News Bellator sale talks heating up

[TorontoTO]

Combate Global is getting a million plus viewers on a niche spanish language network. Nobody else is coming close to what COMBATE is doing.

Univision is not really niche, it’s the largest Spanish speaking station in America and there is at least 100 million Hispanic people in America.

plus they run their events after big soccer games so that’s were they get their million people

 

[JPW328]

I really hope the league sticks around. The top 5 in each division are talented as hell!

 

[GueseGuy]

If Coker's word is the only one that's solid, than you should ignore the $200 million price tag, since that came from John Nash, who also said PFL is very much in play to buy them. If you are going to say that PFL "kicked the tires", you are going with what Ariel said. He's since said PFL is very much in play to buy them.

The reality is that Bellator as we know it is almost dead. When you are running only half the shows you did just two years ago, their looking for a partner is out of desperation. All these strikes in the entertainment world can be their only saving grace.

If there isn't a full sale, any partnership they get, they have to sell rights to other networks. They can't stay on Showtime. Last week their primetime average viewership on cable was 28k.

Lol delusional. I guess we'll ignore Coker is the one who confirmed the PFL story. Yeah totally looking for a partner out of "desperation" as opposed to selling outright. The brand and company has never been bigger and the talent level and ticket sales have never been better. Keep wishing and hoping and praying buddy.

 

[Go Go Plata]

Lol delusional. I guess we'll ignore Coker is the one who confirmed the PFL story. Yeah totally looking for a partner out of "desperation" as opposed to selling outright. The brand and company has never been bigger and the talent level and ticket sales have never been better. Keep wishing and hoping and praying buddy.

Isnt this Strikeforce all over again? Coker looking for a partner but the controlling ownership just outright selling.

 

[skylolow]

Lol delusional. I guess we'll ignore Coker is the one who confirmed the PFL story. Yeah totally looking for a partner out of "desperation" as opposed to selling outright. The brand and company has never been bigger and the talent level and ticket sales have never been better. Keep wishing and hoping and praying buddy.

All very true, but Viacom isn't in business to own an MMA org. It just isn't what they do and it shows. In a nutshell Viacom has done nothing for Bellator outside of here is your budget have at it. They aren't even willing to cross promote Bellator events on their own media outlets or use the Bellator Fight library on one of their streaming services. For Bellator to survive they need to get the hell away from Viacom.

Viacom themselves by all reports are in a major cost cutting mode and looking to sell of media outlets they own. Totally odd Coker is even out there commenting on any of it to be honest. I think he is only publicly commented a few times was more out of frustration. MVP's contract came up and by his own words he thinks because of everything happen behind the scenes right now he thinks it got overlooked. He is one of the faces of Bellator, reading between the lines I take it as....you been great for us, we don't know if we will even be here in 3 months or what is going on in the end, I'd rather let you go secure yourself somewhere else with a more stable future. No other way they let him walk.

Bellator as we know it will not be the same in the next 90 days. I think Viacom will completely wipe there hands with Bellator. We even got one report out there of them just dissolving Bellator and selling off what they can including fighter contracts. The only name that has ever really come up on multiple occasions by multiple mma reporters and Coker himself is the PFL. How they pull it off, I have no idea. Personally, I'm shocked they are even still in business today. But they are making big moves by signing someone like Francis and Jake Paul and starting this PPV series. For an org bleeding money they sure aren't afraid to throw more money at it. So maybe the have some funding agreement behind the scenes to buy Bellator, I don't know. It just doesn't seem like any other suitors have even been named in this process.

 

[Terry_Dak_Tull]

Lol delusional. I guess we'll ignore Coker is the one who confirmed the PFL story. Yeah totally looking for a partner out of "desperation" as opposed to selling outright. The brand and company has never been bigger and the talent level and ticket sales have never been better. Keep wishing and hoping and praying buddy.

No one is ignoring Coker. What he says just confirms the earlier reports that they were both for sale and PFL was an interested buyer, which had some people here outright denying both things.

The point you are completely missing with my post, is that you are implying that PFL is old news in regards to the sale, while simultaneously using a dollar figure provided by someone, who says they are still very much involved. You then go on to use Ariel's "kick the tires" phrase. He's since said they are very much involved.

Bellator is not in a good spot. You don't go from 26 events a year down to 13. You don't have six week gaps between events. You don't put 21 fights on a card in South Dakota. I don't know why people are in such denial over this.

 

[Stan]

If there isn't a full sale, any partnership they get, they have to sell rights to other networks. They can't stay on Showtime. Last week their primetime average viewership on cable was 28k.

Are you claiming Bellator has an average viewership on cable of only 28k? I'm guessing 28k is for PFL but if you are claiming its for Bellator that number is way off the mark. So far this years Bellator has been doing decent numbers considering they've been getting 0 promotional push by VIACOM.

Bellator 297 - 204k
Bellator 296 - 53k
Bellator 295 - 177k
Bellator 294 - 151k
Bellator 293 - ????
Bellator 292 - 170k
Bellator 291 - 234k
Bellator 290 - 1,068M

Above are the shows Bellator had this year all listed with the event highs. Bellator 296 for whatever reason had the lowest numbers. Bellator 293 I couldn't find any rating numbers for that show. Still not bad numbers for an Org that gets 0 promotional push and are on a premium paid channel. Now if I could get the BBC iPlayer numbers added to this they would look even better.

Combate Global is getting a million plus viewers on a niche spanish language network. Nobody else is coming close to what COMBATE is doing.

Funny how 1 million plus viewers doesn't even show up on any of the the multiple TV/Cable ratings companies. I did find 1 rating for the Combate Global Perez vs Cannetti and it fell far short of 1 million plus viewers you claim the Org always seem to hit.

Combate Global Perez vs Cannetti - 57k

 

[Terry_Dak_Tull]

Are you claiming Bellator has an average viewership on cable of only 28k? I'm guessing 28k is for PFL but if you are claiming its for Bellator that number is way off the mark. So far this years Bellator has been doing decent numbers considering they've been getting 0 promotional push by VIACOM.

As I said, "LAST WEEK their primetime average viewership on cable was 28k"

Did Bellator have an event last week?

 

[Stan]

I read this article today and what Patricky Pitbull says has me just a little worried about PFL buying Bellator. Coker has always seemed to have a very good relationship with the Pitbull brothers and I believe they would receive inside information of what is about to happen with Bellator. I hope the merger doesn't happen I'd prefer to see RIZIN buying them instead of PFL.

https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/7/...bull-sad-potential-bellator-sale-pfl-fighters

 

[MMALOPEZ]

I read this article today and what Patricky Pitbull says has me just a little worried about PFL buying Bellator. Coker has always seemed to have a very good relationship with the Pitbull brothers and I believe they would receive inside information of what is about to happen with Bellator. I hope the merger doesn't happen I'd prefer to see RIZIN buying them instead of PFL.

https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/7/...bull-sad-potential-bellator-sale-pfl-fighters

I don’t think Rizin has the financial backing PFL has … so I don’t consider them as a possibility to buy Bellator … I would prefer it though

 

[skylolow]

I read this article today and what Patricky Pitbull says has me just a little worried about PFL buying Bellator. Coker has always seemed to have a very good relationship with the Pitbull brothers and I believe they would receive inside information of what is about to happen with Bellator. I hope the merger doesn't happen I'd prefer to see RIZIN buying them instead of PFL.

https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/7/...bull-sad-potential-bellator-sale-pfl-fighters

Read that too. It sounds like its basically a done deal that PFL is buying Bellator.

 

[Stan]

I don’t think Rizin has the financial backing PFL has … so I don’t consider them as a possibility to buy Bellator … I would prefer it though

Yeah I know but in my eyes that would be the best thing that could happen to Bellator and the fighters within the Org. It would make RIZIN the modern day Pride FC Org that would put a dent in the popularity of the UFC with 1 years time. Merging with PFL who are currently very deep in the red and will only get deeper in the red after the takeover will only put PFL even closer to folding. PFL can't even pack up the arenas they've been in this year. PFL is in a worse position than Strikeforce was in and Strikeforce packed arenas and had well known fighters. All I see in this merger is a quick end to PFL.

Read that too. It sounds like its basically a done deal that PFL is buying Bellator.

Yeah it was just heartbreaking to read that article. I can only hope someone other that PFL or Khan steps up and saves Bellator.

 

[TorontoTO]

Lame, basically will never follow the Bellator guys again or hopefully they move onto better pastures

 

[Stan]

Lame, basically will never follow the Bellator guys again or hopefully they move onto better pastures

You can't punish the Bellator fighters because VIACOM was to cheap to promote an Org with fighters ranked worldwide top 10 including the #1 ranked LHW fighter in the world. Yeah I hope most Bellator fighters that can opt out of joining PFL jump ship instead of going to the Titanic PFL.

 

[TorontoTO]

You can't punish the Bellator fighters because VIACOM was to cheap to promote an Org with fighters ranked worldwide top 10 including the #1 ranked LHW fighter in the world. Yeah I hope most Bellator fighters that can opt out of joining PFL jump ship instead of going to the Titanic PFL.

I don’t like watching PFL. It’s simple as that. I can watch them when they leave

 

[noizer]

I can imagine some of the talent not making the jump over to PFL.

Hopefully a few of them get signed by Rizin.

 

[TheBrownRanger]

Yeah I know but in my eyes that would be the best thing that could happen to Bellator and the fighters within the Org. It would make RIZIN the modern day Pride FC Org that would put a dent in the popularity of the UFC with 1 years time. Merging with PFL who are currently very deep in the red and will only get deeper in the red after the takeover will only put PFL even closer to folding. PFL can't even pack up the arenas they've been in this year. PFL is in a worse position than Strikeforce was in and Strikeforce packed arenas and had well known fighters. All I see in this merger is a quick end to PFL.

PFL/WSOF has been "dying" since 2014. Let's be honest, PFL needs a solid roster and a Bellator buyout will give them just that. They won't be able to grow their brand with Sadibou Sy, Ante Delija, and Chris Wade as stars. Hell, even as a Bellator fan since 2013, they have done a terrible job of marketing and building their own product. They're gonna sink anyways so if the PFL/Bellator merger happens, it's really not the end of the world. We may even see a better product as a result. At the very least, PFL will get new MW/BW/WFW divisions as well as some cool crossover fights and a massive video library. I look forward to enjoying the chaos as a fan.

If it doesn't work out, we still have the UFC, RIZIN, and ONE Championship.

 

[CC27]

I dont mind them buying Bellator. It creates a solid number 2. Not really much in terms of big fights to make between the orgs but it gives PFL a much needed roster boost.

PFL is actually willing to spend some money unlike Bellator so that could benefit the roster and free agents. They signed Francis, they buy Bellator, maybe they'll actually get behind this thing which is something that wasnt happening with Viacom/Bellator. They've been DOA for a long time now.

See how it plays out.

 

[careto]

This feels like a worst-case scenario kind of thing. It will be a shame if it does happen, Coker should just retire and never show his face in MMA ever again.

 

[DougieJones]

Lame, basically will never follow the Bellator guys again or hopefully they move onto better pastures

LOL the one source is that Todd Fatkins guy?