1. Chris Ostrow
Introduction and Marketing Plan
When you think of Yankee Stadium, you think of sports’ most hollow grounds and
memories of the summer with past and current championships. New York City has been dubbed
the “Capital of The World”, so why not tie together the greatest city in the world with the
greatest fighters in the world? This was our intention when deciding to bring the Ultimate
Fighting Championship to Yankee Stadium. The old Yankee stadium had a great tradition with
boxing matches in the past, including Muhammed Ali and Ken Norton. Why not start again with
a new tradition of fighters, in the new stadium in the Bronx showcasing the next generations top
fighting talents in the Octagon on a pay-per-view extravaganza. We plan on holding the event
during the All-Star break so the field will not be preoccupied. Bringing the UFC to the Bronx
would be great for the New York fans who have never experienced this type of event before. It
would also expand the growth of one of the fastest growing sports.
Marketing Plan
An important aspect of our proposed event is the marketing plan. As recent as UFC 92,
one million people purchased the event on pay-per-view television (mmafrenzy.com) We have
set up an event with 11 matches over a three hour time slot. Titles will be defended and the pay-
per-view will be headlined by the fight the world has waited for; Lyoto Machida vs. Anderson
Silva. The Ultimate Fighter delivered top ratings in the male 18-34 year old since 2006
(ufc.com,2009).
We plan on marketing in New York on mass transportation vehicles such as buses, trains,
subways, and ferrys. Other forms of advertising we plan on implementing are with our key
sponsors Bud Light, Harley Davidson and Ecko clothing apparel (ufc.com, 2009) For 95,000 a
2. potential sponsor will receive exposure on the scoreboard with our four other principal partners.
They will also receive signage on the Yankee stadium left field wall with four other principal
partners. Their advertisement will be placed in the event handout which will be given to each
person who attends from every entrance of the stadium.
Some of our goals are to create high awareness for the UFC in the New York community
with positive publicity, as well as make a profit. Some goals related to Public Relations plans
are to provide our UFC President Dana White, with giving away 100 tickets in Time Square to
the first 100 fans that respond to UFC on Twitter’s message. Along with the tickets, fans will
receive pictures with the President as well as some autographs. Five fighters could be traveling
to work or school with you. We will have five different fighters giving out flyers raising
awareness on trains in each of the five different boroughs around New York City. One fighter
will also be at a Toys R’ Us in Times Square signing autographs for children. This will promote
the sport for future generations of fans.
We plan on targeting our demographic on the radio through stations such as Hot 97.1 fm,
Z100 fm, ESPN 1050 am, and WFAN 6060 am that will promote our stars. One week before the
fight starts, we need people to realize if they don’t go or watch this pay-per-view, they are
missing out on something, so we want to show a free fight in time square. We should utilize
YouTube.com as a promotional tool to hype up our fight. Magazines with key target markets
should be used also such as Muscle and Fitness, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and Maxim.
Obviously advertising on Spike TV during the Ultimate Fighter reality television series is
something that goes hand and hand. Marketing and getting our product out everywhere is
important because we have to capitalize on fans who have purchased in the past, and get the
3. word out to New Yorkers who never saw a fight in person before. The ultimate goal is for fans
to go to this event and be committed to the UFC for future events.
A potential company that spends 95,000 dollars will also get a featured promotion in
newspaper advertising space in the Daily News. As far as in stadium activity to reach all the
fans that attend the event we will give you Public Address Announcements, Logo on Video
Scoreboard, and Concourse identity. Each company that purchases this package will receive ten
front row seats. They will also receive VIP parking in the stadium. You will get your sign on
each different level of the stadium for as many fans to take in your product as possible. As a
sponsor, you will get a link on our website which is visited by over 750,000 unique visitors.
The card that is scheduled will read as follows our three main events will feature
1.Lyoto Machida vs. Anderson Silva- The Battle of Brazil- The Light Heavy Weight Champion
vs the Middleweight Champion
2. Rich Franklin vs. Forrest Griffin- The perfect fight for New York. We will have two sluggers
who will produce a tough fight.
3. Diego Sanchez vs. Bj Penn- Sanchez is an all around strong fighter that is tough. Penn may
possible be the most physically gifted fighter ever. The question is will he come into the fight in
shape? The fans know this and will pull for Sanchez.
And for our preliminary bouts
4. Ryan Bader vs. Matt Hamill,
5. Andre Winner vs. Sean Sherk,
6. CB Dollaway vs. Patrick Cote,
7. Krysztof Soszynski vs. Kendall Grove,
8. Damarques Johnson vs. Martin Kampmann,
4. 9. Cole Miller vs. Paul Kelly,
10. Marcus Davis vs. Jon Fitch,
11. Chris Lytle vs. Mike Swick.
The UFC is a global sport and we plan to broadcast the event in Canada, Mexico, Japan,
Brazil, England along with thirty-three other foreign countries. At first, critics said the UFC was
a fad and it wouldn’t last. The UFC is the next big sport to take over the country and with our
marketing strategy, promotion, and event held at Yankee Stadium it can come true.
To find out the demographic information of our ticket purchasers we can have a stand
where we have fans fill out a card in return for a free hats, or t-shirts. With this we can find out
the age, sex, income, education, location, activities, interests, opinions and job profession.
Asking questions to ticket holders such as their name, marital status, educational background,
postal code, and email address. We will have those hat information centers set up at all different
levels of the stadium. This will help us find out who are fans truly are. Our goal as marketers is
to establish a relationship where you can communicate with our fans.
In conclusion with the marketing plan established we believe that the UFC at Yankee
stadium could be the perfect fit. An event of this magnitude and size has never taken place
before. The closest event that took place of this magnitude was at the Staples Center in Los
Angeles, California which we believe will be blown out of the water.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths- UFC is the quickest growing sport that has a fan base across the USA and the world.
People would like to attend the 1st MMA event in NYC. New York Yankees stadium is the
5. perfect location for the event. The Main event will be marketed as The Battle of Brazil, which
will be perfect fit for the different ethnic backgrounds in New York City.
Weaknesses- Unpredictable how the first event will go since it has never been done before. The
event is outdoors so weather could be an issue. Main event has such powerful fighters it could
be over relatively soon. BJ Penn is known to not train very hard and could fight out of shape.
Threats- There are Government, Politics and regulations against MMA in NYC. Bad and
Inclement weather could possess a problem. UFC has never been held in a stadium that is this
large. It is unpredictable how the fans may react. Usually the matches are close and the fans are
able to interact. Strikeforce, Boxing, WWE, Yankees, Mets, MLS, any form of minor league
sport, movies, and Broadway.
Opportunities-UFC will be the 1st to perform MMA in New York. We plan on setting the stage
as a leader in the industry. We plan on attracting and satisfying the Mixed Martial Arts fan base
with a superb show.
References
www.ufc.com
www.mmafrenzy.com