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Bjorn Rebney: Yeah, maybe those Bellator/Strikeforce fights won’t happen

By Zach Arnold | December 15, 2010

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Our good friend Jamie Penick and his crew at MMA Torch did a radio interview last night with Bjorn Rebney, the boss of Bellator, talking about the new TV deal they signed with MTV2. I didn’t transcribe the full interview, so I would encourage you to listen to it here.

Some key points from the interview:

BJORN REBNEY: “It is a great day. You know, it’s been a lot of work over the last five to six months. It’s been a lot of plane flights and a lot of meetings and a lot of discussions, but you know it all came to fruition. We got to announce it today. It was exciting. I think it’s an unbelievably magical fit for our brand and hits the right demo and reaches the right audience and just a spectacular partner to work with. We couldn’t be more happy.”

QUESTION: “Can you tell some of our listeners who maybe haven’t heard the story yet or seen everything with it what 2011 is going to be like for Bellator on MTV2?”

BJORN REBNEY: “Well, it’s going to be busy. I can tell you that. It’s going to be 25 events in 2011. It’s going to be two full 12-event seasons complemented by three specials, so starting in March we’ll go March-April-May, we’ll go every single week for three solid months with a 12-event season. Then after that 12-event season is finished up, we’ll do a series of specials once a month so that the brand stays fresh and we stay in the eyes of, you know, fans of Bellator. And then we’ll kick back up in September and go September-October-November for three months and slow it all down for the holidays and kick it back up again in 2012.”

QUESTION: “There were reports out that you guys were coming close to a deal with FX and Fox Sports overall to be on numerous platforms. Was there anything to those deals was it always MTV2?”

BJORN REBNEY: “Well, what I can tell you is this — the focus of what we’re trying to put together, the focus in terms of building the brand and taking everything that is Bellator to the next level, was always on the MTV Networks alliance, was always on putting something together with MTV2. We were having conversations with other groups, we were having good substantive conversations with other goods, obviously the folks at Fox Sports Network were great partners to and for us for a couple of seasons. But, you know, the focal point of my organization, the focal point of what we’re doing was in trying to put this deal together. I mean, the reality is is that, you know, MTV, MTV2’s, you know, moniker for MTV2 is that MTV2 is ‘Man’s Best Friend'” And when I looked at the numbers on the station what you find is that they have the highest concentration of males 12-34 of any network on television and when I say any it means higher than ESPN, higher than TNT, higher than USA, higher than ABC, higher than FOX, CBS, etc. So, you know, when you look at our demos, you look at the people that are watching what we’re watching, when you look at people who tune in and watch MMA and buy the PPVs, that’s who it is. You know, it’s males 18-34 and that’s who MTV2 hits with all of their programming and they do it better than anybody. So, this was the perfect step in the maturation of Bellator Fighting Championships and we count ourselves as lucky to have this in place.”

QUESTION: “MTV2 is on a different cable tier in some areas. It’s on like a digital preferred as opposed to the digital basic and some less households than FSN was. What are you expecting ratings-wise, comparatively speaking, to what you were getting on FSN?”

BJORN REBNEY: “Well, I think that they’re a totally, completely different animal. MTV2 is a major cable network. MTV2 is in over 80 million homes across the country and by way of comparison, you know, the major networks that we’ve all known since we were kids, NBC, CBS, ABC, and more recently FOX are in anywhere from 108 to 112 million homes, so the magnitude of the size of an MTV2 is very comparable to ESPN2 to ESPN to ESPN Classic to the USAs, the TNTs, and the like. It reaches an awful lot of households, virtually every household in the US. And when you’re looking to try to accumulate great ratings what you’re looking for is you’re looking to hit the right demographic, you know, if a program like Bellator Fighting Championships is on a station that disproportionately programs for women or disproportionately programs for older men, you know 48 and older or 45 and older, you’re not going to do the numbers. It’s like, you know, I said it earlier today when I was talking and that is, you know, horses go where the hay is and the bottom line is that there’s not a better network on television right now than MTV2 for capturing the allegiance and excitement of the 18-34 year old male demo so, you know, I mean I think our ratings will be terrific. I mean, you know, the ratings will be terrific provided we keep putting on great shows, we have spectacular fights, and my production team works 21 hours a day to put together the finest production humanly possible. But all that’s in play.”

QUESTION: “The production aspect of it… How much of a hand did Fox Sports have in your broadcasts and will there be any difference to the look of Bellator Fighting Championships now that you’re on a network like MTV2?”

BJORN REBNEY: “Fox Sports Network had nothing to do with the production of our shows. All the production was handled by our production team, a production team that I’ve hired over the last couple of years, you know, just refining and getting better and stronger people, headed up by our Senior Coordinator producer Robbie Beiner who’s got 14 Emmy awards and I think 12 of those are for fight programming. We will continue to produce our own program but the essence of the partnership that we have with MTV2 is highly integrated, so I’m leaving for New York tomorrow morning at 7 AM, I’m going to spend the next three days in New York all day working with the production people at MTV2 talking with them about everything from music to features on fighters to promotional sports and the like, so you know they’re heavily vested in the program and they’re heavily vested in insuring that it does great numbers and is entertaining and exciting but we’re going to stay absolutely pure sports. I mean, you know, the essence of Bellator is going to be in that 2 hour block, four live fights, great tight 60-70 second feature pieces on our star fighters, great teases to open the shows so you know what’s coming up, great bumps between fights so that you stay tuned and people don’t bump channels or go anywhere else. The essence of what we have been creating is going to stay the creating, it’s just, you know, it’s my job to make sure it gets better and more exciting and faster-paced and just constantly getting better and stronger.”

QUESTION: “So, is it safe to say that you’re looking to use the MTV production to enhance what you’ve already done and not actually having overt or too much of an influence on what you presented previously?”

BJORN REBNEY: “Yeah. I think we were really fortunate, the people at MTV2 and the team at MTV2 came to us and they’re young and they’re inventive and they’re creative and they were excited and they like what we’ve done. They looked at our programming and they’ve liked what we’ve done and of course I looked at their network and was in love with what they were capable of doing with us. So they didn’t come in to look to change much. They came in and said, hey, where we can be of help or we can be of assistance to you guys, we’ll do it in a heartbeat but we like what you’re doing, we love the tournament format, we love the dynamic of the fighters controlling their own destiny and not a matchmaker making a decision as who gets to fight who for what and when. So, they’ve just been, you know, it’s one of those ideal kind of synergy in terms of partnerships that you dream about having as a producer and as a CEO of a company.”

QUESTION: “Do this new deal help or hinder anything going forward with Strikeforce?”

BJORN REBNEY: “Boy, I don’t know, you know, as I’ve said many times I’ve tried to stress publicly because it’s not really my nature to kind of call people out or create kind of an adversarial situation. I like Scott (Coker), I think he does a terrific job. I’ve watched a lot of his shows. His last event (in St. Louis) was spectacular. Knockout after knockout and surprise, it was a great show. You know, I don’t think that Scott was particularly interested in making those fights happen and, you know, I pursued them pretty aggressively because Gilbert (Melendez) kept calling out our champion Eddie Alvarez and I thought it was a fight that Eddie would win. So, you know, we attempted to make it work. I don’t really, you know, we have 25 events coming up in 2011, more events than any MMA promotion on a big national platform so we’ve got an awful lot of work to do and you know my focus and the team’s focus now is going to be putting on incredible event after incredible event, traveling from city to city to city, putting on the best Mixed Martial Arts (shows) that the Bellator team is capable of putting on. So, um, you know, I think that Gilbert/Eddie would have been a fun fight. I don’t think that, based on Scott’s reaction, that it’s a fight that would have happened or could happen or would happen in the future but, um, you know, but it was interesting at the time and I think it would have made for a fun match-up from a fan’s perspective but I don’t think it will occur.”

QUESTION: “I was reading an interview with our friend Jonathan Snowden that you did earlier today over at BloodyElbow.com and you addressed the sustainability of Bellator with this deal. What is it that this deal provides that will help you sustain the business and help it grow forward and get to that cash flow positive that you were talking about? What is it specifically about this deal that help turns that corner?”

BJORN REBNEY: “Well, you know, it’s a combination of things. It’s not just this deal, although this deal is tremendous, I mean, you know, when you look around the world in terms of recognizable brands, you talk about groups like MTV and Coca Cola and Nike, you know, McDonalds, those are hugely-recognized brands that anywhere you go in the world whether it’s China, whether it’s the Middle East or Western Europe or South America and you say MTV, everybody knows what you’re talking about. So, you know, the brand traction that an alliance like that creates in terms of what we do internationally, in terms of what we do with venues here domestically, in terms of what we do through sponsorship, in terms of what we do in merchandising, it builds revenue across multiple fronts. The deal itself is a very strong deal, I mean it’s an anomaly in the television business to have somebody give you, give us a three year commitment and we have a three year partnership with this team at MTV2. My goal and my focus when I started building out Bellator Fighting Championships was to put ourselves in a position where we spent money, invested capital, got to a certain point and once we reached that point where we turn the corner and reach a position of cash flow break-even and then ultimate start generating consistent net profits and we’ve reached that cash flow break-even point. It’s a thrilling, as a business owner and as a business developer and a CEO, it is a spectacular point to be at in the maturation of your company because you no longer have to seek investment capital, you no longer have to talk to investment groups and pitch them on a idea. The idea then speaks for itself. So, you know, we’re in a very, very good spot and we’re very lucky to have a group like MTV Networks and MTV2 on board, you know, to have helped get us to that spot.”

Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

7 Responses to “Bjorn Rebney: Yeah, maybe those Bellator/Strikeforce fights won’t happen”

  1. Nick says:

    Cool interview, thanks!

  2. The Gaijin says:

    Ha! Take that edub! =P

    • edub says:

      Yep, no SF vs. Bellator in the near future. You were right.

      Probably better for Strikeforce because their brand won’t get grouped with Bellator, and they don’t have to risk their fighters losing to Bellators. Which was somewhat of a possibility.

      Kinda sux for us though. Who is Alvarez and Lombard gonna fight in the near future?

  3. 45 Huddle says:

    1) Does anybody think MTV2 is going to pay them enough money to actually be profitable? Running 25 shows a year costs a lot of money.

    2) Strikeforce & Bellator are going to actually hurt each other. Having 2 organizations both going for the same talent will just increase the market price and make it more expensive for both of them to do business.

    3) When he says: “they have the highest concentration of males 12-34 of any network on television”…. I assume he means that if every station had 100 viewers, then MTV2 would have a higher percentage of viewers in that demographic. The problem is that the average number of eyeballs for MTV2 vs. important channels is that those channels have so many more viewers. Not to mention that 12-18 is a completely different advertising base then 18-34. 12 year olds still see LEGO commercials.

    4) “I don’t really, you know, we have 25 events coming up in 2011, more events than any MMA promotion on a big national platform…” That’s just a flat out lie.

    Overall, Rebney come across like a used cars salesman. This is a bad deal that he is trying to make sound like gold and one they actually wanted as first choice.

  4. Chris says:

    All fight promoters are used car salesman. He’s no different then anyone else

  5. JT King says:

    Your right 45 Huddle. 12-18 year olds largely don’t fit into the demographic of MMA fans. 18-34 certainly does but how much of that 12-34 male demo. are over the age of 18?

    As for your first question, I hope Bjorn didn’t sign a deal that included zero income from MTV2 but I find it hard to believe that, whatever MTV2 may or may not be paying for Bellator, will be enough to keep the company profitable long-term.

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