Is Bellator's model working?

[Gerald Ford]

Bellator is doing a great job, I think the biggest key to their success is paying the fighters well enough to draw in those elite fighters from the UFC or in some cases retirement.

 

[GSP_37]

My guess is PPV stunk for them even though the cards were stacked. I think DAZN is their lesser attempt at PPV type monetizing.

 

[AGEZ909]

Too soon to tell. The optimist in me wants to believe they are investing for the future and are in it for the long haul. Easy to focus on only the old vets they are signing, but they are signing very young talent in hopes of developing them.

This week’s card has a bunch of young talent. Definitely looking forward to them fighting.

I feel like that lump sum they are getting from DAZN made their operation far more sustainable. I wouldn’t say they are out of the red, but they are that much closer to balancing the budget and working on their cashflow

 

[Magnum1978]

And tournaments! They are awesome

Bellator doing very well IMO

 

[InfinityLens]

I think DAZN could be make or break for them.

 

[Mob69]

No.

Old man freakshow fights have delivered intermittent rating pops, but also much criticism and have yielded a poor reputation for the company. Ratings are in significant decline. In four years Coker has not generated a single indigenous star. Much money has been invested in expensive UFC castoffs that, while often excellent fighters (Rory) are probably passed their best and not a route to big TV ratings.

The new streaming deal will keep Bellator alive for several years, but how many committed Bellator fans are there to buy subscriptions? Even among hardcore MMA fans, Bellator is very rarely essential viewing - and that's when the show is free to access, let alone behind a paywall.

 

[InfinityLens]

No.

Old man freakshow fights have delivered intermittent rating pops, but also much criticism and have yielded a poor reputation for the company. Ratings are in significant decline. In four years Coker has not generated a single indigenous star. Much money has been invested in expensive UFC castoffs that, while often excellent fighters (Rory) are probably passed their best and not a route to big TV ratings.

The new streaming deal will keep Bellator alive for several years, but how many committed Bellator fans are there to buy subscriptions? Even among hardcore MMA fans, Bellator is very rarely essential viewing - and that's when the show is free to access, let alone behind a paywall.

It will be the tentpoles plus you get a subscription to DAZN's other stuff with it.