Bellator to Rise? CBS/Viacom merger; HBO drops Boxing

Again, a Chandler-headlined (and I'm using Chandler because I think he's the closest thing Bellator has to a homegrown star) show maybe does a 0.5 at best on primetime broadcast television (which would be disastrous).

Put Sonnen in with the right opponent in a grudge match, and you might get 2.0 - 3.0. Unfortunately, I don't think there's anything Bellator can do to do Kimbo Slice numbers—even if they somehow got St-Pierre (who there's no evident grudge match for—maybe Askren if he turns it up, but he's too awkward a talker to cultivate big numbers).

MacDonald and Mousasi are not stars, and neither are half of the HWGP. Actually, you can probably select 10-15 fighters / retirees outside of the UFC who hold 99% of the North American drawing power. If I had to make an educated guess:
  1. Chael Sonnen
  2. Ken Shamrock
  3. Tito Ortiz
  4. Chuck Liddell
  5. Randy Couture
  6. Fedor Emelianenko
  7. Rampage Jackson
  8. Wanderlei Silva
  9. Matt Hughes
  10. Dan Henderson
  11. Mirko Cro Cop
  12. Frank Shamrock
Notice a trend here? They're all "washed up hasbeens," but it doesn't change the fact that they have the biggest name value + drawing power on the worldwide MMA scene, because they all established their names during the boom era and have attained legendary status (regardless of current condition).

What comes after that though?

Kimbo vs Dada and the corpses of Shamrock and Gracie might've drawn, but anybody who watched those sure as fuck wasn't excited to see what Bellator had next.

That's the problem here, ideally you'd want to use these guys to showcase a plethora of young exciting fighters, but Bellator has 90% of it's money tied up in the aging fighters. Guys who could own a smaller regional org and get by great aren't gonna sacrifice the trade-off to go make $250 and sell tickets for the slight, possible step up in competition.

Hell, Chandler's the best example of a homegrown talent, agreed. Would you say he'd eventually draw good numbers, considering where he's at in his career? I don't think so.

Bellator needs to change it's trajectory, because the idea of using 40 year olds to draw eyes is just gonna convince those eyes you're an organization of over the hill fighters.

They should've focused on throwing money at guys with a future, not guys the UFC was done using.
 
CBS is very brave to dip their toes in MMA for the 3rd time. First time, Kimbo (RIP) - Petruzelli debacle. Second time, “Sometimes these things happen in MMA”.
 
CBS is very brave to dip their toes in MMA for the 3rd time. First time, Kimbo (RIP) - Petruzelli debacle. Second time, “Sometimes these things happen in MMA”.

Ha. Very good point. I forgot about the Shields/Mayhem/Diaz scuffle. I was lucky enough to catch that live.
 
Interdasting



I wonder how Disney and Apple would fit in to all of this.
 
be nice to see them on network tv.
 
Bump due to the UFC-ESPN deal.

Even if CBS and Viacom merged, Disney still is 3-4x bigger than them.

In b4 MMA is dying.

9FHH.gif
 
With the LANDMARK DUSTRIBUTION deal going to be announced on the 26th....

I'm very interested what thus is about.....

Anyone else notice Showtime berm playing more old Strikeforce shows with more regularity?

I'm guessing CBS and Viacom merger happens and bellator gets on Showtime and CBS
 
What comes after that though?

Kimbo vs Dada and the corpses of Shamrock and Gracie might've drawn, but anybody who watched those sure as fuck wasn't excited to see what Bellator had next.

That's the problem here, ideally you'd want to use these guys to showcase a plethora of young exciting fighters, but Bellator has 90% of it's money tied up in the aging fighters. Guys who could own a smaller regional org and get by great aren't gonna sacrifice the trade-off to go make $250 and sell tickets for the slight, possible step up in competition.

Hell, Chandler's the best example of a homegrown talent, agreed. Would you say he'd eventually draw good numbers, considering where he's at in his career? I don't think so.

Bellator needs to change it's trajectory, because the idea of using 40 year olds to draw eyes is just gonna convince those eyes you're an organization of over the hill fighters.

They should've focused on throwing money at guys with a future, not guys the UFC was done using.


They NEED the higher profile UFC free agents to bring eyes and legitimize the divisions.

They could have thrown money at up and comers but we've seen bellator do homegrown talent cards and it doesn't draw.

With bellator ppl bitch no matter what they do..
Either they are paying to much for free agents and not focusing on homegrown talent.......or they are putting on weak cards with no name value......
 
Bump: How will this affect Bellator?
HBO Says It Is Leaving the Boxing Business
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/sports/hbo-boxing.html

After 45 years, more than 1,000 fights and some of the most lucrative and disputed matches of all time, HBO is throwing in the towel on professional boxing.

What started with a monumental upset seen by a relative handful of customers — George Foreman’s knockout of the heavyweight champion Joe Frazier in 1973 — will come to a close at the end of 2018. The network has no boxing broadcasts scheduled beyond a middleweight title fight at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 27.

Peter Nelson, the 37-year-old executive vice president of HBO Sports, announced Thursday morning, in a meeting with the HBO Boxing production staff, that the network was dropping boxing. The HBO Boxing staff includes the play-by-play announcer Jim Lampley, the analyst Max Kellerman, the ringside scorer Harold Lederman and the former boxing champions Andre Ward and Roy Jones Jr., who work for HBO as freelance commentators. Of the announcing staff, only Lampley is expected to remain with HBO.

“This is not a subjective decision,” Nelson said in a recent interview. “Our audience research informs us that boxing is no longer a determinant factor for subscribing to HBO.”
 
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