Report: UFC 306 to Set Promotion Records for Sponsorships, Sponsorship Revenue

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.

“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.”