee in Indianapolis, when you go to New Jersey for Summer Slam this summer, they’re paying US$7 million.
“Then, from the course in June, we will go to Baku, Azerbaijan for millions. So these aren’t just around Kansas City.”
The conversation began with comments about a recent “TKO takeover” in Kansas City, Missouri. There, the UFC held an event on the same weekend as WWE and professional bull riders.
Since TKO was established in the merger of UFC and WWE, executives like Shapiro have spoken about the opportunity to host multiple events in the same city, raising even greater interest in local governments paying premium prices at site fees.
Shapiro said he hopes the recent acquisition of Kansas City will serve as a “template” for future events, but overall financial gains are the most important thing.
“We keep searching for it and continuing to pursue it (many of events like Kansas City), but we are driven by economic benefits so that we don’t get wrong about it,” Shapiro said. “It was a great acquisition media. It was a solid return on the price of the site and the friendly service. It worked on our schedule. Amazing arena. A great fan base for all sports.
Just recently, WWE traveled to the UFC’s backyard in Las Vegas for the WrestleMania 41 event and apparently won a large fee to get there, but Shapiro says the city has definitely been paid back.
“You’ll be specific about the site pricing… take a look at WrestleMania 41,” says Shapiro. “We have a meaningful site fee and have been kind from Las Vegas. We’ve just finished our economic impact investigation or just put the finishing touch on it, and the research shows we’re driving $320 million to the city of Las Vegas at WrestleMania 41.”
Site fees have become such a huge business for the UFC and WWE, so Shapiro noted that the entire team is dedicated solely to that particular resource. In other words, Azerbaijan is certainly not the last surprising place to land major events.
“We dedicated our entire team because we need to have these relationships, not just the governmental aspect,” Shapiro said. “But these differences city ground boots reveal who wants to pay to play.”