For many reasons, Sweden is an attractive country for a UFC event because of it’s strong interest in MMA and also the wealth and population in the Stockholm area. Below is some information.
Sweden, combined with its Scandinavian neighbor Norway, ranks 9th in terms of users visiting the UFC.com Web site. Another factor is the Per Capita Product of households in Scandinavia, which rank 2nd, only to the US. So the purchasing power of the region, plus the strong interest in MMA shown through Web traffic to UFC.com, make Sweden a strong candidate for a UFC.
Web Statistics from Alexa
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/ufc.com
Financial Information by GDP (PPP) Per Capita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita
“WWE’s most recent reported quarter had a strong statement about their international success – over 40% of their profits came from outside the United States. You think this went unnoticed by the UFC?”
UFC FOLLOWING WWE INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION ROADMAP
RICHARD PARKER / MMATRAINING.COM / Sept 16, 2008
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Dollars Earned Per Person & UFC.com Web Traffic Table
|
GDP (PPP) Per Capita US $
|
Per Capita in US $
|
UFC.com Traffic %
|
UFC.com Traffic Rank*
|
|
| United States | 45,845 |
1
|
65.2% |
1
|
| Scandinavia
(Sweden & Norway) |
44,765 |
2
|
0.8% |
9
|
| Ireland | 43,144 |
3
|
1.4% |
4
|
| Netherlands | 38,486 |
4
|
0.3% |
16
|
| Canada | 38,435 |
5
|
11.2% |
2
|
| Austria | 38,399 |
6
|
0.3% |
16
|
| Australia | 36,258 |
7
|
0.8% |
9
|
| United Kingdom | 35,134 |
8
|
6.9% |
3
|
| Germany | 34,181 |
9
|
0.6% |
12
|
| Japan | 33,577 |
10
|
1.2% |
6
|
| France | 33,188 |
11
|
0.2% |
18
|
| Italy | 30,448 |
12
|
0.2% |
18
|
| Spain | 30,120 |
13
|
0.2% |
18
|
| Israel | 25,799 |
14
|
0.2% |
18
|
| South Korea | 24,783 |
15
|
1.1% |
7
|
| Poland | 16,311 |
16
|
0.2% |
18
|
| Croatia | 15,549 |
17
|
0.2% |
18
|
| Russia | 14,692 |
18
|
0.5% |
13
|
| Mexico | 12,775 |
19
|
0.5% |
13
|
| Kazakhstan | 11,086 |
20
|
0.7% |
11
|
| Brazil | 9,695 |
21
|
1.0% |
8
|
| China | 5,292 |
22
|
0.4% |
15
|
| Philippines | 3,378 |
23
|
1.4% |
4
|
| India | 2,659 |
24
|
0.2% |
18
|
* This is a list of the top 25 countries that were available. 4% of the traffic belongs to countries 26+.
The UFC’s U.K. president, Marshall Zelaznik, said the promotion’s initial investment in the country has begun to pay dividends across Europe.
“The only way to really judge it is by our Web traffic, where it comes from, by our TV ratings in individual countries, (and) by events like this and our event in Germany,” Zelaznik said. “I think without a doubt the evidence is that we’re growing in Europe.
“It’s a lot sexier these days to talk about these new emerging markets, but we have great success in Italy right now. We’ve just launched (a television deal) in the last six months there. In Scandinavia, it’s probably our third-biggest market (in Europe) in terms of Web traffic, TV ratings, revenues, those types of things.
“We’ll be in Scandinavia soon with an event. It deserves an event. But these are sort of the mainstays as we’re growing the company. We’re getting experience in all those territories, which allows us to embark on a China opportunity, a Brazil opportunity, and an India opportunity.”
