Could the UFC put a temporary roof over Croker/Aviva?

CM24

I heard Dana say they would think about figuring out some way of getting a roof on there. I assume it couldn't be too difficult to get some strong cables and a pretty big cover to stop rain from getting into the octagon.

Would it be possible to get a roof over the whole stadium? I assume it would be awkward for the fighters if the sun was getting in their eyes or making them sweat a lot.

I've been googling and haven't been able to find any examples of this being done before. Surely it's been done for a concert or something?

martyos121

A canopy to cover the octagon and the area surrounding it is more than sufficient IMO. Besides, if theres a possibility of this being a proper PPV event and not a Fight Night, they'd probably want to leave it as late as possible due to time difference in their core market (North America), so sun wouldn't be a huge issue.

SIX PACK

I don't know. but from a viewing prospective how in God's name would you be able to get a decent view from top tier of Cusack stand ? Or any of the stands for that matter would we all just be watching screens .

CM24

SIX PACK wrote: »

I don't know. but from a viewing prospective how in God's name would you be able to get a decent view from top tier of Cusack stand ? Or any of the stands for that matter would we all just be watching screens .

Binoculars.










Really though, I've been to a few games in Croker and seated at the very top. I've always been able to see the lads in midfield pretty clearly.

You'd be mainly there for the atmosphere anyway, which will be insane.

breadmonkey

Doing something like that would cost an absolute fortune. A "temporary roof" on that scale would be a considerable structure in its own right.

John_D80

Why in the name of God would they even bother?

There would/will undoubtedly be a small cover keeping rain off the octagon. But a roof over the entire stadium? Madness. A temporary roof for a sports stadium of that size? Doubt such a thing even exists. And even if it does, I ask again, why would they bother??

Nanoc

No doubt they'll do what they did in Abu Dhabi and just put a canopy over the cage and let the folks suffer the elements, let's face it... Won't stop people going!

threeball

They'd be mad to book Croker in the first place anyway cos I can't see anyway they sell it out other than adding Bisping V Silva to the card. and Gustafsson v Jones. The stadium holds 83K odd, and on top of that you have one of the biggest playing arenas of any sport bar cricket. You could probably comfortably fit another 20k on the pitch. The AI hurling final doesn't sell out on occasion and they expect to fill this behemoth with a fringe sport? This isn't the 3Arena we're looking at here!

John_D80

threeball wrote: »

They'd be mad to book Croker in the first place anyway cos I can't see anyway they sell it out other than adding Bisping V Silva to the card. and Gustafsson v Jones. The stadium holds 83K odd, and on top of that you have one of the biggest playing arenas of any sport bar cricket. You could probably comfortably fit another 20k on the pitch. The AI hurling final doesn't sell out on occasion and they expect to fill this behemoth with a fringe sport? This isn't the 3Arena we're looking at here!

You can't really compare MMA and Hurling in fairness. Two totally different audiences. MMA has far more fans across Western Europe and Scandinavia (the target market for this possible event) than hurling has in Ireland alone. It's certainly not overly ambitious of the UFC to think they can fill Croke Park.

I reckon you will be looking at at least 2 world title fights on the night. The rest of the main card populated by active UFC legends and big European names, Bisping, Gustafsson etc. Undercards should also be well stacked by comparison to arena events.

They'll sell it out alright with the right people driving it. This isn't their first rodeo in fairness.

PS; As a lifelong hurling fanatic, and attendee at 5 senior all Ireland hurling finals in the last 11 years, I can guarantee you Croke Park is packed to capacity on the first Sunday in September every year without fail. Likewise for the football 2 weeks later.

TimRiggins

threeball wrote: »

They'd be mad to book Croker in the first place anyway cos I can't see anyway they sell it out other than adding Bisping V Silva to the card. and Gustafsson v Jones. The stadium holds 83K odd, and on top of that you have one of the biggest playing arenas of any sport bar cricket. You could probably comfortably fit another 20k on the pitch. The AI hurling final doesn't sell out on occasion and they expect to fill this behemoth with a fringe sport? This isn't the 3Arena we're looking at here!

But the 3Arena sold out in record UFC time, and would have sold out countless times over. There is friends of mine that wouldn't have had any interest in going to Fight Night 46 but have asked about getting tickets for Croker.

Because of Insurance they won't be allowed to have more then 82,000 there so whatever they fit on the pitch will be taken off the upper tiers or possibly the hill.

McGregor v Aldo title fight, 2 or 3 more solid fights and all the Irish fighters, it will definatly sell out and all going well would be one of the greatest nights in Croker in history.

newballsplease

What has been the biggest attendence at any UFC ppv? Where was it can anyone tell me?

TimRiggins

newballsplease wrote: »

What has been the biggest attendence at any UFC ppv? Where was it can anyone tell me?

UFC 129 in The Skydome/Rogers Center in Toronto, 55,724 was the attendance

threeball

John_D80 wrote: »

You can't really compare MMA and Hurling in fairness. Two totally different audiences. MMA has far more fans across Western Europe and Scandinavia (the target market for this possible event) than hurling has in Ireland alone. It's certainly not overly ambitious of the UFC to think they can fill Croke Park.

I reckon you will be looking at at least 2 world title fights on the night. The rest of the main card populated by active UFC legends and big European names, Bisping, Gustafsson etc. Undercards should also be well stacked by comparison to arena events.

They'll sell it out alright with the right people driving it. This isn't their first rodeo in fairness.

PS; As a lifelong hurling fanatic, and attendee at 5 senior all Ireland hurling finals in the last 11 years, I can guarantee you Croke Park is packed to capacity on the first Sunday in September every year without fail. Likewise for the football 2 weeks later.

At least 80% of the population of Ireland enjoy either participating or watching hurling and with AI final day being the pinnacle there's huge demand so that's a pretty easy sell but the hurling struggles to sell out most years, its easy enough get tickets unless someone like Clare or Limerick are in it. Different story for the football.
Vitrually the entire interested audience live on this island within 3-4hrs of the stadium.
Now take MMA, a sport which is fringe and holds no special meaning in Irish hearts the way hurling does and expect it to sell out a stadium like Croker. Like I said, without 2-3 other superfights with top European fighters on the card it will never happen. You would have to sell out the 3Arena 8-9 times to fill Croker. Without a monster of a card harking back to the UFC glory days then it will never happen. 40 - 50,000 max

threeball

TimRiggins wrote: »

But the 3Arena sold out in record UFC time, and would have sold out countless times over. There is friends of mine that wouldn't have had any interest in going to Fight Night 46 but have asked about getting tickets for Croker.

Because of Insurance they won't be allowed to have more then 82,000 there so whatever they fit on the pitch will be taken off the upper tiers or possibly the hill.

McGregor v Aldo title fight, 2 or 3 more solid fights and all the Irish fighters, it will definatly sell out and all going well would be one of the greatest nights in Croker in history.

It would have sold maybe 3 times over but not beyond that and even 3 would have been a stretch. The people who like MMA love MMA and would kill to get in there. You would fill it maybe once with bandwagoners in for the atmosphere

threeball

TimRiggins wrote: »

UFC 129 in The Skydome/Rogers Center in Toronto, 55,724 was the attendance

There are 7million people in the greater Toronto area, plus its not that far from at least 4 other major cities, plus that card had at least 6 top end fights. 2 world title fights and 1 light heavyweight contender matchup. Bring that to Croker then you might fill it.

John_D80

threeball wrote: »

At least 80% of the population of Ireland enjoy either participating or watching hurling and with AI final day being the pinnacle there's huge demand so that's a pretty easy sell but the hurling struggles to sell out most years, its easy enough get tickets unless someone like Clare or Limerick are in it. Different story for the football.
Vitrually the entire interested audience live on this island within 3-4hrs of the stadium.
Now take MMA, a sport which is fringe and holds no special meaning in Irish hearts the way hurling does and expect it to sell out a stadium like Croker. Like I said, without 2-3 other superfights with top European fighters on the card it will never happen. You would have to sell out the 3Arena 8-9 times to fill Croker. Without a monster of a card harking back to the UFC glory days then it will never happen. 40 - 50,000 max

Easy enough to get tickets for a senior all Ireland hurling final unless the likes of Clare or Limerick are playing?? What planet are you on man? Every single year, if I'm not trying to get a ticket for myself I'm trying to get them for someone else. And it's not easy.

Don't be so focused on Ireland as being the target catchment area for this event. They will be pushing this to the whole of Europe.

threeball

John_D80 wrote: »

Easy enough to get tickets for a senior all Ireland hurling final unless the likes of Clare or Limerick are playing?? What planet are you on man? Every single year, if I'm not trying to get a ticket for myself I'm trying to get them for someone else. And it's not easy.

Don't be so focused on Ireland as being the target catchment area for this event. They will be pushing this to the whole of Europe.

I've been to 3 of the last 5 finals with my county only in one. I'm not registered with my club since I stopped playing and have no connections in order to get tickets but tickets for the hurling is a piece of pish. The only difficult game was Clare Cork. The football is next to impossible.

You can't sell it to Europe without putting on top European fighters so you're basically agreeing with my point.

John_D80

threeball wrote: »

I've been to 3 of the last 5 finals with my county only in one. I'm not registered with my club since I stopped playing and have no connections in order to get tickets but tickets for the hurling is a piece of pish. The only difficult game was Clare Cork. The football is next to impossible.

You can't sell it to Europe without putting on top European fighters so you're basically agreeing with my point.

I'll be PMing you around July/August next year for tickets, seeing as you can get them so easily.

It's a no brainer that they WILL OBVIOUSLY include big European names alongside other big international names. Also at least one other title fight besides Aldo/McGregor. Thus creating the demand to sell out Croke Park.

threeball

John_D80 wrote: »

I'll be PMing you around July/August next year for tickets, seeing as you can get them so easily.

It's a no brainer that they WILL OBVIOUSLY include big European names alongside other big international names. Also at least one other title fight besides Aldo/McGregor. Thus creating the demand to sell out Croke Park.

Which is the point I made in my first post which you somehow disagreed with.
Given the UFC's current business model I wouldn't bank on it being a no brainer however as they barely stack any cards anymore especially ones in PPV unfriendly areas.

csallmighty

What about only using half of the stadium?

Unless its an amazing card that would appeal to the whole of Europe I don't see 80,000 tickets being sold for it.

John_D80

threeball wrote: »

Which is the point I made in my first post which you somehow disagreed with.
Given the UFC's current business model I wouldn't bank on it being a no brainer however as they barely stack any cards anymore especially ones in PPV unfriendly areas.

Hmmm where did I disagree with that exactly?

If you had actually read the post properly you would see that I was basically questioning your comparison of MMA to Hurling as an indicator of how hard or easy it would be to sell out Croke Park, pointing out that it was silly to compare the two when the UFC event would be marketed to a Europe wide audience. Before going on to describe how I believed the event card would be compiled, comprised mostly of European fighters.

And I stand over that. You certainly can't compare an All Ireland Final to a UFC event when it comes to selling out stadiums. Different audiences in every way.

TimRiggins

threeball wrote: »

There are 7million people in the greater Toronto area, plus its not that far from at least 4 other major cities, plus that card had at least 6 top end fights. 2 world title fights and 1 light heavyweight contender matchup. Bring that to Croker then you might fill it.

It was GSP fighting that sold it, Just like McGregor will. He's bigger in the country then the UFC itself and you'll have no problem finding 82k to go to see an Irish person fight for a World Title.

threeball

csallmighty wrote: »

What about only using half of the stadium?

Unless its an amazing card that would appeal to the whole of Europe I don't see 80,000 tickets being sold for it.

That's why they should use the Aviva and even reduce capacity there. In Croker (if it ever happens) you could be up to 110-120m from the octagon. In the Aviva you'd be 75m at most. You'd nearly fit the entire Aviva inside Croker

threeball

TimRiggins wrote: »

It was GSP fighting that sold it, Just like McGregor will. He's bigger in the country then the UFC itself and you'll have no problem finding 82k to go to see an Irish person fight for a World Title.

Doubt it, but if it happens we'll see. GSP is from a country of 35 million people and was already an established superstar in Canada. McGregor is well known but he's no superstar.

CM24

Is it really the end of the world if they DON'T sell it out?

Would either the GAA or the UFC be losing money if they only sold 60,000 seats?

I'm pretty sure every man and his dog will want to go anyway. There's gonna be so much McGregor talk leading up to the event that everyone's gonna get on the bandwagon. Even looking at the last UFC event in the 02, there was a lot of women in the audience. If there's a chance to get pissed and support a fellow Irishman in anything Irish people will jump at it.

threeball

CM24 wrote: »

Is it really the end of the world if they DON'T sell it out?

Would either the GAA or Croker be losing money if they only sold 60,000 seats?

I'm pretty sure every man and his dog will want to go anyway. There's gonna be so much McGregor talk leading up to the event that everyone's gonna get on the bandwagon. Even looking at the last UFC event in the 02, there was a lot of women in the audience.

Its bad planning and you lose face when you book a venue that's too big. Its always better to have SOLD OUT slapped up a few weeks in advance on a 50k arena than have 55k sold for an 80K Arena and tickets not moving.
Then theres the issue of fan enjoyment and ability to actually see the event. If you've ever been on the hill or the canal you end up watching the big screen once the ball passes half way. In a football game its no biggy as you're watching movement and ball flight but in an MMA match I doubt you'd see one punch land all night. You'd be as well off watching it in the pub.

MrStuffins

TimRiggins wrote: »

But the 3Arena sold out in record UFC time

This isn't true, no matter what the McGregor propaganda machine claims!

CM24

I'd be happy enough with the Aviva anyway. It's probably the safer bet for the UFC.

Strongbow10

Best UFC fans in the world us Irish :rolleyes:

TimRiggins

Strongbow10 wrote: »

Best UFC fans in the world us Irish :rolleyes:

No, but we'll support our own. Don't know how people can be negative about an Irish fighter possibly fighting for a World Title in the country, anyone who wants to go will get tickets and will be a great night.

Awesomeness

I have seen a number of Americans and Canadians on MMA forums stating how they would love to travel to Ireland for an event. The same sentiment that was given by a large amount of MMA fighters and Journalists. IF the event goes ahead it will see a lot of interest from those outside of Ireland coupled with the upcoming documentary that will provide more spotlight on McGregor and the Irish love to get behind their own I could see it being sold out.

Its not a certainty but it will definitely be towards at least 60, 000

hqd

threeball wrote: »

At least 80% of the population of Ireland enjoy either participating or watching hurling and with AI final day being the pinnacle there's huge demand so that's a pretty easy sell but the hurling struggles to sell out most years, its easy enough get tickets unless someone like Clare or Limerick are in it. Different story for the football.
Vitrually the entire interested audience live on this island within 3-4hrs of the stadium.
Now take MMA, a sport which is fringe and holds no special meaning in Irish hearts the way hurling does and expect it to sell out a stadium like Croker. Like I said, without 2-3 other superfights with top European fighters on the card it will never happen. You would have to sell out the 3Arena 8-9 times to fill Croker. Without a monster of a card harking back to the UFC glory days then it will never happen. 40 - 50,000 max

80% of the population of Ireland enjoy either participating or watching hurling / the hurling struggles to sell out most years.....I would love to know where you are pulling these figures from...

Redmen Rafalution

threeball wrote: »

At least 80% of the population of Ireland enjoy either participating or watching hurling

Are you sure about that? What's your source?

Hurling is a terrible sport and I would be very surprised if hurling is enjoyed by roughly 3.5 million people in this country.

RFOLEY1990

Think it's a ridiculous idea to be honest. The Froch v Groves fight in Wembley was a farce. You're basically watching a screen

threeball

Redmen Rafalution wrote: »

Are you sure about that? What's your source?

Hurling is a terrible sport and I would be very surprised if hurling is enjoyed by roughly 3.5 million people in this country.

Given that the biggest TV viewership's for any event in this country virtually every year are the GAA finals. Figures which don't account for attendance at the game or viewers in pubs I'd say its a fairly safe bet. Then again anyone who thinks hurling is a terrible game would have issue with that. The FAI can't fill Landsdowne half the time, a stadium with 40% less capacity, yet I doubt you'd have an issue if I said 80% would watch Ireland play at some stage.

moneyman

There's no way 80% of people in Ireland watch/follow hurling, not a chance.

Yurt

Redmen Rafalution wrote: »

Are you sure about that? What's your source?

Hurling is a terrible sport and I would be very surprised if hurling is enjoyed by roughly 3.5 million people in this country.

1) Hurling is not a terrible sport :pac:

2) Definitely wrong saying it is enjoyed by 80% of the country.You could possibly make an argument that it is enjoyed by 80% of counties that hurling is the number one sport Cork,Kilkenny,Clare,etc but that would even be a stretch.

3) For a one off world title fight I would be willing to wager quite a bit of money that Croke Park would easily sell out.Admittedly I only started watching UFC in the last 2 years when McGregor came on the scene and after each fight he wins there are more and more fans jumping on the bandwagon.I was gutted to miss out on tickets the last time he fought in Ireland and after all the hype and talk about Ireland "Having the best atmosphere" I will make sure I'm online very early the next time tickets go on sale,And im sure the way that the UFC will be promoting this around here and Europe i wont be the only one.

4) Garth Brooks managed to sell out Croke Park 5 nights in a row !! Surely its not too much to expect Conor Mcgregor to sell out one night

Redmen Rafalution

threeball wrote: »

I doubt you'd have an issue if I said 80% would watch Ireland play at some stage.

I would have no issue with that. Nor would I have an issue with you saying that 80% would watch hurling at some stage.

But you said something else entirely:

threeball wrote:

At least 80% of the population of Ireland enjoy either participating or watching hurling

I doubt that is true of any sport on a consistent basis.

Mellor

If you added every single sport fan in the country together it wouldn't even come close to 80% imo.
There's 1000s if aul'wans playing bingo all over the country who don't care about the football results .

martyos121

Mellor wrote: »

If you added every single sport fan in the country together it wouldn't even come close to 80% imo.
There's 1000s if aul'wans playing bingo all over the country who don't care about the football results .

What makes you think it's just Irish fans that will buy tickets to this? If it goes ahead, it's set to be the one of the biggest UFC events in history. They've never booked a stadium bigger than 50,000, and when they did in Toronto, there were no problems filling it up. Every MMA fan in Europe will be dying to make the trip over for this. If anything, tickets will actually be hard to come by soon after they go on sale.

xtal191

Eh pretty sure he's talking about the "80% of the population of Ireland enjoy either participating or watching hurling" comment.

martyos121

Ah right, that's what I get for only reading the thread title and last post lol.

Mellor

martyos121 wrote: »

What makes you think it's just Irish fans that will buy tickets to this? If it goes ahead, it's set to be the one of the biggest UFC events in history. They've never booked a stadium bigger than 50,000, and when they did in Toronto, there were no problems filling it up. Every MMA fan in Europe will be dying to make the trip over for this. If anything, tickets will actually be hard to come by soon after they go on sale.

All of which has nothing to do with what I said
???

Edit: Jyst seen your post above. For future reference, Croker holds 80k people, not 80% of the country.

unknown13

martyos121 wrote: »

What makes you think it's just Irish fans that will buy tickets to this? If it goes ahead, it's set to be the one of the biggest UFC events in history. They've never booked a stadium bigger than 50,000, and when they did in Toronto, there were no problems filling it up. Every MMA fan in Europe will be dying to make the trip over for this. If anything, tickets will actually be hard to come by soon after they go on sale.

GSP headlined the card, he was an established champion who was around for years and had a massive following in a country with over 30 million more people than Ireland. Also, he fought Jake Shields who at the time was seen as a legit threat to GSP. The card also had a local fighter in Mark Hominick fighting Aldo in the co-main event

With that card in Toronto; UFC were selling out a 20K venue in Montreal in minutes before that on a regular basis.

This is not going to sell out or come close to it. Its better off in the Aviva. I think the card will do 50K-60K.

chopperbyrne

It will definitely sell out Croke Park. Never underestimate the amount of event junkies in Ireland and how many people from around Europe would love to come here for a weekend break/UFC event.

They will stack the card to make sure it sells out.

John_D80

Would it be reasonable to assume there would be at least one other title fight on this card?

DrPhilG

I wouldn't be so sure that they'll stack it.

They might not need to. Look how fast Fight Night Dublin sold out with a weak card and a sprinkling of Irish talent?

McGregor title fight may be enough in their eyes to sell out a Dublin stadium show. Pendred, Daly, Holohan and Seery will all be certs for it too. That's nearly half the card taken up.

John_D80

Are these enough to put 90,000 arses on seats though??

DrPhilG

John_D80 wrote: »

Are these enough to put 90,000 arses on seats though??

They were enough to sell out the last event in a heartbeat and that was against a lower level opponent.

McGregor fighting a P4P great for a title in Europe would be a huge draw.

The atmosphere is another.

The historic nature of the event is another. I tried to make it to the Toronto stadium show, couldn't work the budget though. If/when they get legalised in New York I'll be there by fair means or foul.

And that's all for MMA fans worldwide.

Then take the Irish factor, and the absolutely colossal amount of bandwagon fans who will want a piece of the action.

Plus I think the UFC are smart enough to price it to sell. You wouldn't see the rafters in Croke Park selling for €50+. Cheap seats €35-40 and lots of them.

threeball

DrPhilG wrote: »

They were enough to sell out the last event in a heartbeat and that was against a lower level opponent.

McGregor fighting a P4P great for a title in Europe would be a huge draw.

The atmosphere is another.

The historic nature of the event is another. I tried to make it to the Toronto stadium show, couldn't work the budget though. If/when they get legalised in New York I'll be there by fair means or foul.

And that's all for MMA fans worldwide.

Then take the Irish factor, and the absolutely colossal amount of bandwagon fans who will want a piece of the action.

Plus I think the UFC are smart enough to price it to sell. You wouldn't see the rafters in Croke Park selling for €50+. Cheap seats €35-40 and lots of them.

I don't think people appreciate how colossal a crowd 90,000 actually is. There are very few stadiums in Europe with Capacites above 60k and far less exceeding 80k because selling them out is next to impossible and thats for sports far more popular than MMA and draws far bigger than CMcG.

Many mma fans wouldnt even attend the Croker fights, I know I wouldn't. Terrible views if not ring side, a stadium more than likely half full with drunken idiots who are only there for the night out and who know no one on the undercard. You'll get 15 maybe 20k genuine fans. There isn't a hope in hell of getting another 70k to fill the bandwagon.

You have to factor in that there were bandwagoners in the O2 also.

John_D80

DrPhilG wrote: »

They were enough to sell out the last event in a heartbeat and that was against a lower level opponent.

McGregor fighting a P4P great for a title in Europe would be a huge draw.

The atmosphere is another.

The historic nature of the event is another. I tried to make it to the Toronto stadium show, couldn't work the budget though. If/when they get legalised in New York I'll be there by fair means or foul.

And that's all for MMA fans worldwide.

Then take the Irish factor, and the absolutely colossal amount of bandwagon fans who will want a piece of the action.

Plus I think the UFC are smart enough to price it to sell. You wouldn't see the rafters in Croke Park selling for €50+. Cheap seats €35-40 and lots of them.

On consideration I do agree they will sell it out very easily actually and would do so even with an average card but I think they would be crazy not to pack this card full of big names (including at least one other title fight) for a potentially record breaking event like this. Of the five Irish fighters in the UFC at present, only McGregor is a bona fide main card fighter. If it's announced, I'd be expecting champions to be actively campaigning to get on that card. How many opportunities would a fighter get to fight in front of a crowd like that?