How does Bellator afford to offer insane amounts to Chuck/Mirko?

[Gambit MMA]

bellator needs dodson and cub

 

[lsa]

Thats easy when you pay peanuts to the lower end guys.
Cant recall his name but he put out his offer from Bellator on twitter and it was for 500 a fight.
Thats 500USD / fight.

 

[usmctanker242]

Viacom

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[Trojanlegal]

It doesn’t make sense to me.

And you’d think at a time like this where UFC is screwing with fighter money that Bellator would take advantage but instead they go fill the roster with 40-50 year old fighters.

The UFC is screwing with fighter money? Take a look online at the fighter purses for UFC 222 and Bellator 193 (the latest available) and you will see the UFC's lowest pay fighters make more than most of the Bellator card (only eight Bellator 193 fighters made more than the UFC minimumof $12,000).

 

[Zanmato]

They only have a few big payouts per card, and their cards are not on that often. They can afford more by packing their undercards with $250 a fight novices from the local area.

 

[skylolow]

Bellator is a company formed and backed by a big tv network to counter UFC programming and also to fill in a time slot. Think Microsoft deciding to get into the console business. Even when they were losing profit they didn't care. They wanted to capture a part of the market. It's an after thought program of an already successful company.

But I'd be interested to see their profit margins. I would say the margins are very thin. Probably just enough to stay afloat and stay within positive numbers.

The UFC has big loans to pay off and has to make as much as possible. There's no loans with Bellator.

Very true in theory but that doesn't always last and I don't think it crosses over into the TV world outside of using sports like the NFL, NCAA, etc. Sure they lose money on the overall deal on the surface. But they rake in the ratings and utilize the platform to draw people into the networks other showings and make up money that way. I don't think MMA is doing that on any level worthwhile.

If the said product becomes a money pit there isn't any reason to keep it going no matter who is backing the product. Even a company like Microsoft has pushed some dumb products through the years and spent millions doing it and have shut it down when it just doesn't work anymore.

I'd be shocked if Bellator is making money. But at the same time we have no ideal what kind of money Viacom cares to lose on the product. If there losing 2 million a year but filling in "X" amount of hours of programming I'm sure there fine with it because regardless they'd need to fill that time and it will cost money, maybe a lot more money to fill all those hours.

 

[Rebel_LioN]

The UFC is screwing with fighter money? Take a look online at the fighter purses for UFC 222 and Bellator 193 (the latest available) and you will see the UFC's lowest pay fighters make more than most of the Bellator card (only eight Bellator 193 fighters made more than the UFC minimumof $12,000).

Thank you for the useless information. Please rethink what’s wrong with your statement.

 

[lsa]

The UFC is screwing with fighter money? Take a look online at the fighter purses for UFC 222 and Bellator 193 (the latest available) and you will see the UFC's lowest pay fighters make more than most of the Bellator card (only eight Bellator 193 fighters made more than the UFC minimumof $12,000).

"Just In: Fighter Leaks His Bellator Contract And It’s Only For $250.00, And Includes A Death Waiver"

http://mmaimports.com/2018/02/just-fighter-leaks-bellator-contract-250-00-includes-death-waiver/

 

[Roljo]

Viacom is investing in MMA because bellator is Worthington something, the 4 billion UFC sale made bellator more valuable to their eyes.

 

[skylolow]

Viacom is investing in MMA because bellator is Worthington something, the 4 billion UFC sale made bellator more valuable to their eyes.

Maybe to some extent.

But the reality is there investing in Bellator because its a live sport that can fill 400 to 500 hours of programming a year and bring eyes/money into the company besides just advertising dollars and yes, it always has the safety net of a potential sale if need be. So even if its losing some money they still come out ahead since regardless they'd be spending money on filling those 400 to 500 hours of programming. Question is how much money are they willing to lose on it each year? I think its very safe to say with the recent signings in the last year they'll have many shows that won't make money.

In a nutshell its probably fairly cheap live sports programming in the big picture and fills a lot of airtime for the money.

 

[Blazeblack]

Vicacom owns Bellator. If you don’t know Vicacom is a titan in the broadcasting/ media market, they could opperate Bellator at a loss for the next 10 years and it wouldn’t make a dent in their bottom line.

 

[RoyCisneros]

I think a lot of people underestimate how much money these large companies have.

 

[skylolow]

I think a lot of people underestimate how much money these large companies have.

I think people understand.

But it doesn't matter if you have 1 billion or 30 billion you got there by being smart with your money and you don't like to lose money. If you have a product that continuously loses money your going to cut your loses. Especially if you think you can replace the said product with something that will make money. We have to remember Viacom owns Bellator as a business that can create live sports programming for them not because they love MMA or anything. If they continually lose money on it they'll have no problem cutting the cord at some point. The question is how much are they willing to lose every year before that??? I do believe that number is higher than most of us would ever guess.

 

[Cantalope]

Viacom will make there money back once they sell Bellator to the UFC in a couple years.

 

[Norman Khabib]

Thats easy when you pay peanuts to the lower end guys.
Cant recall his name but he put out his offer from Bellator on twitter and it was for 500 a fight.
Thats 500USD / fight.

I saw this too, what a joke!

Coker is not going to save MMA, he's going to help rich people get richer at the expense of the fighters

 

[HaulParris]

It doesn’t make sense to me.

And you’d think at a time like this where UFC is screwing with fighter money that Bellator would take advantage but instead they go fill the roster with 40-50 year old fighters.

Agreed. I get that these old-timers/legends will bring in ratings, but they won’t fight more than once (maybe twice) a year, and that is not a recope for success.

 

[chubbman]

They pay every one else tree fiddy

 

[Koniradi98]

With letting their prospects fight once a year.
Bellator gonna Bellator

 

[synyster]

It doesn’t make any sense to me idk why they continually going after the has beens of mma instead of making more moves like gettin Rory and Moose

they sign far more prospects then old legends... they both have value whats wrong with that?

 

[InfinityLens]

Agreed. I get that these old-timers/legends will bring in ratings, but they won’t fight more than once (maybe twice) a year, and that is not a recope for success.

It's cool when they hype and promote guys+did some freakshows like they were doing up until Kimbo v Dada. Now they seem to be turning in ratings in the 500k range.