Dave Meltzer: DAZN is in trouble



This would be terrible for bellator.

DAZN is what is keeping Bellator alive right now. They really overpaid for the programming too, tbh. Not that Bellator isnt a quality product, I just dont think they are bringing enough subscriptions to justify the 100 milion for 3 years deal.
Maybe this is why there has been the whole talk about moving to CBS lately, because they now DAZN will not be renewing the contract with Bellator.
 
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Prior to the pandemic DAZN was a great deal for combat sports fans with the annual plan for $99, especially if you don't have cable tv any more like many people. My annual subscription is about to run out in a few days, so I have to cancel until I see Bellator and boxing come back with a regular schedule at least.
 
DAZN is what is keeping Bellator alive right now. They really overpaid for the programming too, tbh. Not that Bellator isnt a quality product, I just dont think they are bringing enough subscriptions to justify the 100 milion for 3 years deal.
Maybe this is why there has been the whole moving to CBS talk lately, because they now DAZN will not be renewing the contract with Bellator.

I think they'd probably survive but they'd have to renegotiate with a lot of their higher earners I think or let them move on. No doubt it'd be bad for them. That's the issue with trying to grow to compete with the UFC, orgs are very vulnerable at certain points in their growth.
 
Hmmm.... they don't really store the fight/game videos for more than a week right? I think they should have a repository of important games or championship fights as part of their service.
 
I think they'd probably survive but they'd have to renegotiate with a lot of their higher earners I think or let them move on. No doubt it'd be bad for them. That's the issue with trying to grow to compete with the UFC, orgs are very vulnerable at certain points in their growth.
For sure, trying to compete with the UFC in number of shows and/or talent is not viable in the long-run. This is why Bellator should stay in their lane and just concentrate in doing less shows with more quality and trying to create some homegrown talent. Instead they want to pop off 30+ shows a year, watering down their product, and competing with the UFC for talent.
Just look at Coker talking about the re-negotiation with Chandler. He sounds very doubtful about Chandler continuing with the promotion, even though Chandler has said that he wants to retire there. They are probably paying Chanlder a pretty penny but now they probably cant afford those pay checks for much longer, specially if DAZN doesnt renew their contract.
 
For sure, trying to compete with the UFC in number of shows and/or talent is not viable in the long-run. This is why Bellator should stay in their lane and just concentrate in doing less shows with more quality and trying to create some homegrown talent. Instead they want to pop off 30+ shows a year, watering down their product, and competing with the UFC for talent.
Just look at Coker talking about the re-negotiation with Chandler. He sounds very doubtful about Chandler continuing with the promotion, even though Chandler has said that he wants to retire there. They are probably paying Chanlder a pretty penny but now they probably cant afford those pay checks for much longer, specially if DAZN doesnt renew their contract.

Agreed, for me a successful org to compete with the UFC would probably run less stacked shows a year without a massive undercard and would pay good money to fewer fighters. Similar to how KSW runs in Poland, they don't run shows often, but when they do they make them a big deal and AFAIK they're pretty profitable.
 
I've said it the day they came to the US and started signing shit up that they aren't going to make it here in America after the initial investment is burned through.

These guys have paid major money out for programming and it isn't just in the US. Example, they signed a 10 year deal with the J. League for 2.05 billion dollars. 11 fight deal with Canelo for 365 Million. What 11 guys is he going to fight to get people to buy in for what your paying him. Triple GGG to 6 fights 100 million. Paying Bellator 30+ million a year for a few exclusive shows a year and simulcast other shows. Who the hell were they competing against for that contract??? Not too mention at a bare minimum why not get rights to air Bellator's fight library???

I think Meltzer right, I know not long ago I was reading about one Dazn's deals that was structured similar to Bellator that after x amount of years there was option for more years and they really low balled them back.

In theory I think there is a place in the market for DAZN type company especially outside of the US. But within the US the sports that will get the subscribers in massive numbers will never venture away from the big media outlets nor will the big media outlets allow a company like DAZN to outbid them. Not too mention the intertwined business with massive sponsors wrapped up in these sports would be a big issue with that revenue.
 
As far as the combat sports part of DAZN goes to the exception of Bellator all of the promotions
can find a home on UFC Fight Pass especially boxing since the CES,Roy Jones & Lou DiBella
promoted cards have some of the highest viewer numbers on the service.
 
Sell to amazon or another streamer that needs live content
 
Agreed, for me a successful org to compete with the UFC would probably run less stacked shows a year without a massive undercard and would pay good money to fewer fighters. Similar to how KSW runs in Poland, they don't run shows often, but when they do they make them a big deal and AFAIK they're pretty profitable.
I agree, IDK why Coker keeps talking about signing more fighters and putting on more shows. I mean if the DAZN deal extends to a few more years then it makes sense but otherwise I dont see them having the money to sign more fighters and putting more shows.
I seriously doubt CBS/Viacom is willing to put hunderds of millions to compete against the UFC. Unless Bellator changes their business model to something more like you mentioned, they are going to struggle when DAZN goes.
 
I agree, IDK why Coker keeps talking about signing more fighters and putting on more shows. I mean if the DAZN deal extends to a few more years then it makes sense but otherwise I dont see them having the money to sign more fighters and putting more shows.
I seriously doubt CBS/Viacom is willing to put hunderds of millions to compete against the UFC. Unless Bellator changes their business model to something more like you mentioned, they are going to struggle when DAZN goes.

Another promoter who does the less is more approach would be Invicta who only books 5-7 shows
a year and how it works out for them is really well since Shannon Knapp doesn't have to hire 500 or
600 fighters to run that many cards since most of the cards have 7-9 fights at most.
 
Bellator is a big number two organization run by multi-billion dollar media conglomerate. It makes no sense for them to do a boutique type operation with much less cards. They are getting paid huge money by DAZN, plus paid for tv rights internally presumably for the Viacom channels that run the content all over the world plus there are third party tv channels all over the world that license their 40+ shows per year, some of which they break up the rights to multiple ways. Suggesting they style themselves after small operations like KSW or Invicta FC is laughable.
 
Another promoter who does the less is more approach would be Invicta who only books 5-7 shows
a year and how it works out for them is really well since Shannon Knapp doesn't have to hire 500 or
600 fighters to run that many cards since most of the cards have 7-9 fights at most.
Yes, I believe that is the way that it should be, Invicta is a good example of how to do it. At the end of the day, maybe Coker knows something we dont know. There must be a reaaon why he is planning on keep looking for free-agents and putting on more shows. Maybe CBS/Viacom will back him up, who knows.
 
Bellator making their move to cbs sports
Re-purposing some old content on an obscure tv sports channel the umbrella corporation also owns is not "making their move."
 
Bellator is a big number two organization run by multi-billion dollar media conglomerate. It makes no sense for them to do a boutique type operation with much less cards. They are getting paid huge money by DAZN, plus paid for tv rights internally presumably for the Viacom channels that run the content all over the world plus there are third party tv channels all over the world that license their 40+ shows per year, some of which they break up the rights to multiple ways. Suggesting they style themselves after small operations like KSW or Invicta FC is laughable.

I think they need to make a concession somewhere in the middle of it. No doubt 8 or 10 shows a year isn't going to work. I think something more like 6-8 big shows a year, 10 smaller style shows(more like are typical Bellator shows) with a little name value on them, and then maybe 8-10 shows of contender style/European style type shows. The 10 smaller style shows should be ran to do nothing but pump the 6 to 8 big shows up as can't miss events for fans. Those big shows should be pumping up the next big show. It needs flow from show to show to keep fans interested in the product and that will help build the brand better. The later being a major issue right now and probably always will be to some degree unless they get a nice advertising bump from Viacom to build it up and change how they do business.

The roster overall just needs to be utilized much better than it is across the events throughout the year. Right now it's just like who we got for this weekend, ok sounds good. They seem to stumble into about 3 cards a year that get people talking outside of the hardcore fans. Otherwise too many events take place that fans are barely even talking about or hardly watching when looking at the ratings. When they have shown that solid cards do give them a pop in ratings. They have just never been able to keep those fans coming back. To be honest, this seems to be an issue more with how Coker operates than anything else(Strikeforce was ran very similar) and I'm not sure he is the right guy to lead Bellator. I think he needs to be more in a talent relations role as his primary duties and bring in other people that run the day to day and control the direction of the company.
 
Gonna miss Bellator but on the plus side, whenever a top org closes things get real interesting.
 
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