2014 RGV MMA/Boxing Gate and Attendance Breakdown

 

2014 was a great year for us fight fans here in the Rio Grande Valley and financially it looked to be a solid year for the local promotions as well. There was a total of 6,825 tickets sold from all 11 pro combat events with an average of 620 tickets sold per event and with average gate of $27,542. These averages highlight an opportunity for promotions to get new faces in the crowds to turn them into fans. A few years ago Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported that the Rio Grande Valley market was one of the healthiest boxing markets in the nation:

The ten strongest boxing metropolitan area markets per capita were Harlingen-McAllen, TX (172,250 fans), El Paso (108,200 fans), Fresno (182,400 fans), Bakersfield (67,100), San Antonio (264,100), Los Angeles (1,543,700), Memphis (171,300), Las Vegas (181,900), Albuquerque (154,000), and Honolulu (95,100). – Dave Meltzer, WON 5/6/13

With just over 172,000 boxing fans here in the valley, there has to be a way for local promotions to maximize the local market. This year local promotions attracted less than one percent(.003) of potential ticket buyers which could be due to the economic climate in RGV market. Even if the per capita number is based on boxing fans, there is still an opportunity for local promotions to expand their reach to maximize the market in the Rio Grande Valley.

With that said, gates and receipts were obtained through TDLR and only shows held in the valley and put on by local promotions were taken inconsideration.

STFC 

STFC had a great year after losing some of their major star power to the big leagues. The thing about STFC is that they understand  the need to develop stars for the promotion to continue growing(see: Fabian Salidvar, Luke Flores and Victor Martinez). They have also done a great job at branding themselves as the premier promotion for MMA here down south and the gates are proof of it.

There was a total of 4 STFC shows(5 in total with the Victoria show) that sold 2,567 tickets for the whole year with an average of 642 sold per event. STFC also generated an average gate of $30,090 for their four events. STFC highest grossing gate of the year  was headlined by Danny Salinas taking on Booker Arthur generating $41,870 in ticket sales with only 433 tickets sold.

This was the highest grossing gate for an MMA show here in the Valley in 2014 but was about $5,000 less than the highest grossing gate for all combat events here in the valley in 2014. In total, STFC generated $120,360 in ticket sales and takes the honor for generating the most ticket sales here in the valley for combat sports in 2014. STFC is also the only promotion this year to have their event gates total over six figures.

NORD Boxing Promotions

NORD Promotions had a total of three shows this year with one of those shows being at the very bottom  for gate and attendance for 2014. Even with that one show, NORD was still able to have their two remaining events in the top 3 gates of the year here in the valley. The promotion averaged 746 tickets sold per event and generated a average gate of $27,710 for all three shows. In total, 2,237 tickets were sold to watch a NORD boxing event for 2014 and generated a total gate of $83,132.

NORD Promotions started with a poor showing on May 3 with only 80 tickets sold for this event which produced a gate of $1,760. This show was headlined by Raul Casarez taking on Keith Downs at the Pharr Event Center. The reasons this show produced the weakest gate and tickets sold this year is due to promotion’s lack of understanding that a Mayweather pay-per-view has on the local market or it could be that “El Tigre” just isn’t the draw he use to be considering he was coming off a vicious knockout defeat three months earlier.

Even with a poor showing with their first event of the year, NORD came back with a very strong show headlined by James De La Rosa taking on Fabian Reyes. This show produced the strongest gate and attendance of the year here in the valley with 1311 tickets sold for a gate of $46,262. NORD last event of the year was on 11/8/2014 was a co-promoted televised event featuring Diego Magdaleno taking on Hevinson Herrera. This show sold 846 tickets to generate a gate of $35,110.

[youtube id=”S_DxE68bKQE” width=”620″ height=”360″]

 JC Fight Promotions

JC Fight Promotions ran a total of three shows this year and averaged a gate of $24,111 per event for a total of $72,334 in ticket sales for 2014. The promotion also sold on average 392 tickets per event and sold 1,176 for 2014 which are third highest among valley combat promotions. It should be noted that the amount of tickets being sold is almost equivalent to the amount of tickets that were comped(929).

The promotions first show of the year headlined by Ryan Spann taking on Randy McCarthy was the promotions hottest ticket seller for 2014 with 488 tickets being sold but was also the least lucrative event for the promotion with a gate of $18,631.  JC ‘s most lucrative show was on 6/14/2014 headlined by DJ Fuentes taking on Jose Ceja. The show generated a gate of $33,387 based off of 408 tickets sold and is the 4th largest gate in the valley for 2014. JC’s September event headlined by Jamall Emmers taking on Michael Rodriguez produced a gate of $20,316 with 280 tickets sold.

Mario Davila Boxing

Mario Davila promotion only ran one show here in the valley but it still was a good showing for them. The promotion ran its only valley based show in Brownsville headlined by Raphael Murphy taking on Andrew Greeley. This event sold 845 tickets to the event with 574 tickets being comped. The 845 tickets sold generated $27,140 and is the 6th highest grossing event for 2014 and the 3rd highest grossing boxing event for the Rio Grande Valley market.

 

 2014 Averages and Totals

• Average of tickets bought per show- 620
• Total tickets bought in 2014- 6,825
• Average gate per event – $27,542
• Total gate for 2014 – $302,966
• Total of Shows in 2014- 11