Back in the day before such newfangled things like satellite TV and pay-per-view, big fights were shown on closed circuit TV broadcast to movie theaters.  While this may seem like an alien concept to younger fans, it hasn’t been that long ago that this was the norm.  The first WWE Wrestlemania was broadcast on closed circuit, for example, and for generations boxing had done the same with every major fight event.  Even gimmick curiosities like the Muhammad Ali/Antonio Inoki ‘fight’ and the Evel Knievel Snake River Canyon Jump were broadcast on closed circuit TV all across the world.

Since then, the entire world of entertainment and media consumption has changed dramatically.  The VCR exploded and changed home entertainment, and itself became outmoded by DVDs.  Now every major fight as well as countless movies, concerts and–perhaps the most significant and infamous driver of technological innovation in media distribution–porn is available on PPV.  Through in this little thing called ‘the Internet’ and the entire communications industry has changed to the point where it would be almost unrecognizable to someone popping in from 1970 in a time machine.

In the midst of all of this, the UFC is going retro.  On Tuesday, the promotion announced a deal with a company called Fathom Events to broadcast UFC PPVs to over 300 movie theaters across the country.  Starting with UFC 111, you can head to a local movie theater and watch the show in high def and munch on popcorn and sip a $5 Coke.

Fathom Events is a pretty interesting company in itself–it started by broadcasting concerts of rock bands into movie theaters.  It really picked up steam when it started to simulcast performances of New York’s Metropolitan Opera Company to theaters nationwide.  Now I know the knuckledraggers out there are probably snickering at this, but think about it–opera is definitely a ‘niche’ product, but one that aficionados nationwide have few outlets to see and are willing to pay a premium to enjoy the highest level of performance.  The deal with ‘The Met’ took the company to the next level.  Since then, they’ve started looking for other markets–including fight fans.  They broadcast the Floyd Mayweather/Juan Manuel Marquez fight to theaters–that was the one that Dana White said no one would watch because they’d be fixated on whatever UFC event was on that night and ended up doing 4 or 5 times the number of PPV buys–and reportedly theaters were full from coast to coast.

Movie theaters, of course, are at the frontlines of the technological change in the entertainment and media business and looking for new revenue sources.  To some extent, they’re being forced to change their entire business model.  So what can movie theaters offer that even the best equipped home entertainment center not?  How about a really *huge* screen and a badass sound system?   Instead of the movie theater being where you go to see new films, don’t be surprised to see the industry transformed into more of an ‘event venue’ and less of the default choice for high school kids on dates.  You saw a glimpse of the future with the release of the critically acclaimed film ‘Avatar’ this past Christmas.  The film was a box office success by any measure, but it wasn’t enough to have seen it–you hadn’t *really* seen it until you saw the 3D Imax version.   The 3D version is still showing 4 times a day at the local Imax theater with tickets going for $15 a pop.

While the move to put UFC events in theaters may seem counterintuitive to their business model, its definitely not a bad move.  I’ve seen a number of fights and pro wrestling events in movie theaters and its a pretty cool experience with the larger than life images and the ‘surround sound’ audio.  My biggest misgiving for the UFC is the idea of going to a theater full of ‘MMA fanboy’ types who’ll show out in their Tapout garb after getting liquored up and want to fight me if I cheer for a fighter they don’t like.  Actually, this type of MMA fanboy would probably want to fight regardless.  I did go to a theater in a predominantly Mexican area to watch the Mayweather/Marquez fight and cheer for Mayweather with no problem at all.  There were a few good natured responses, but nothing that wasn’t made in good fun.  I even ended up having some cervezas with a few Mexican gentleman and talking boxing after the event.  Still, the idea of being trapped in a movie theater full of booze crazed, Ed Hardy wearing, tatted up lowlifes reeking of Axe Body Spray to watch a UFC event sounds hellish.

As a journalist, however, I’m going to give it a shot and report my findings.  I’ll make an effort to catch UFC 111 on the big screen but will definitely attend one of the upcoming cards and report back.

Theater Locations for UFC 111