question for promotors/trainers/fighters/spectator

[Rob McIntyre]

hi guys, help me out if you can please.

I am putting on my second show in Gladstone in July and want to make a big effort to make it a special night. last years was an experiment almost to see if the town would like it and I know we can do it even bigger this year.

My question is, what things do you do to make your night special for:

A: Sponsors

B: Trainers and Fighters

C: Spectators

We have a great venue with some great features that will make for a great atmosphere and I am hoping to get some good gyms from sunny coast and brissy to compete with elbow fights and hopefully some NHB fights as well to show gladstone some quality fights. any help would be greatly appreciated to make this years show great.

Yours in Bushido

Rob McIntyre
Gladstone QLD

[Bushi]

Hey Rob,

Good on you for doing this and also for having the common sense to ask the right questions at the beginning.

Spectators (that's all i'll ever be...<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle> ) only want good evenly matched fights at reasonable prices....what's reasonable is debatable, but for me I'm happy to pay from $50-$75 for a ringside to see 10 + well matched fights...

Some promoters in Melbourne want fireworks, dancing girls and a couple hundered for ringside, and all you get is..... well you know what you get in the way of match ups...

X-Plosion on the Gold Coast is a classic example, quality fights at what I believe great prices, X-Plosion 9 is the same....

I recently paid $50 for ringside at Brute Force 2 in Melbourne, and walked away happy with what I got.

Mate, whatever you do I'm sure you'll do it for the right reasons and hopefully make a buck for yourself as well.

Good luck, just wish I was closer to support you...btw, how far is Gladstone from Brisbane, I'm back there in May....might pay you a visit if I can work it in..

Regards...

ZDK(aka John)Bushido

"Yours in Bushido"

[bigrocket]

Hi Rob
whats your contact details?

bigrocket

[Rob McIntyre]

my email is robmcintyre@austarnet.com.au



Yours in Bushido

Rob McIntyre
Gladstone QLD

[Rob McIntyre]

thanks John,

we are a bit far from Brisvegas, about 5 to 6 hours drive north. but if you are ever up this way on business - feel free - you are more than welcome.

we will be charging $50 for vip ring side (only about 40 of these), $30 ringside and $20 general entry (about 400 seats and the rest standing).

thanks for your feedback, anybody else? Mark P? JNI? Melbourne guys? any help is genuinly appreciated.



Yours in Bushido

Rob McIntyre
Gladstone QLD

[Mei Hua]

IMHO,
A show that starts on time, no long waits between fights and a good MC never goes astray.

Good match ups, good decitions, you know the rest.

Mei Hua



Edited by - Mei Hua on 14 Apr 2005 10:04:51

[DazMon]

Okay, I've got a couple for you Rob.
Firstly, for the sponsors, keep them close to the action (of course), get them involved (handing out the trophies for a particular bout), don't let the ring announcer over-announce their names (just enough is memorable), keep their table well looked-after; you want them to feel special. Have a poster or 2 of their logo and maybe what they do on the wall or somewhere obvious. If they can get some trade out of the exposure then they will be back. You could imagine that knowing of a good panel beater who will give you discount could come in handy, so everyone wins. It has to be done tactfully, which leads me to my next point. Having the fireworks etc is not so useful IMHO, I doubt you are thinking of this level anyway. Also having the ring canvas and corner pads emblazoned with logos is distracting and sometimes dangerous for the fighters; you've seen them slip on the logos?
I think Mei Hua is right, for a fighter/trainer/corner point of view, the timing and flow is important. Having the crowd know who they are, getting them ready for fight action, having them understand what is going on, are all essential aspects. A good ring announcer is vital. Myself, I don't like the tag-team announcer action at Tarik's shows, not only do they sound dumb, they lose the flow. Just have one person, with a strong voice, who can capture that room and give the facts, and that will be that. If he can work in conjunction with a DJ you will have that crowd in your hands.
So I guess the sponsors just want to be involved, see something for their support and $, and get something out of it. Fighters want to be known, hopefully win, or a least get to have a good go (good match making, good judge's decisions) and learn something. The trainers want all the training to be worth it, so they want to get to the ring, get some action on, help their fighter to win, and hopefully get their gym's name known too. The spectators want value for money (your show sounds nice & cheap!), no timewasting, some action (good match ups and refereeing), the judges to see it their way (good quality decisions) or at least to know why a certain fight went whichever way.
Please note I am not speaking for George, WRKA or Brute Force in any way, I have just observed from all these aspects now.

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[DazMon]

Bl00dy hell, the more I look at this topic the more things I remember!
Okay, for trainers & fighters, having ample space to prepare in is essential. Most of these fight nights have beginners or semi-experienced fighters, they are nervous as hell, they don't want to see their opponent, they want to focus, so if you can give them a big room where all the gym's can work with their charges and warm up, with ample notice of how the night is progressing, and with ample notice of the rules and round lengths (you'd be surprised!). Having staff with an intercom system will enable all this. Fighters want ice and water, don't make this too hard to obtain like some shows. Before the fight, make sure the crowd knows who is fighting and the fighters knows this, this is usually all they want. they want to fight hard, win, and to be known, it is not too much to ask and obvious as hell but you'd be surprised how this can go amiss in all that is happening. Sorry if I'm stating the obvious, but I just feel bad when fighters experience all this side of the fight game for the first time when all they've ever done is train in the relative comfort of their own gym.

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