MMA is on the rise, but it's not free from the affects of a lousy economy. UFC finally landing in Boston is a huge coup for the sport, but even a city hungry for fighting hasn't opened its wallets without some hesitation. Dan Duggan from the Boston Herald reports that UFC 118 needs a late push to sellout:
Tickets went on sale June 25 and as of last weekend about 11,000 tickets had been sold. The Garden’s capacity for the event will be 15,500.
UFC president Dana White, a Boston-native is surprised:
"I was shocked that we didn’t sell out,” White told the Herald Monday. "Everybody is telling me that things are rough back there." [...]
"We think it’s going to sell out," White said. "I think we’re like a couple thousand away from it. But when we get down to a thousand, we consider that a sell out. We’ll do that from walkup (sales)."
White is happy with the way the event has been marketed.
"Everything is great," White said. "The fight card, the lead-up and now going there is all good stuff."
He's probably got good reason to be confident that the card will sell out. The Boston media showed up in force Wednesday to cover the UFC 118 prefight press conference. Papers like the Herald and Boston Globe still have muscle in New England.
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