CASE STUDY OF A SPORTING EVENT

INTRODUCTION
If there is one night that will forever be remembered in the field of combat sports it will be
when, ‘The notorious one’, Connor McGregor fought boxing champion Floyd Mayweather in
a ‘money match’ in Las Vegas. The fight was billed to have generated over $600 million in
revenue and showcased a crossover of two different worlds, Boxing and MMA.

The event ushered in a new era of Pay Per View (PPV) entertainment. People paid up to a $100
for a PPV feed and the event lived up to the hype. In this paper we explore the learnings from
the bout from a brand notoriety and spectator experience perspective to understand how it
elevated spectator experience and how other sports could learn from it.

BACKGROUND
The Mayweather -McGregor super fight came about after months of banter and verbal sparring
between the sporting icons. This was played out in the media and social media engagement
was a key reason for the fight to come to fruition. A fight of this magnitude generating the air
play that it did was unprecedented, and it proved that social media and intelligent marketing
were key to the success of a sporting event.

The fight had a distinct hero vs villain narrative. Initially McGregor was perceived as a villain
for goading Mayweather to come out of retirement for this fight. Once the fight was
commissioned, the trash talking in the press and the fact that Mayweather was a hall of fame
boxer flipped the narrative and McGregor was seen as the underdog hero.

The fight itself lived up to the hype. It was a historical success commercially, in terms of fan
engagement, in bringing attention to the sponsors of the event and in creating a renewed interest
in boxing and MMA.

SOCIAL ENAGEMENT
The idea for a cross sport fight between McGregor and Mayweather was seeded partly because
of the Irish man’s initial social media post. He had made public insults about Hall of Fame
pugilist, Mayweather during the press conference of a UFC match. He followed this up with
constant social media barrages. The fans then took notice and anticipation for the fight reached
fever pitch. It got to the point where UFC Chairman, Dana White had to come out and publicly
deny that such a match would take place.

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Once Dana White had made the position of the UFC clear, McGregor made a statement that he
was even willing to leave the UFC to make this fight happen. This led to fans across social
media picking up the baton and the sheer amount of chatter on outlets like Facebook, Twitter
and Instagram made it impossible for the organizers to ignore and the fight of the century saw
the light of the day.

Social media and fan engagement also played a crucial role during and after the fight. The fight
was live streamed on the app Periscope, and it received 587% more digital content engagement
on the night of the fight compared to the previous day. It is also estimated that each of the
fighters gained around 400,000 more Instagram followers during the flight.

Fig 1 : Twitter followers in the lead up to the fight

The UFC are no strangers to using social media as a catalyst for fan engagement. When the
UFC was launched in 2001, there was no mainstream media interest in the organization.
However, they became early pioneers of using social media and became a core competence of
the UFC.

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Fig 2: The ultimate fighter – Viewership figures

The UFC constantly works with its athletes to ensure they curate great content to push out to
their audiences. Their tryst with creating engaging fan content started with the reality television
series The Ultimate Fighter. The series ran for 14 seasons and showcased Professional MMA
fighters who lived and trained together in Las Vegas. These fighters were competing for a
prized contract with the UFC. The show drew millions of viewers and launched the sport into
mainstream consciousness.

BRAND NOTRIETY
Sponsors of the super fight benefitted with increased sales and traffic to their digital channels.
Luxury watchmaker, Hublot was Mayweather’s prime sponsor for the fight. In the lead up to
the fight, 30% of all Hublot digital content engagement was Mayweather related. Hublot had
187% more engagement on social media in the 3 days surrounding the event as well.

Brands that weren’t directly sponsoring the event, still managed to get some mileage out of the
fight by referencing it and running social media campaigns around the fight. For instance, T-
Mobile, which had naming rights to the fight venue, featured prominently in all the coverage
up to and around the event. T Mobile was also able to double down on this coverage with
competitions that gave its users the opportunity to travel to Vegas for the fight.

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WHAT CAN BE DONE BETTER?

The McGregor vs Mayweather fight had one important effect. It attracted viewers who were
neither a fan of boxing nor a fan of MMA to buy PPVs and become engaged in the
conversation. Casual fans are the way for MMA and boxing to increase viewership and ensure
that the sports reach a wider audience.

UFC has shown tremendous growth year on year in terms of both viewership and revenue.
McGregor has remained a key draw for audiences. However, new faces like Jon Jones, Kamaru
Usman, Dustin Poirier etc. have also generated a significant fan following and consequently
fan engagement.

Fig 3 : UFC Revenues

The average age of a boxing fan is currently at 49 years. Combat sport needs to appeal to a
younger demographic. Showcases bouts are a great way to do that.

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CONCLUSION
What started off as an off handed remark made by Conor McGregor in Esquire magazine
proved latter to be a marketing juggernaut. Although the appeal of these events is in their rarity,
it is also important for brands to prioritize ways of driving fan engagement through intelligent
marketing. The UFC was able to negotiate a TV deal of thrice their current value on the back
of this fight. They have also managed to successfully use the larger-than-life appeal of Conor
McGregor to elevate the sport to in terms of both viewers and revenue. This is an important
lesson for all sports to learn from.

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