Van Wagner Representing the UFC

MultiChannel reports that the UFC has inked a multi-year deal with Van Wagner Sports Group. Under terms of the deal, Van Wagner will help secure sponsorship opportunities for the UFC and WEC. The respected New York sports marketing firm's other clients include IMG, College Sports Television, World Cup Soccer, and Formula One Racing.

According to the article, "Van Wagner will work as an extension of the sales group of mixed martial arts franchises UFC and its sister MMA company World Extreme Cagefighting to help facilitate sponsorship deals for the organizations’ various pay-per-view and TV events."

UFC President Dana White on the deal:

We are pleased to be working with Van Wagner Sports and Entertainment in our venture to attract new media and sponsorships to the UFC and WEC. Fighting speaks every language and transcends every culture, and through this relationship with Van Wagner, we can increase visibility for UFC and the WEC – the biggest brands in the sport.

3/26 WEC Rating

WEC Live on Versus on 3/26 did a 0.52 rating (548,892 viewers) according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The brand is averaging a 0.50 rating (472,488 viewers) for its live broadcasts. The 6/1 event featuring Faber-Pulver is expected to break the brand's record high of 0.7.

WEC 3/26 Payouts

• Brian Stann ($18,000) d. Doug Marshall ($10,000)
• Chael Sonnen ($34,000) d. Bryan Baker ($5,000)
• Marcus Hicks ($10,000) d. Ed Ratcliff ($7,000)
• Steve Cantwell ($8,000) d. Tim McKenzie ($6,000)
• Hiromitsu Miura ($8,000) d. Blas Avena ($6,O00)
• Brock Larson ($24,000) d. John Alessio ($15,000)
• Richard Crunkilton Jr. ($20,000) d. Sergio Gomez ($4,000)
• Alex Serdyukov ($12,000) d. Ryan Stonitsch ($3,000)
• Chris Manuel ($3,000) v. Kenji Osawa ($5,000)
  
• Logan Clark ($12,000) d. J. Scott Harper ($3,000)

TOTAL DISCLOSED PAYROLL: $213,000

CREDIT: MMAJunkie.com

WEC 2/13 Rating Flash

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that the WEC Live on Versus on 2/13 did a 0.5 rating (468,000 viewers). While lower than the 0.7 the stacked December show drew, it is considered a success, besting the 0.4 most of the shows had done and doing so without top draw Uriah Faber.

In Focus: The WEC

The WEC is live on Versus tonight from Albuquerque, New Mexico in the brand's first venture outside of the friendly confines of Las Vegas since being acquired by Zuffa. The card is strong from top to bottom with three title fights. The only thing missing is star power, specifically the brand's golden boy Urjah Faber. Our friend Sam Caplan has a full rundown of the card at ProElite.com.

In a familiar situation, Spike is counter programming with UFC Unleashed at 9 & 11PM. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Brian Diamond, Vice President of Sports at Spike, for an upcoming FIGHT! magazine piece on the relationship between the UFC and Spike. Diamond indicated that he stays in touch with his counterpart at Versus to make sure they don't get in each others way. However, it appears that cooperation doesn't go much deeper than not going live head-to-head, something Zuffa wouldn't allow anyway, as both have chosen Wednesday night as the home of their respective MMA brands and consistently go head-to-head.

Despite the fact that it produces an entertaining product and is arguably the second best brand/promotion in the industry, the WEC's future is not entirely clear. The stated goal, at least for public consumption, is to build a brand on par with the UFC, something that I don't believe will ever be allowed to happen. It is possible to envision the brand becoming, if it isn't already, the premier 145 pound and below promotion in the world, but what that's really worth remains to be seen. I could see a future in Japan and Latin America for the brand given the lighter weight focus.

The WEC is scheduled for six shows in 2008 with plans to take the brand on the road with California, Texas, Okalohoma, New Jersey, and Florida mentioned as possible destinations by Vice President Peter Dropick. The brand is also eying its first pay-per-view event, most likely built around Faber v. Jens Pulver.

It is hard to see the financial payoff for Zuffa of promoting a second pay-per-view brand. WWE, with a legitimately equal second brand, ultimately found diminishing returns in its experience with multiple pay-per-view brands. WWE currently maintains three television brands, but has shifted from separately branded pay-per-views to tri-branded pay-per-views.

Furthermore, as the UFC continues to expand its live event schedule, the pressure will become greater to use the WEC as a farm system for the UFC, plucking the top talent for "the big show," or to merge the brands outright.

For now, it seems the only practical reason for the brand's existence is ultimately its television deal with Versus. The brand was explicitly purchased by Zuffa in order to allow it to enter into an agreement with Versus, thus blocking a competitor from a relatively strong television clearance. Until that contract expires and the network loses interest in UFC-lite, the WEC appears set to wander on producing some of the most exciting shows in MMA, but ultimately facing the glass ceiling of being Zuffa's B-brand.

UPDATED: UFC Sponsor Update: Harley-Davidson Official; Budweiser Coming Soon?; Xyience Files for Bankruptcy

Over the weekend Harley-Davidson officially announced its exclusive motorcycle sponsorship of the UFC and WEC. Key quotes:

“This is the first major worldwide sports sponsorship for Harley-Davidson outside the motorcycle/automotive category,” said Harley-Davidson Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Mark-Hans Richer. “We see our brand embodied in these fighters: young, aggressive, hard working individuals who cut against the grain.”

“Like Harley-Davidson, UFC is a true American passion that transcends cultures and languages, and shares incredible and growing popularity in the United States, Europe and around the world. Harley-Davidson is a powerhouse brand, we are proud to call it our exclusive UFC and WEC motorcycle sponsor and to have the historic Harley-Davidson Bar & Shield in the Octagon,” said UFC President Dana White.

While Harley-Davidson will occupy the center of the canvas, sources continue to tell MMAPayout.com that a deal between the UFC and Budweiser is believed to be eminent with the King of Beers set to take its place on the canvas as soon as April.

Additionally, this morning the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Xyience has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. MMAPayout.com will have further details on this story in the coming days.

Ratings Update

• The WEC Live Special on 12/12 did a strong 0.7 rating (629,000) viewers, up roughly 51.5% from the 0.4 (415,000) average of the previous three events.
• The UFC went head-to-head with the WEC with three hours of Unleashed coming in at 0.65, 0.74, and 0.80, which isn't far off what the program typically does. That is an interesting development because you would expect the two shows to have similar audiences. However, anecdotally, I know several people who have stumbled onto WEC on Versus and are fans who do not regularly watch the UFC on Spike.
  
• The Patriots-Giants game on 12/12 was the most watched regular season game in twelve years with 34.5 million viewers. That made it the seventh most watched TV show of 2007 in the United States. It will be interesting to see what, if any, impact the game had on the buy rate of UFC 79 which aired the same night on pay-per-view.
  

CREDIT: Dave Meltzer

WEC 31 Payouts

MMAOnTap.com has payouts from WEC 31 which took place in Las Vegas on 12/5:

• Jens Pulver: $60,000
• Paulo Filho: $56,000
• Urijah Faber: $40,000
• John Alessio: $26,000
• Chael Sonnen: $25,000
• Charles Valencia: $12,000
• Jeff Curran: $10,000
• Doug Marshall: $10,000
• Bryan Baker: $8,000
• Alex Karalexis: $8,000
• Ed Ratcliff: $8,000
• Brian Bowles: $6,000
• Cub Swanson: $5,000
• Marcos Galvao: $5,000
• Eric Schambari: $5,000
• Ariel Gandulla: $4,000
• Todd Moore: $4,000
• Ian McCall: $3,000

WEC v. UFC: Zuffa Goes Head-to-Head

Tonight the WEC goes head-to-head with the UFC. The WEC gets underway at 8PM on Versus with a replay of last week's countdown show (worth checking out), followed by the live card at 9PM featuring three title defenses and Jens Pulver's WEC debut. The UFC on Spike has a three hour block of Unleashed starting at 9PM with Silva-Marquardt, Griffin-Edgar, and Huerta-Garcia among others.

The decision by Spike to counter program the WEC show isn't incredibly surprising given the fact that Versus aspires to be a competitor to Spike in the 18-49 male demographic, however, the two networks have worked together in the past, with Versus airing the countdown special to the Ultimate Fighter 5 Live Finale featuring Penn v. Pulver. The live WEC specials on Versus have averaged around a 0.4-.05 rating, while Unleashed typically draws between a 0.7-.08 on Spike.

It will be interesting to see what kind of rating tonight's WEC broadcast draws. The card is loaded, featuring the promotions biggest stars in the form of Urijah Faber, Paulo Filho, and Pulver. The event has also received the biggest promotional push yet for a Zuffa promoted WEC event, complete with a countdown show in heavy rotation.

EliteXC & WEC Ratings

The 9/15 EliteXC show on Showtime headlined by Robbie Lawler v. Ninja Rua to unify the Middleweight titles did a 1.14 rating which due to Showtime's limited clearance is only 231,000 viewers. The rating is slightly ahead of what the network normally does on Saturday night. The show drew a 0.87 in males 18-34 and a 0.81 in males 35-49. This has to be considered a good showing considering the fact that they were without their marquee names and still posted the third highest MMA rating on Showtime. The rest of the top five:

• Frank Shamrock v. Phil Baroni - 1.71 / 410,000 viewers
• Frank Shamrock v. Renzo Gracie - 1.62
• Brock Lesnar v. Kim Min-soo and Royce Graice v. Kazushi Sakuraba - 1.07
• Live K-1 Los Angeles Coliseum Show Prelims - 0.75

The 9/5 WEC show did a 0.5 rating which is the highest rating of the brand's three live shows thus far.

Source: Dave Meltzer