Bellator Fighting Championships will be moving their live events to Friday nights, according to promotion CEO Bjorn Rebney.
Bellator hosted it’s events on Friday nights during Season Five and saw it’s viewer numbers fluctuate from 103,000 to 269,000 for Season Five, which included some of the promotions lowest ratings ever on MTV2. By broadcasting their events on Saturday night, Bellator often went head-to-head with live UFC events, football, and other high-profile sports programs.
With a move to Friday night, Bellator will only have to compete with a revamped “The Ultimate Fighter” on FX, as well as the occasional live mma event on HDNet or Showtime such as Titan Fighting Championships, the Maximum Fighting Championships, and Strikeforce Challengers events.
Rebney detailed the decision to Sergio Non of USA Today.
“We didn’t really dig into the analysis and try to assess who was one, who was two and who was three, or what we were trying to avoid the most,” he said. “It just kind of came down to an analysis of, is there a night where all the factors made it to where we can maximize live-event attendance, where we can reach the largest audience from an television perspective, to give MMA fans an opportunity to really make a night for themselves with Bellator.”
“There’s a constant balance between television, which is your primary driving force behind building the brand as you’re reaching the available universe of millions upon millions of homes, versus the live event,” Rebney said. “We’ve always been very, very aware and very cognizant of how much live-event excitement plays into televised-event excitement. You can’t have one without the other.”
Fans won’t have to wait until March to catch their next Bellator event though, as the promotion is looking at hosting a “special” event in February which may include a lightweight bout between Shinya Aoki vs. Eddie Alvarez, a featherweight title bout between Joe Warren vs. Pat Curran, and/or the possible conclusion of the Season Five heavyweight tournament between Eric Prindle vs. Thiago Santos.