UFC to pack up to $20M economic punch for Calgary
Canadian events perform well, organizer says
People associated with the upcoming Ultimate Fighting Championship card in Calgary will alone take up about 700 hotel rooms in the city and the economic effect from the event will be up to $20 million, says the organization’s director of Canadian operations.
Tom Wright, who was in Calgary Wednesday speaking to a Calgary Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Flames Central, said “the economic impact to the city of Calgary will probably be in the $15-20 million range.”
“The economic impact is significant,” he said. “We will bring in 150 of our own people. . . . The multiplier effect of our events like restaurants, hotels, taxis, bars is always significant because what’s interesting is that there’s a large contingent of our fans that travel from event to event to event. . . . We find that typically about 40 per cent of the crowd will come from outside of the city. And that’s really a key economic driver to ride support for Calgary.”
The Calgary event is slated for July 21 at the Saddledome.
The UFC has hosted eight events in Canada since 2008, with 185,000 people in attendance and millions worldwide watching on pay-per-view broadcasts. The three host cities to date — Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto — have had a total gross gate of more than $40 million.
Wright said of the 145 UFC events held worldwide, six Canadian events rank in the Top 10.
“The all-time record which was UFC 129 at the Rogers Centre (in Toronto), 55,000 people. That gate was $12.1 million — largest ever,” he said. “All of our fights in Canada are big. A typical Canadian fight, the gate will probably be in the $4-5 million range.”
He said the economic impact for the Toronto event was in the $35-million to $40-million range. The Saddledome can accommodate between 19,000 and 20,000 for the event.
Adam Legge, president and chief executive of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, described the UFC as an “absolutely phenomenal global brand” and “it’s worth a ton of money.”
“It’s a fascinating business story that I think will really resonate with the audience here because Calgary, and the province of Alberta, is all about entrepreneurship. All about passion. All about taking risks. All about really being leaders. And that’s what we’ve done,” Wright said.
Marco De Iaco, vice-president of sales, sport and major events for Tourism Calgary, said there will be a significant economic impact from the UFC event.
“A number of these tickets will be sold outside of the city of Calgary,” he said. “We’re expecting strong visitation from people coming into the city for the event. It’s a good time of year for us in the third week of July, after Stampede.
“I think also an event like this has a lot of profile, a lot of cachet. It just sort of adds to Calgary’s portfolio of international sporting events. There will be a lot of attention on Calgary on the July 21st weekend.”
Wright said tickets will go on sale May 10 to the UFC Fight Club. On May 11, tickets will be available to members of the UFC newsletters. And on May 12 tickets go on sale to the general public.
Ticket prices have not yet been determined.