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Booking Gigs Against UFC

J

jz75

Nov 11, 2011
29
0
#1
Has anyone else encountered bars not opening up future gig dates until UFC dates are finalized first? Since UFC doesn't book 6 months ahead, which is what I'm used to, it makes for an odd scenario holding dates open. I've never seen a sport trump a gig like UFC has lately, but in the past few months, I've encountered bars who specifically book around UFC. I'm not complaining, I'm just wondering how prevalent this is for anyone else.
 
#5
lowfreq33 said:
Sounds like those bars know their market pretty well. I don't know where you live, but in the south it's pretty customary for the band to wait until the football game is over before they start.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good call. Depending on the game or the song, it's hard for me to watch football and play at the same time. ;)
 
#7
lowfreq33 said:
Sounds like those bars know their market pretty well. I don't know where you live, but in the south it's pretty customary for the band to wait until the football game is over before they start.
Click to expand...

Amen! Actually, my band usually was asked not to start for at least an hour after a night game - that way people had time to leave the game, change, and then make their way out to the bars.
 
#8
As much as it might seem to suck, bars who schedule this way are actually doing the bands a favor.

Unless I'm really hard up for the cash, I would rather not play on a given night than to compete with a major TV event for audience attention.
 
#9
I hear ya. For someone who books 4 to 8 months ahead of time how long do you hold a proposed date open for a bar that waits for the final UFC schedule (that only seems to post 2 to 3 months ahead) when other places can potentially be booked?

Is a gig in the hand worth more than two in the bush?
 
#11
lowfreq33 said:
Sounds like those bars know their market pretty well. I don't know where you live, but in the south it's pretty customary for the band to wait until the football game is over before they start.
Click to expand...

Yup, that's totally true, especially in the South. It doesn't bother me, since no one's paying attention to the band until the game's over anyway.
 
#12
Perhaps try to incorporate an angle into your set related to UFC events and then offer to play after the UFC event if your booked date ends up being on a UFC night?

ie. learn some songs the fighters use as entrance music, play some more high energy numbers to keep everyone pumped up after the event, etc.
 
#16
We have had a gig cancel for a UFC fight. It was a short notice gig that we had a contract in place because of short notice everything was done via email and we didn't get a deposit. They just booked us another gig for $100 more then what we asked as a "We are sorry this happened". They ended us losing the broadcast rights because when they decided to get the fight the bar across the street had it and they had nothing that night.
 
#17
I've always wondered why the UFC doesn't set up their schedules a lot farther in advance. As part of my day job I used to be indirectly involved with promoting their Pay-Per-View events and by the time we'd get all the clearances, approvals, etc. we would sometimes have only a week of time to actually promote the event before it happened. Kind of a curious way to run a multi-million dollar business, seems to me.
 

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