UFC interested in holding card at Yankee Stadium next summer
New York Yankees and Houston Astros line up for the team announcements on Opening Day Tuesday, April 5, 2016 at Yankee Stadium. Credit: Newsday/ William Perlman
The UFC is planning one of its biggest shows ever for Nov. 12 at Madison Square Garden, but the promoters may upstage themselves a few months later.
In exploring options for venues around the state following the legalization of MMA, Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said the UFC in interested in hosting an event at Yankee Stadium in summer 2017.
“There’s a bunch of other venues we want to go to,” Fertitta said Thursday. “We want to go to Barclays, we’ve had discussions with Yankee Stadium to do something next summer there.”
A Yankees spokesman said the organization has not yet met with UFC officials nor discussed booking a specific date, but team executives are planning to meet with the promotion in the future.
Fertitta wants to bring the Octagon to as many cities and venues across the state as possible and previously pledged the company would hold at least four events per year in the first three years of legalization, including an event upstate before year’s end.
“All of those venues all supported us, actually every venue throughout the state has been in support.”
The UFC has held stadium shows before, but Yankee Stadium would be the first true open-air venue to host an event. The stadium holds nearly 50 thousand fans for baseball, but field seats around the cage would likely increase that number for a fight card.
The current UFC attendance record is 56,214, set last November at UFC 193 at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. The North American attendance record of 55,724 was set at UFC 129 at Rogers Centre in Toronto.