RIZIN Fighting Federation Testing Season Ticket Sales
In a press release from RIZIN Fighting Federation, it was announced that the Japanese promotion would be testing the fans response to being able to purchase season tickets for their events. They would only be available for purchase for a limited time and sold at a discount.
“This will be the first time for RIZIN to set up such offer, and this will be a test to see what kind of response we get, which will be put into consideration for the production setup,” said Nobuyuki Sakakibara. The sale would last five days sold only in Japan and be for the three events in the Saitama Super Arena that begin in July. The exact dates are as follows:
July 29th – Saitama Super Arena
September 30th – Saitama Super Arena
December 31st – Saitama Super Arena
The ticket sale begins March 8.
If this catches on, could this be the next stage in growth for mixed martial arts (MMA) as a whole? Granted, MMA is not as popular everywhere as it is in Japan, but that is the goal for the sport and the promotions that put on the shows. Both the UFC and Bellator have early release ticket sales for fans that sign up for mailing lists, but could “season” ticket sales for venues the promotions frequent be a new selling point to keep fans coming back? The UFC has already named the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as their featured home arena since that is where the company is based and when Bellator makes its rounds around the country, there are venues like the SAP Center in San Jose, California and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut that have huge turnouts. Granted, MMA does not necessarily have “seasons” but having a guaranteed seat at a venue a promotion goes to more than a few times a year might be a nice incentive to keep fans interested.
Would you buy a season ticket to your favorite promotion’s most frequented arena?
