Will Viacom Keep the Dazn Money or Give it to the Fighters?

[Bubba32]

Now that they have guaranteed money they can either cut costs and make the promotion profitable or give it to the fighters (signing new and re-signing old)?

if past is any indication i think we know the answer to that question.

The machida signing doesnt really count because that was before the deal was signed. That could have been done to show dazn they are going to reinvest the money instead of keeping it to help get the deal signed.

 

[skylolow]

I think what you'll see a shift of how the talent is used and yes some of that money will end up in the hands of the fighters. Rampage said yesterday that this new contract is his most lucrative contract he has ever signed in his career. Plus Machida signing it shows that they aren't afraid to trickle some of that money down.

Common sense would say all the high dollar fighters will end up fighting a very large majority of the time on Dazn cards. The reason why Bellator was losing money was simply because they couldn't collect enough in advertising dollars to offset the cost of having guys like Fedor. Now with Dazn that solves the problem and I highly doubt Dazn is expecting a card like we are getting this week from Bellator.

P.S.: This is great for Bellator and probably the higher valued fighters but for fans its going to cost us. Question is will enough fans care to pay and will Dazn put together an attractive enough package across there platform to draw enough subscribers to spread the cost of these sports deals around. Currently what is seems to be offered in Canada is pretty lack luster. Countries in Europe it looks very good. But what looks good there is already spoken for here in terms of media.

 

[Bubba32]

I think what you'll see a shift of how the talent is used and yes some of that money will end up in the hands of the fighters. Rampage said yesterday that this new contract is his most lucrative contract he has ever signed in his career. Plus Machida signing it shows that they aren't afraid to trickle some of that money down.

Common sense would say all the high dollar fighters will end up fighting a very large majority of the time on Dazn cards. The reason why Bellator was losing money was simply because they couldn't collect enough in advertising dollars to offset the cost of having guys like Fedor. Now with Dazn that solves the problem and I highly doubt Dazn is expecting a card like we are getting this week from Bellator.

P.S.: This is great for Bellator and probably the higher valued fighters but for fans its going to cost us. Question is will enough fans care to pay and will Dazn put together an attractive enough package across there platform to draw enough subscribers to spread the cost of these sports deals around. Currently what is seems to be offered in Canada is pretty lack luster. Countries in Europe it looks very good. But what looks good there is already spoken for here in terms of media.

but the question is were guys like Rampage and Machida signed so they could get a deal like dazn? or were they signed because they really want to invest in bellator?

if they really wanted to invest in bellator why sign a deal with dazn? Why invest so you can build up someone elses digital network?

The question is now that they got the dazn deal are they going to keep the money and make bellator look profitable so they can sell bellator or are they going to reinvest it back into bellator so they can help build someone elses network and hope to make money in the future?

I think they take the guaranteed money, cut costs to make the books look good and sell it before the deal is over.

Now that the dazn deal is signed we'll find out this year what the answer is. if bellator goes on a signing spree from now then Im wrong. But if they start deciding not to resign existing fighters and/or going after new free agents then its gonna suck.

 

[CC27]

Will they move away from paying regional guys 1k while making them sell tickets on shows? Thats the biggest question. I think they'll use some of it to sign bigger names but doubt that money trickles down to the guys coming up.

 

[kingcillo24]

It improves the MMA Ecosystem because it improves a non-UFC organization. Maybe the number of fighters signing with LFA or Invicta will decrease. Many sign there for the sole purpose of having a chance at short notice replacement slots.

 

[skylolow]

Will they move away from paying regional guys 1k while making them sell tickets on shows? Thats the biggest question. I think they'll use some of it to sign bigger names but doubt that money trickles down to the guys coming up.

I highly doubt it.

 

[AGEZ909]

Some money will be used to bid on fighters. Most will be kept by Viacom Is my guess.

 

[mime]

they're already talking to barnett, probably will talk to belfort too. this allows them to sign more free agents, at the previous pace they probably couldnt have continued spending without a deal like this so it really probably just allows them to continue what they were doing the past couple of years.

hopefully it allows them to keep their guys like chandler and later on their younger guys like joey davis, fortune, pico, etc

 

[skylolow]

but the question is were guys like Rampage and Machida signed so they could get a deal like dazn? or were they signed because they really want to invest in bellator?

if they really wanted to invest in bellator why sign a deal with dazn? Why invest so you can build up someone elses digital network?

The question is now that they got the dazn deal are they going to keep the money and make bellator look profitable so they can sell bellator or are they going to reinvest it back into bellator so they can help build someone elses network and hope to make money in the future?

I think they take the guaranteed money, cut costs to make the books look good and sell it before the deal is over.

Now that the dazn deal is signed we'll find out this year what the answer is. if bellator goes on a signing spree from now then Im wrong. But if they start deciding not to resign existing fighters and/or going after new free agents then its gonna suck.

I think all it is part of the package moving forward.

The reason they signed with Dazn is simply because they overpaid. Bellator doesn't care about building Dazn as much Dazn cares, as long as Bellator gets there money their happy. Dazn has big dreams of being something special. MMA attracts that younger crowd who utilizes these type of services. So its a good fit. Will it pay off, probably not but it sure isn't going to hurt. All these streaming services expect to lose money until they hit a certain point with subscriber numbers. We'll see how Dazn turns out in the US in a few years.

Money side for Bellator..................It's a massive win. If they want to shop it around they now have the ability to say something along these lines...

We have a guaranteed 3 year deal that pays us "X" amount. There is two year option after that. If it all works out the deal is worth around 100 Million. If you buy it we will also guarantee Paramount will broadcast the product for "X" amount a year for "x" amount of events. We'll pay you 10 to 15 million a year or whatever for the next 3 to 5 years. Point is now there is something of value in the media contracts for Bellator on the US side of things that might add up to 30 to 40 million a year guaranteed short term to a potential buyer. So if buyer comes around and pays Paramount 150 million for Bellator they can dump it and recoup probably all their cost over years and come out of it looking great.

If they are going to sell I think it will happen much sooner than later. Won't surprise me by the end of the year.

 

[IMPmmath]

What's this fucking Danz thing about?
Am I reading that I have to stream on an app?
I can't just enjoy these Bellator events on my tv anymore?
Please don't do this Bellator .I'd rather watch on fucking Telemundo with the Spanish broadcast then this shit.

 

[tithas]

What's this fucking Danz thing about?
Am I reading that I have to stream on an app?
I can't just enjoy these Bellator events on my tv anymore?
Please don't do this Bellator .I'd rather watch on fucking Telemundo with the Spanish broadcast then this shit.

7 exclusive DAZN events a year for the next 3-5 years. Starting with the opening round of the WW tourney in september

 

[Danespina]

I definitely think they'll be spending some of this money to acquire new talent.
I don't see Machida as being the only move they plan to make.

 

[IMPmmath]

7 exclusive DAZN events a year for the next 3-5 years. Starting with the opening round of the WW tourney in september

It's bs.ive been watching bellator since Telemundo.now they put together the best thing they ever have this WW tourney and I can't even watch on my TV.
I'd honestly rather go to Dave n Busters to watch then this DAZN BS.

 

[null]

It's bs.ive been watching bellator since Telemundo.now they put together the best thing they ever have this WW tourney and I can't even watch on my TV.
I'd honestly rather go to Dave n Busters to watch then this DAZN BS.

I would prefer Bellator to continue on Paramount Network which I already get as part of my DirecTV package. But you can always hook a laptop or Chromecast or other device to your same tv's HDMI input and still watch that way even if it is streaming over the internet.

 

[Bubba32]

I think all it is part of the package moving forward.

The reason they signed with Dazn is simply because they overpaid. Bellator doesn't care about building Dazn as much Dazn cares, as long as Bellator gets there money their happy. Dazn has big dreams of being something special. MMA attracts that younger crowd who utilizes these type of services. So its a good fit. Will it pay off, probably not but it sure isn't going to hurt. All these streaming services expect to lose money until they hit a certain point with subscriber numbers. We'll see how Dazn turns out in the US in a few years.

Money side for Bellator..................It's a massive win. If they want to shop it around they now have the ability to say something along these lines...

We have a guaranteed 3 year deal that pays us "X" amount. There is two year option after that. If it all works out the deal is worth around 100 Million. If you buy it we will also guarantee Paramount will broadcast the product for "X" amount a year for "x" amount of events. We'll pay you 10 to 15 million a year or whatever for the next 3 to 5 years. Point is now there is something of value in the media contracts for Bellator on the US side of things that might add up to 30 to 40 million a year guaranteed short term to a potential buyer. So if buyer comes around and pays Paramount 150 million for Bellator they can dump it and recoup probably all their cost over years and come out of it looking great.

If they are going to sell I think it will happen much sooner than later. Won't surprise me by the end of the year.

That's kind of my point. If you're going to sell why spend money on acquiring more expensive talent instead of cutting costs and making the books look better? the money is guaranteed for atleast 3 years anyway.

This would also pressure dazn to buy bellator in order to get the product they want.

if im Viacom, now that the deal is done I'd be cutting costs left and right making the books look great, pocketing as much money as I can while putting it up for sale to the highest bidder.

viacom itself is also up for sale so they really need to pocket this money to help their own books.

we're about to find out which direction viacom is heading with big free agents right now on the market like Vitor, Barnett, Tito, Chuck, chandler, etc...

 

[skylolow]

That's kind of my point. If you're going to sell why spend money on acquiring more expensive talent instead of cutting costs and making the books look better? the money is guaranteed for atleast 3 years anyway.

This would also pressure dazn to buy bellator in order to get the product they want.

if im Viacom, now that the deal is done I'd be cutting costs left and right making the books look great, pocketing as much money as I can while putting it up for sale to the highest bidder.

viacom itself is also up for sale so they really need to pocket this money to help their own books.

we're about to find out which direction viacom is heading with big free agents right now on the market like Vitor, Barnett, Tito, Chuck, chandler, etc...

I think they'll continue to spend some on big fighter names. It is in there best interest to appear everything is great and continue to build. I also won't doubt if Dazn came up with some creative contract wording with the deal. Everyone saw what the UFC kind of did to the FOX with talent level of cards over the contract.

I think if they didn't care and was trying to save cost they won't have signed Machida(matched UFC offer) and Rampage said he just recently signed his most lucrative per a fight contract ever in his career. The later, not being cheap by any means. He was even shock what he got. They say they will talk or have talked to Josh. Chandler will be interesting, though I kind of get this feeling he knows it the UFC is now or never and he has always seemed some what interested in testing himself in the UFC. Vitor, who knows. He looks pretty shot to me regardless if he starts pumping TRT through his body.

 

[skylolow]

It's bs.ive been watching bellator since Telemundo.now they put together the best thing they ever have this WW tourney and I can't even watch on my TV.
I'd honestly rather go to Dave n Busters to watch then this DAZN BS.

And you can bet most of the top talent you want to see in Bellator will end up on the DAZN events. Its the easiest way to cover the cost of those guys for events they fight on.

 

[Bubba32]

I think they'll continue to spend some on big fighter names. It is in there best interest to appear everything is great and continue to build. I also won't doubt if Dazn came up with some creative contract wording with the deal. Everyone saw what the UFC kind of did to the FOX with talent level of cards over the contract.

I think if they didn't care and was trying to save cost they won't have signed Machida(matched UFC offer) and Rampage said he just recently signed his most lucrative per a fight contract ever in his career. The later, not being cheap by any means. He was even shock what he got. They say they will talk or have talked to Josh. Chandler will be interesting, though I kind of get this feeling he knows it the UFC is now or never and he has always seemed some what interested in testing himself in the UFC. Vitor, who knows. He looks pretty shot to me regardless if he starts pumping TRT through his body.

the rampage/machida signings were before the dazn signing. the question is did they sign these guys to get a deal with someone like dazn or did they sign these fighters because they actually wanted to build bellator? with the ratings tanking even with all the new signings I doubt they were eager to keep spending more.

now that they have the dazn deal it will be interesting to see if they continue big signings. if they dont then we know they built their roster hoping to get someone else to pay for bellator.

Dazn airs all of the bellator events so I dont know how creative you could get with the deal. It's not like UFC where they can put fighters on ppv or fightpass instead of fox.

The only thing i can think of that would protect Dazn is if they got equity in bellator with the deal.

Viacom has no incentive to reinvest in bellator. It would make more sense to pocket the money, cut costs, and sell before the 3 year deal is up.

 

[skylolow]

Well I'm sure this deal has been in the works for months. Most of things don't happen overnight. So I'm pretty sure they knew this was a done deal weeks ago.

My guess is Paramount and Dazn has an agreement that is going to treat the Dazn only events as there"PPV events". There has to be an incentive for them to attract subscribers. Not enough people would ever sign up just to see Bellator events non tape delayed or whatever. It has to be the attraction there for people to take on the cost of Dazn and simple answer would be is watching the Fedor, Rampage, Machida, Rory, Gergards, etc of the world fighting. Plus it helps Viacom bottom line by pushing those cost of those fighters onto the platform they get paid for. Because most of them fighting on just Paramount is a losing event before it even starts.

Honestly, I think they might get even more aggressive in the market regardless if they shop it around or keep it. Either way each signing does add perceived value to the product.

P.S.: There is rumors that Dazn did receive some equity in Bellator. My guess would be maybe 10% if its true.

 

[GSP_37]

My guess is this is their version of PPV where some fans will order DAZN for a month when there's an exclusive non-TV stacked card like Rory vs Mousasi.

Seems like Bellator needs the money to stay afloat since they were so generous with fighter pay.