Elite XC deal could change MMA with CBS deal
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The entire landscape of mixed martial arts changed today. Maybe.
The announcement that CBS will broadcast live Elite XC shows on Saturday nights in prime time is potentially the biggest deal in the history of the sport in North America.
But no matter what is said about a multi-year commitment and four shows per year, when it comes to television, like everything, it will live and die by the ratings.
鈥淭he sport of MMA airing on CBS is the single biggest thing to happen to the sport,鈥?saidElite XC promoter Gary Shaw. That sounds like a promoter over hyping his latest announcement, but if the show is successful, that鈥檚 exactly what it will be.
But it鈥檚 going to take a huge promotional effort by the network and the company to build the event and make it fly.
Even the most-watched Ultimate Fighting Championship event in history, the Sept. 8 show headlined by Quinton Jackson vs. Dan Henderson in a UFC-Pride light heavyweight championship unification match, drew 4.7 million viewers. While those are great numbers for cable television, they don鈥檛 come close to what would be a desirable audience number for CBS, even on a Saturday night.
Within the Male 18-34 age group, the big show UFC numbers would be successful on a network level, but MMA at this point has proven to have a narrow reach. It doesn鈥檛 do well with older people. It doesn鈥檛 do badly with women within the 18-34 group, but for network prime time success, you need to draw strongly in more than one age group.
Boxing鈥檚 much-lauded 鈥淐ontender鈥?series failed on the network level. World Wrestling Entertainment programming, far more popular on cable television than MMA, was successful on NBC in the 80s, but drew poor numbers the past two years in a similar prime time slot with the revival of Saturday Night鈥檚 Main Event.
The first Elite XC show, which is tentatively scheduled for April 26th and likely headlined by Kimbo Slice, will either be the most watched MMA event ever in the United States, or it will be a failure. One could make a strong argument that above and beyond UFC鈥檚 first live television special in 2005, where Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar became instant stars by having almost the perfect match at the perfect moment for the sport, this is the most important night, going forward, in the sport鈥檚 U.S. history.
If the shows get poor ratings, the entire sport will be stigmatized with the idea that it has its cult popularity and is simply cable TV fare. It will be a huge negative perception blow for a sport which, with its phenomenal growth over the past few years, has been written up as the next NASCAR. Conversely, successful numbers, particularly if they maintain, will entrench MMA as a major sport in this country.
鈥淢ixed martial arts is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and a wildly popular entertainment vehicle for upscale, young adult audiences,鈥?said Kelly Kahl, Senior Executive Vice President of CBS Primetime. 鈥淚t鈥檚 original programming for Saturday night; it鈥檚 live, creating an event-atmosphere; and it鈥檚 something that hasn鈥檛 been seen on network television, until now.鈥?br>
It鈥檚 not a surprise that CBS made a deal for MMA. Both CBS and NBC negotiated for MMA programming for months. CBS鈥?interest in UFC predated the writers鈥?strike, while NBC鈥檚 interest picked up with the idea of looking for new live programming during the strike. That CBS went with Elite XC over the established UFC is a surprise, and is believed to have happened because Dana White wouldn鈥檛 compromise on giving the network control of the broadcast.
White noted earlier this week, before the deal was announced, that he wasn鈥檛 going to sign a bad deal for the company, even with a network station. The control issue also likely cost UFC a deal with HBO last year. UFC鈥檚 strategy of playing hardball and trying to get the deal on its terms simply wasn鈥檛 going to work with a network, but the gamble was that a big player wouldn鈥檛 take the chance with an organization that has nowhere near the name recognition and level of mainstream stars.
Because Showtime, part owner of Elite XC, is part of the Viacom family, which owns CBS, they fell into a deal that as a fledgling group, gives them a level of exposure they couldn鈥檛 afford to turn down.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know why they didn鈥檛 get it,鈥?said Gary Shaw, promoter of Elite XC. 鈥淚f I had to guess, I鈥檇 say that it was Dana White. I don鈥檛 know that. I don鈥檛 worry about the UFC. If the prom queen wants to go out with me, I don鈥檛 ask why she isn鈥檛 dating the quarterback. I just show up at 8 p.m. at her door. I鈥檝e said all along I think the UFC is great.
鈥淚 like the Fertittas and Marc Ratner (UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs) is like a brother to me. But the problem is no fighter can be bigger than Dana White or the UFC. For us, the fighters will always be the biggest stars.鈥?br>
Shaw鈥檚 most successful MMA event was the Feb. 16 show in Miami, which drew a 1.9 rating on Showtime. It was the highest rating for a non-UFC MMA event in history, largely due to the unique Kimbo Slice vs. Tank Abbott main event. But that鈥檚 only 522,000 viewers, and they鈥檒l need ten times that audience number, if not more, to do competitive numbers on CBS.
The show also sold out the 6,187-seat BankUnited Center in Miami, which benefited from Slice being a hometown star. For CBS events, Shaw said they are looking at running 15,000-seat arenas with the new Prudential Center in Newark being among the venues under consideration for the debut show.
Most of the details of the deal have not been made official. CBS will be paying Elite XC a fee per show. They haven鈥檛 agreed to a time slot, although with affiliate news commitments, it would have to be either 8-10 p.m. or 9-11 p.m. The broadcast team hasn鈥檛 been agreed to, but both sides will have input into the decision. Shaw said that once the date and the venue are finalized, they would begin finalizing the matches.
Shaw said he expected the shows to be similar to the Elite XC events on Showtime.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the same type of show,鈥?he said. 鈥淚 think we do a very good production with competitive fights.鈥?br>
Another key is that, with so many people watching the first show and presumably so much hype, that if someone makes a good showing, they can become an instant star, similar, to what happened to Griffin stemming from the first Ultimate Fighter finals. The impact of a great match will be multiplied tenfold.
An unknown fighter who does a sensational finish will almost instantly become one of the best known fighters in the country. A genuine match of the year could end up being the most talked about fight in history. Similarly, the affects of a poor show will be magnified like never before.
But it also adds to an over-saturation problem. UFC is producing roughly two shows per month. Elite is now adding four CBS dates to the 16 or so Showtime dates they had planned for this year. That鈥檚 a lot of events in a sport with a finite number of stars, and in which the stars can only fight a few times per year.
Even with the deal giving his company the largest television exposure in a business where television exposure is the life blood, Shaw doesn鈥檛 feel Elite XC is on the verge of leapfrogging UFC as the top promotion.
鈥淣o, I鈥檓 a realist,鈥?he said. 鈥淯FC is No. 1. I am Pepsi to their Coke, Avis to their Hertz.鈥?/div>
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I totally agree with you but there are a few problems that must be ironed out first.
Problems llike the fact most fights are at casinos because casinos guareentee money and venues. Since boxing has 1 minute rest breaks, it is going to be difficult to find sponsers who could plug their ads while trainers are yelling at fighters instructions. think about wrestling. the numbers are great but the demographics are not always the best for pushing. you won't see lexus showing a commercial during WWE,nor will you see high prices on ads. thats why wrestling is on USA and not CBS anymore. (monday night raw). The networks would have to actually have a interest in the sport to push it. with network television its about numbers and ratings. if the fights are not geting ratings then they will pull the plug. if the fights are horrible match ups for a rising star to pad their records, people will turn the channel. Think about the klitchko-imbragomov fight being on FOX. by the 9th round people would have stop watching it. like a football game where its 34-0 first quarter, the numbers will slide and the cost for ads the next go around will be less, because of that. Sure you would watch it on network for exposure, but networks are not fans of the sport, they are bidders. CBS owns Showtime so it's no shock that this deal was made. CBS is only going to air four Elite XC events a year and the rest will be on Showtime. If boxing promoters were smart they would push for Friday Night Fights to sign some big names and air fights on ABC, since ESPN and ABC are both owned by Disney. Is that a question or a dissertation? R u doing ur Senior Exit Project? U have a good hook tho. |
