- Joined
- Jul 27, 2013
- Messages
- 8,282
- Reaction score
- 186
Not true. You're not going to get any sales if potential customers don't know your product exists. Killing any grassroots marketing this early on to make a few thousand dollars is the height of bad business.
New Japan Pro Wrestling wouldn't have run shows in the US this year if they were still charging $100+ for the G1 Climax. They made their product extremely accessible to an international audience with the introduction of NJPW World, and are reaping the benefits of increased exposure, massive merchandise sales, and international gates / rights fees.
JMMA promotions usually realize this just before they're about to die. Then what happens are Hail Mary shows like PRIDE 32 or Dynamite USA, where these companies are hedging their bets on the success of late-in-the-game US shows on the hopes it gains immediate traction and they can benefit from UFC-esque success to save their Japanese operations. UFC (who were native to this market) spent a lot of money, took a ton of risks, and spent years to build their brand domestically.
RIZIN already isolating the worldwide market to generate insignificant sales (hardly enough to pay a single fighter, probably) isn't smart decision-making.
From my personal experience, I can agree. If it wasn't for free UFC.tv in Germany (~2011), I would have never become a MMA fan.
I was curious watching it, but I wouldn't have paid for it back then, because I wasn't a fan. I knew who Chuck Liddell and Brock Lesnar were, that's about it.