Fight For Your Right: Van Wagner To Be UFC Outside Sales Agency

By Terry Lefton, Editor-at-Large

Van Wagner Sports & Entertainment To Be UFC Outside Sales Agency

Van Wagner Sports & Entertainment has survived an agency shootout to emerge as the Ultimate Fighting Championship's first outside sponsorship and media sales agency. N.Y.-based Van Wagner will exclusively sell TV ads, along with in-arena, on-mat signage and marketing rights for the UFC and its World Extreme Cagefighting circuit. Anheuser-Busch announced last week that it had signed its top Bud Light brand as the UFC's beer sponsor. Other UFC sponsors include Harley-Davidson, Lumber Liquidators and Edge shave gel. "There's a really good story here about reaching young males,'' said Van Wagner Sports President Cliff Kaplan. "Every advertiser wants to reach that group and UFC just zeros in on them."