Make weight, order @Wingstop, win fights, repeat.
Don’t miss @RiyadhSeason #NocheUFC on September 14th! pic.twitter.com/52dUvsTusY
— UFC (@ufc) September 11, 2024
The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s event at the Sphere is proving to be quite lucrative for the Las Vegas-based promotion.
According to a report from the Sports Business Journal, UFC 306 will have more sponsorships and sponsorship revenue than any previous event. All told, there will be 34 sponsors for the card, which is the first sporting event to be held at the Sphere. This includes newcomers such as Wingstop, Dude Wipes, apparel company True Classic, investment app Autopilot, Finnish mobile game developer Supercell and Sony Pictures.
To put it into perspective, sponsorship revenue for UFC 306 will more than double the previous record set at UFC 300 in April, per the report.
UFC 306: O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!
“We’ve been able to land some new categories because of the Sphere,” said Grant Norris-Jones, UFC’s EVP and head of global partnerships. “These are significant, largely seven-figure spends to be part of this event, which was more attractive because of the Sphere. One of them we’d been talking to since before the pandemic. The Sphere just made people more aware of the event, and in a different way.”
In another interesting note, Bud Light holds presenting sponsor status, and that includes UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier “guest bartending” for Anheuser-Busch InBev at the Venetian, which is located nearby on the Las Vegas strip.
UFC 306 is also the organization’s first event with a title sponsor, as it has been branded Riyadh Season Noche UFC 306. According to Norris-Jones, the promotion will be open to more title sponsors in the future under the right circumstances.
“It’s the first time a brand has come before the letters UFC, but it’s an asset with a lot of value,” he said. “They set a strong market rate for a title, so we’ll look at that now for any partner willing to step up.”
