Shane's role in the UFC?

But five years after the initial explosion of popularity built by The Ultimate Fighter reality show, you don’t see a strong UFC brand in the marketplace. While you might expect a thriving brand of UFC t-shirts and hats to be sold in Wal-Marts nationwide, instead you find-almost nothing.

Here, more than anywhere else, is where the UFC can use McMahon’s help. Not only has he witnessed firsthand the WWE’s slow march to wrestling ubiquity, he has personally secured much of the company’s foreign business deals. McMahon has successfully made millions in the United Kingdom and German markets, even successfully taking the WWE into the heart of Western Europe, and can likely replicate that success for the UFC.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/11/23/1170939/shane-mcmahons-possible-role-in

It does remain amazing to me that the UFC has yet to really crack the consumer market effectively. "UFC" is a household word (household acronym?) at this point and yet as my wife and I were out doing Christmas shopping this past weekend the only time I saw any strong MMA presence in any store was walking past a Spencer's Gifts and seeing a gigantic Tapout display.




eh, the growth of MMA is very visible in the marketplace when one looks at the # of MMA gyms that are out there, and the amount of TV time that MMA has earned. But MMA will always lack in terms of merchandise when compared to other sports for the simple fact that fighters do not wear uniforms.

captain organic wrote:

It does remain amazing to me that the UFC has yet to really crack the consumer market effectively. "UFC" is a household word (household acronym?) at this point and yet as my wife and I were out doing Christmas shopping this past weekend the only time I saw any strong MMA presence in any store was walking past a Spencer's Gifts and seeing a gigantic Tapout display.




eh, the growth of MMA is very visible in the marketplace when one looks at the # of MMA gyms that are out there, and the amount of TV time that MMA has earned. But MMA will always lack in terms of merchandise when compared to other sports for the simple fact that fighters do not wear uniforms.

Tapout, Affliction, and a few others have been huge. UFC.... not so much.

Farmer1906 wrote:

captain organic wrote:

It does remain amazing to me that the UFC has yet to really crack the consumer market effectively. "UFC" is a household word (household acronym?) at this point and yet as my wife and I were out doing Christmas shopping this past weekend the only time I saw any strong MMA presence in any store was walking past a Spencer's Gifts and seeing a gigantic Tapout display.




eh, the growth of MMA is very visible in the marketplace when one looks at the # of MMA gyms that are out there, and the amount of TV time that MMA has earned. But MMA will always lack in terms of merchandise when compared to other sports for the simple fact that fighters do not wear uniforms.

Tapout, Affliction, and a few others have been huge. UFC.... not so much.

huge is a relative term. And wearing a UFC t-shirt would be like wearing a shirt that says NFL or MLB across the front. I don't see it happening.

An affliction t-shirt looks alot like all sorts of non-mma clothing. unless someone was aware that their is a connection they would not know it merely by seeing the clothing.

captain organic wrote:

Farmer1906 wrote:

captain organic wrote:

It does remain amazing to me that the UFC has yet to really crack the consumer market effectively. "UFC" is a household word (household acronym?) at this point and yet as my wife and I were out doing Christmas shopping this past weekend the only time I saw any strong MMA presence in any store was walking past a Spencer's Gifts and seeing a gigantic Tapout display.




eh, the growth of MMA is very visible in the marketplace when one looks at the # of MMA gyms that are out there, and the amount of TV time that MMA has earned. But MMA will always lack in terms of merchandise when compared to other sports for the simple fact that fighters do not wear uniforms.

Tapout, Affliction, and a few others have been huge. UFC.... not so much.

huge is a relative term. And wearing a UFC t-shirt would be like wearing a shirt that says NFL or MLB across the front. I don't see it happening.

An affliction t-shirt looks alot like all sorts of non-mma clothing. unless someone was aware that their is a connection they would not know it merely by seeing the clothing.

So a shirt with a Blue star on it would look like a random shirt unless you knew their was a connection.

uh yeah, unless you know their was a connection it would be merely a random star.

But your example fails for at least a couple of reasons.

1)The dallas Star represents a team that fans root directly for. Fans don't root for Affliction. Fans don't root for tapout, and as much as we may appreciate what the org's do for the sport, no one roots for the org's(again see my NFL/NBA) they root for the fighters. and in the cage, the fighters do not have unforms. Every cowboy player on the field has 4 of those stars on their uni's.

2)As America's team(and as a Giants fan it pains me to say that) far more people are aware what the star(which again is the symbol of a team for which people root) represents then they do understand what tapout or affliction represent.

Affliction or tapout is more analagous to Levi jeans(Brett Farve) or hanes underwear(Michael Jordan), or Toyota (Eli Manning).

captain organic wrote:

uh yeah, unless you know their was a connection it would be merely a random star.

But your example fails for at least a couple of reasons.

1)The dallas Star represents a team that fans root directly for. Fans don't root for Affliction. Fans don't root for tapout, and as much as we may appreciate what the org's do for the sport, no one roots for the org's(again see my NFL/NBA) they root for the fighters. and in the cage, the fighters do not have unforms. Every cowboy player on the field has 4 of those stars on their uni's.

2)As America's team(and as a Giants fan it pains me to say that) far more people are aware what the star(which again is the symbol of a team for which people root) represents then they do understand what tapout or affliction represent.

Affliction or tapout is more analagous to Levi jeans(Brett Farve) or hanes underwear(Michael Jordan), or Toyota (Eli Manning).

Far more people are aware because NFL > UFC so maybe Shane or some other exect could help close the gap

Favre doesn't wear jeans on the field; fighters do wear clothes when they fight.

http://www.performancemma.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=Tap-TeamRashad-Shorts&gdftrk=gdfV2877_a_7c75_a_7c175_a_7cTap_d_TeamRashad_d_Shorts

Those should be at academy, finishline, footlocker, Champs, and everywhere that sells basketball shorts.

They may never be the NFL, but there is room to grow

Again, clothes in the ring is different then a teams uniform. People have been rooting for their pro sport teams for 50 years. The players change but the team stays the same. The team remains the brand. Their gear sells because people root for that team. People do not root for the UFC.



Could they grow? sure. Is there big time room for growth? big time? I don't see it. I know Im not buying a pair of GSP hot pants to wear out on the town with or without a UFC label.

Make good products. Simple as that. Affliction shirts look neat. Tapout shirts look neat. UFC shirts look like shit. Dana prolly found the cheapest T-shirt maker he could find and ran with it. Just like that video game. It sold a lot of copies, but lets face it, not a very good product.

The game got rated pretty high actually

Farmer1906 wrote:

The game got rated pretty high actually

IGN had it at 7.5 I think. Not very high. I don't know what other video game reviwers gave it. Dana shoulda went with EA. I don't believe a thing of what Dana said about EA, just another bridge he burned.

Though I agree that Dana probably burned that bridge, you gotta give him credit for defending their business partner and their investment into the UFC. I wish they had gone with EA Sports, because they are the best, but you will note they only signed a few fighters a year before the UFC game came out, which I believe was to be used as leverage in case the competitors game was successful. As soon as they saw the numbers come back from UFC Undisputed, they really started cranking on getting their game in gear.

Andrew the Raider King wrote:

Though I agree that Dana probably burned that bridge, you gotta give him credit for defending their business partner and their investment into the UFC. I wish they had gone with EA Sports, because they are the best, but you will note they only signed a few fighters a year before the UFC game came out, which I believe was to be used as leverage in case the competitors game was successful. As soon as they saw the numbers come back from UFC Undisputed, they really started cranking on getting their game in gear.

I can go along with that.

Farmer1906 wrote:

But five years after the initial explosion of popularity built by The Ultimate Fighter reality show, you don’t see a strong UFC brand in the marketplace. While you might expect a thriving brand of UFC t-shirts and hats to be sold in Wal-Marts nationwide, instead you find-almost nothing.

Here, more than anywhere else, is where the UFC can use McMahon’s help. Not only has he witnessed firsthand the WWE’s slow march to wrestling ubiquity, he has personally secured much of the company’s foreign business deals. McMahon has successfully made millions in the United Kingdom and German markets, even successfully taking the WWE into the heart of Western Europe, and can likely replicate that success for the UFC.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/11/23/1170939/shane-mcmahons-possible-role-in

That's what I basically said he could do. He knows marketing for sponsorship and can expand upon venues for future shows.

GDPofDRC wrote:

Farmer1906 wrote:

But five years after the initial explosion of popularity built by The Ultimate Fighter reality show, you don’t see a strong UFC brand in the marketplace. While you might expect a thriving brand of UFC t-shirts and hats to be sold in Wal-Marts nationwide, instead you find-almost nothing.

Here, more than anywhere else, is where the UFC can use McMahon’s help. Not only has he witnessed firsthand the WWE’s slow march to wrestling ubiquity, he has personally secured much of the company’s foreign business deals. McMahon has successfully made millions in the United Kingdom and German markets, even successfully taking the WWE into the heart of Western Europe, and can likely replicate that success for the UFC.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/11/23/1170939/shane-mcmahons-possible-role-in

That's what I basically said he could do. He knows marketing for sponsorship and can expand upon venues for future shows.

I don't get out to the malls too often, and here in NJ maybe wrestling ain't as big as in other areas so i ask this honestly, Is there a thrivng brand of WWE clothing out on the marketplace? WWE hats? Do people actually where that? Do adults where WWE clothing?

I remember asking a guy that was wearing a Georges St. Pierre shirt. Is that your favorite fighter? He replied by saying I don't know who that is. Just goes to show you if something looks good it doesn't matter whats on it or not people will buy it. I think it was an Affliction Shirt.

captain organic wrote:

GDPofDRC wrote:

Farmer1906 wrote:

But five years after the initial explosion of popularity built by The Ultimate Fighter reality show, you don’t see a strong UFC brand in the marketplace. While you might expect a thriving brand of UFC t-shirts and hats to be sold in Wal-Marts nationwide, instead you find-almost nothing.

Here, more than anywhere else, is where the UFC can use McMahon’s help. Not only has he witnessed firsthand the WWE’s slow march to wrestling ubiquity, he has personally secured much of the company’s foreign business deals. McMahon has successfully made millions in the United Kingdom and German markets, even successfully taking the WWE into the heart of Western Europe, and can likely replicate that success for the UFC.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/11/23/1170939/shane-mcmahons-possible-role-in

That's what I basically said he could do. He knows marketing for sponsorship and can expand upon venues for future shows.

I don't get out to the malls too often, and here in NJ maybe wrestling ain't as big as in other areas so i ask this honestly, Is there a thrivng brand of WWE clothing out on the marketplace? WWE hats? Do people actually where that? Do adults where WWE clothing?

Not really, like someone said before, Spencers is the place that sells the stuff, but I think wwf/wwe has always had one of those fan bases that is extremely loyal and buys products. I'd be curious to see what kind of annual gate numbers they put out too. They do 2 tv shows a week then I'd guess another 2 house shows a week and one or two sunday ppvs a month. Might not all be sellouts but that is a lot of people. They probably sell most of their merchandise at shows. Wrestling being fiction though is the drawback to a real type of mainstream following that MMA has potential for in merchandising.

When wrestling was at its peak you couldn't walk in a walk mart or mall without see an Austin 3:16 or an NWO shirt.

TapouT did over 100 million in sales. There is an obvious market.