The UFC held their UFC 82 press conference earlier today. Not only did they have their conference, but Dana White had a "surprise announcement" as well. UFC and Anheuser-Busch inked a deal where Bud Light will now be the official sponsor of the Ultimate Fighting Championships. The deal that was inked between Anheuser-Busch and Zuffa Inc. (owners of the UFC brand) will be for 3 years.
The Vice President of Anheuser-Busch, Tony Ponturo, discussed several important stats that many of us probably never knew:
“We looked at the numbers, they are amazing. The Spike ratings for men between 21-34 are higher than broadcast on major league baseball on Fox, CBS college basketball and SportsCenter (ESPN). It’s really amazing…The number of people attending live events, buying the pay-per-views
and talking about UFC around the water cooler continues to grow. It’s
just a great place for us to be."
President of the UFC, Dana White, responded:
“Landing Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light is huge for us, our fighters and especially our fans…We’ve got the number one selling beer in the world and one of the top
marketers in all of sports as our sponsor. If our TV ratings,
pay-per-view buys and venue sell-outs weren’t enough, this definitely
cements UFC as a major player in sports business.”
