| A Unique Promotion: Spartacus Tournament to Debut This Month |
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| Written by Maxwell Destree | |||||||
| Wednesday, 11 November 2009 12:51 | |||||||
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Bowe, (who is affectionately called “MMA Momma” by some local fighters) is the owner of Spartacus and has been involved in promoting MMA events in Wisconsin for other promotions for over three and a half years.
Spartacus will have the first round of the tournament later this month, which will feature fights in the lightweight, welterweight, and heavyweight divisions. Each division will start with eight fighters; providing four fights in each division to start the tournament. Bowe also indicated that, knockout, submission, and fight of the night bonuses will be given out throughout every tournament round.
One of the exciting parts of a tournament style setup is a fighter must win in order to earn a spot in the next stage of the tournament. The semi-finals will be held in Green Bay at the Radisson on December 19th, and the finals will be held back at Tanners Bar and Grill in January.
But, according to Bowe it’s not the tournament setup or locations that make Spartacus unique. It’s the connection that the promotion hopes to build within the community that will set it apart.
The “MMA Momma” explains that their number one priority is to bring the community closer to the sport and fighters, and in turn, bring the promotion closer to the community. “We’re about building relationships in the community”, she states.
One way to accomplish this is by providing a “hand up, not a hand out” to someone in need of help. Bowe says, “Every one of our events we’re going to hold a benefit and sponsor someone. We’ll pick someone from the local community for every show; all we’re trying to do is ease the burden that so many of those diseases come with.” She also says, “We really want to get people back into helping other people.”
Spartacus plans on giving back right away at their first event. They will have a benefit for Gina Hoyt who is a twenty-one year old, single mother. Hoyt suffers from AVM which is basically a cluster of capillaries in her brain which give her headaches, loss of feeling and even seizures.
Spartacus plans on helping this young mother by giving a percentage of their ticket sales to help her pay for things not covered by medical insurance, like travel expenses for treatment, food, and supplies for her child.
The owner of the new promotion hopes that building relationships doesn’t stop there. She would love to see the local fighters grow a fan base and make a connection within the community.
“We’re going to be able to build fighters and local guys, we’re going to build a solid base of fighters and build relationships. We want to build these fighters a fan base.”
The new promotion ideally would like to have brief fighter bios on the fight card along with an informal guide to different MMA moves. The hope is to educate the fans both about the fighter and the sport.
This would allow the fan to better relate to a specific fighter and cheer for him. The MMA Momma gives the example that, “a lot of people pick fighters to root for anyways before a fight…so why not know more about the guy.” She even plans on asking fans if they are at the event for a specific fighter; and if so, they would provide a seat in that fighters corner (side of the cage).
Bowe mentions that in the future they would like their website to feature a fighter’s page that would have actual fight footage and perhaps even video interviews. The whole idea behind the fighter bios on the fight card and the fighter's page is exposure. Spartacus is hoping to really give these fighters as much exposure as possible.
The Spartacus owner hopes that it’s not just the fighters that are going to connect with the fans, but also the announcer. The Spartacus owner said that even the announcer has to be knowledgeable about MMA. They’re required to take MMA classes, and attend both judge and referee seminars. This is so that they will be able to help educate the fans about the sport.
The relationships that Bowe plans on creating aren’t just for fighters and individual fans, but they apply within the business community too. Spartacus has an exclusive contract with Hooters to use their women as the promotions ring girls (and just an FYI, there will be four of them at this months show in full body paint).
Spartacus is lead by the only female promoter in the state, and with a business plan that involves closer relationships with both the private and public community; the new promotion is setting itself apart from the competition. The only question that remains is whether or not the community will respond to this unique business model, only time will tell.
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Comments (3)
Tim
said:
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It’s official; Spartacus is set to debut at Tanners Bar and Grill on November 14th in Kimberly, WI. Spartacus is a “tournament style promotion” and is owned by a women; which is only one of a few things that helps make it unique to Wisconsin. Frankie Bowe took time this week to tell WCS how Spartacus is different from other promotions in the state.
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... Giving back is a great idea. I'm amazed it has taken this long to come up with this. This seems like a great PR opportunity for the fighters who win the bonuses by donating their bonuses to the cause. I know economically it is tough to give the money up, but a fighter with heart beyond the cage would make news. Just my opinion. |
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