UFC 284 event sets new sporting event attendance record for Perth’s RAC Arena

Tourism WA advise that in a lucrative week for Western Australia's hospitality and tourism businesses, The Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC 284, held at Perth’s RAC Arena on 12th February 2023, set both national and RAC Arena revenue records while breaking the sporting event attendance record for RAC Arena.

The WA Government, through Tourism WA, brought UFC to Australia exclusively for the first time in more than 1000 days driving economic returns for WA.

The gross ticketing revenue for UFC 284: Makhachev vs Volkanovski was $5,911,598. This beat the previous Australian record held by the Rolling Stones at Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena in 2014.

UFC 284 also had the highest number of ticket sales for a single sporting event in RAC Arena's history, with 14,124 fans filling the arena.

Almost 9,000 of those tickets - about 70% - were sold to people from out of WA who travelled to Perth for the event.

The previous sporting event attendance record for RAC Arena was 13,908 at last year's Super Netball victory by the West Coast Fever against the Melbourne Vixens - another event delivered by the WA Government through Tourism WA.

The final economic impact of UFC284 on the local economy is still being finalised but it will be significantly more than the $5.3 million of direct revenue for local businesses in 2018.

UFC 284 drew big crowds throughout the week at various events, including about 6,000 fans for the ceremonial weigh in at RAC Arena on Saturday and a further 6,000 for the public press conference and Elizabeth Quay Open Workouts.

UFC attracted a massive global social media and pay-per-view audience from around 172 countries. Promotions for Perth and WA were featured throughout the UFC 284 broadcasts in 40 different languages.

While in Perth, UFC athletes and celebrity ticketholders also explored some of Perth's most iconic destinations such as Rottnest Island and the Swan Valley, sharing their experiences with tens of millions of social media followers.

UFC 284 was made possible because of a WA Government election commitment in 2017 to lift a ban on the UFC's Octagon, allowing Tourism WA to secure major UFC events for the benefit of local tourism and State economy.

UFC 284 capped off a huge range of diverse sporting and cultural events in Perth last weekend.

This included over 50,000 people at Optus Stadium for Red Hot Chili Peppers and Post Malone, 14,000 at St Jerome's Laneway Festival, Sting entertaining 12,000 people at Kings Park, Perth Festival, Fringe World, West Australian Ballet at The Quarry, the Australia Sprint Car Championship at Perth Motorplex and the Swimming WA State Championships at HBF Stadium.

WA Tourism Minister Roger Cook notes "we have a deliberate and focused strategy to target major events to drive tourism to Western Australia for the economic benefit of WA businesses.

"Everyone saw, and tens of thousands of people experienced, the perfect example of this last weekend with a great mix of different sporting and cultural events bringing a pulsating energy to Perth.

"Our tourism strategy has huge momentum with so much more to come, including Bjork and High Voltage ahead."

Carolyn Turnbull Tourism WA Managing Director adds “also hosted by Tourism WA this week was the FTI Group ‘mega’ famil, through which Western Australia was showcased as the “Dream State” to around 60 travel agents from Continental Europe  – a key international visitor market for WA.

“FTI Group is the fourth largest tour operator in Europe, and I was pleased to meet with the travelling group earlier this week, as we work towards further strengthening visitation from this important inbound visitor market into the future.”