Selling Violence: Marketing Combat Sports
4/11/202628 min
This week, we look at the marketing of violent sports.
Starting with a man named Tex Rickard, who wrote the playbook on fight promotion back in the 1920s.
We’ll analyze how WWE pro wrestling took a page from Rickard to create spectacles.
And we look at the phenomenon that is the UFC – and how mixed martial arts promotion can be carbon-dated all the way back to Rickard in the ‘20s.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsTerry O'Reilly· Host0:01
You don't like ads on this, a podcast about advertising? [tsking] Listen ad-free at the link in the description.
Donald Trump· Soundbite0:09
This is an Apostrophe Podcast production. [upbeat music] We're going to show you our big, new Studebaker. Start your car! Mamma mia, that's a spicy meatball.
Terry O'Reilly· Host0:33
What love doesn't conquer, Alka-Seltzer will.
Donald Trump· Soundbite0:37
What a relief. [upbeat music] You're Under the Influence with Terri O'Reilly.
Terry O'Reilly· Host0:49
[upbeat music] On July third, twenty twenty-five, President Donald Trump was giving a speech at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. During that speech, he made a surprise announcement.
Donald Trump· Soundbite1:06
We're gonna have a UFC fight, think of this, on the grounds of the White House.
Terry O'Reilly· Host1:10
He said the UFC fight would be part of the nation's two hundred and fiftieth birthday celebrations. It seemed a bit surreal and odd, a full UFC event outdoors on the lawn of the White House. Was Trump serious? Was it even possible or just a whim?