Will CBS Sign Affliction?
by Michael Rome on Oct 21, 2008 8:45 AM EDT
in MMA News
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PrintAffliction has been trying to take EliteXC's deal with CBS for a long time now, and there is now an opening for them to step in if CBS is still interested in airing mixed martial arts.
The financial problems for them would be similar to EliteXC. They lost millions on their first show, and have the daunting task of needing to break even by show three. I don't see how it's possible, and it's certainly not possible running shows on CBS for paltry fees at large losses. The only way it could work is if CBS bought Affliction the way it was planning to buy EliteXC.
CBS had interest in Affliction a few weeks ago, so if no deal is done it suggests that CBS has soured on the sport as a whole. This could be a watershed moment for the sport, because we are not going to see any new companies starting up in the next year.
The best outcome for fighters would be CBS purchasing Affliction and signing a number of EliteXC fighters to fight on their shows.
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Good point...
I’m sure Atencio is already on the phone with CBS execs.
Even better, more free UFC counter programming.
The networks are in a pretty difficult position. Sumner Redstone has had to unload a lot of his interest in CBS and Viacom. A decline in ad revenue is apparently taking hold. The only way I could see this happening is if Affliction signs a time buy type of deal where they could burn through their own cash and not put a lot of CBS’s at risk. The fact that the last EXC show had so many Affliction ads and not the spots from more mainstream companies like before was an early sign that this deal was going to be a hard sell, in my opinion.
It seems like a longshot at this point.
by Cannon Jacques on Oct 20, 2008 10:09 PM EDT reply actions
Does Affliction even have the money to put on another show at this point? They don’t have a big draw like a Gina or a Kimbo to pull in the eyeballs either.
If they can convince CBS to allow boxing along with MMA, I’m guessing they will suddenly find themselves awash in capital.
by D.Capitated on Oct 20, 2008 10:20 PM EDT up reply actions
I really don’t think that model will ever work.
Affliction has already admitted that they couldn’t get it to work for their next show, and I really can’t see how a card with Affliction MMA fighters and top Golden Boy Boxers can pull in enough revenue to pay everyone what they want to get paid, especially if it was to take place on free TV.
They might be able to do it with mid-card boxers, but the, what’s the point?
The point for Oscar would be to get a big audience for whomever he puts out there and to hopefully convince someone like CBS to perhaps bring back the sport on a semi regular basis. That’s pretty self evident.
by D.Capitated on Oct 20, 2008 10:41 PM EDT up reply actions
Golden Boy didn’t actually become partners with Affliction they agreed to co-promote 4 events with them where they provided the boxers and Affiction provided the MMA fighters.
Oh, I get that. I’m telling you that if Affliction was a portal to network TV, they’d probably be willing to throw money behind it just for that reason.
by D.Capitated on Oct 20, 2008 11:08 PM EDT up reply actions
My understanding is Golden Boy COULD have a show on network TV if the numbers made sense from their end. But they don’t.
by Michaelthebox on Oct 20, 2008 11:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Anybody could have a show on network TV, especially on Saturday nights. Antonio Tarver/Elvir Muriqi was nearly on ABC last year. They can personally offer incentives Affliction can’t, after all, starting with Oscar’s own services.
by D.Capitated on Oct 20, 2008 11:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Tarver is only entertaining...
when he is getting his head bashed in…two weekends ago he was VERY entertaining.
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Oct 20, 2008 11:26 PM EDT up reply actions
I am a hardcore boxing fan and that is b/s. ABC was no where near a deal to broadcast a boxing fight esp such a crappy one like that one. There were talks yeah, but they weren’t even going to fight at boardwalk hall. If you can’t sell out boardwalk hall,you have no business being on national tv.
Anybody with a big enough paycheck can be on network tv, but the promoter has to be willing to pay a significant cost and more likely than not operate at a loss.
Is Golden Boy interested in network tv? The money in MMA and Boxing is made through PPV not network broadcast fees and Golden Boy has HBO pretty much throwing money at them for boxing.
I’m not really convinced that Golden Boy is seriously interested in MMA, if they were they would of actually partnered with Affliction or just started their own org. Golden Boy seems more interested in the demographic MMA draws than actually getting involved with the sport.
Oscar’s made it very clear he wants network TV, if for no other reason than he can reach a far wider base of fans than he can with any subscription service. Obviously boxing’s bread and butter is still gonna be live gates and PPV, but ask most boxing analysts what PPV has done to the sport’s fan base over the last 30 years and you’ll get an interesting reaction.
Besides, whatever Oscar makes now, he can try to make more later. He’s already talking about fighting Hatton next year.
by D.Capitated on Oct 20, 2008 11:25 PM EDT up reply actions
Well that’s nothing that Golden Boy really needs Affliction for, as a promoter they are a lot more stable and appealing than Affliction could dream of being. If they are wanting to put Boxing on CBS then they could cut their own deal.
Depends how you look at it. If CBS/Showtime is wiling to pay at least some sort of fee over the long run, it will help subsidize along with live gate. Right now, CBS is chiefly interested in an MMA product.
by D.Capitated on Oct 20, 2008 11:56 PM EDT up reply actions
Doesn’t Showtime also sometimes run Golden Boy boxing events?
For Network tv the numbers for boxing just don’t work out, it cost a heck of a lot and doesn’t get the numbers they are looking for. MMA is much cheaper and while it’s numbers aren’t huge it’s demographic is what networks lust after.
If De La Hoya wanted to work cheap for CBS (like he did for HBO with De La Hoya vs Forbes)then he could get a deal quick but trying to piggyback off of Affliction to get a low level boxing match(which is all they can afford) on a MMA show probably wouldn’t appeal to CBS any more than it has appealed to anyone else.
Golden Boy would be better served to just get into MMA promotion and not have to worry about being partners with anyone if MMA is what they are after, there are plenty of good fighter that will soon be looking for a home with ProElite going belly up. Trying to piggyback boxing off MMA to hit that demographic is going to be a hard sell, even on CBS.
i dunno..
watching a MMA match and then watching a 12 round 36 minute decision boxing match might put too many people too sleep.. as long as those people actually fall asleep and leave the TV on and not skip channels, they might get some ratings…
Play nice...
…some of us still love both sports…
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Oct 20, 2008 10:38 PM EDT up reply actions
on another note...
I’m not sure MMA in a boxing ring will sell.. they might want to transfer to a cage..
Affliction is the next EliteXC
Why would CBS throw good money after bad?
"It's like a flying knuckle sandwich." --Rogan
"And many men have eaten it." -- Goldy
If Affliction would have agreed to the same original deal CBS had with Elite they would have the spot…
The problem is Affliction is only playing with inhouse money…
They couldn’t and didn’t arrange financing like elite and ifl…
You can see this with the swift erratic changes they are constantly making…
- cancel show
- announce deal with golden boy (this deal is not signed by the way)
- Then announce deal with M1….
This all points to one thing:
They are scared shitless of losing any more money.
Here is one sector this economy will hit and hit hard:
“The Overpriced Douche-Bag T-shit Market”
Once they see the sales numbers for the previous and the next month or so – their t-shirt sales trend will probably do more to end their hopes and dreams of running an MMA promotion then all the money they have lost trying to run it up to this point.
Right now “capital” is a hot commodity… does anyone think any of it will be invested into the “MMA Wave” which is really the “UFC wave”?
Pretty soon whatever capital that is available will be used to buy up real assets for pennies on the dollar.
When right now countries like Iceland is for sale… who the fuck would want to buy elite xc or affliction?
by mmalogic on Oct 20, 2008 10:38 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
is there any attention of Golden Boy & Affliction working together beside Affliction making Tshirts for them? As a matter of fact was there any mention of Affliction during the Hopkins-Pavlik fight? Considering Fedor’s peeps only do one & done deals, I doubt he is signed long term to Affliction. We all know what happened when a company signed Fedor long term and it was discovered it was only letter of intent
by The Bronzeville Bully on Oct 21, 2008 12:20 AM EDT up reply actions
Brother Bronze,
when you have Finkie(the org killer)stien, jerry millen and a t-shirt salesmen it’s not a good platform.
You can tell what happened with the whole golden boy/affliction deal.
Golden Boy got a a shit load of money from a sponsor and when it came time to sit down and work on the mma/boxing deal golden just wanted to unload the “left overs” on their rosters to give them fights.
I’m sure Oscar saw the same numbers HBO saw.
I thought he was making a really dumb business move until I realized he just wanted to sign the sponsorship deal.
Now Affliction is in bed with M1… you know the chick that’s left when the light turns on in the club.
Your so wasted you don’t care if she is missing her front teeth and has yoda growing out of her neck… you just want to get laid.
So the whole press conference with m-1 was to sell this asinine reality TV show concept that no one in the states will touch.
by mmalogic on Oct 21, 2008 1:00 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Yeah they( Buffer) mentioned Affliction constantly before each fight and had the ring deck out with their label. Both Hopkins and Pavlik came out with their own designed shirts.
Did they mention Fedor or the upcoming Affliction MMA show or did they just mention Affliction the clothing brand that was sponsoring the show and the individual boxers? Affliction isn’t a MMA clothing brand they have always sponsored guys from multiple sports(and metal bands), it’s not surprising to see them sponsoring boxers or a fight but that doesn’t mean Golden Boy was using it’s boxing match to advertise a Affliction MMA event to it’s audience.
After a proposed sale to CBS fell through, ProElite will officially be out of business later this week according to a report by Dave Meltzer on F4WOnline.com. CBS reportedly may continue in MMA, with speculation centering on a possible partnership with Affliction. The report follows rumors since late last week that the presumptive CBS deal was in trouble.
by Cannon Jacques on Oct 20, 2008 10:48 PM EDT reply actions
Don’t you just love how Atencio calls himself a “promoter” after his first show. And then they cancel events, partner with GB, and then are in talks with CBS… sounds like somebody gasping a last breath to me.. now we are going to have to hear him say how his company is going to change MMA
Atencio is now a veritable “promoter” of press conferences…
Affliction, M1, etc… are so good at throwing press conferences they don’t need to actually put on a show.
If CBS/showtime wants to continue MMA it only has 1 option…
Affliction.
Zuffa will not touch CBS with a 10 foot pole… think: town slut with herpes.
The problem is Affliction has to lose money in order to make the deal work… And I do not believe they will do that because the money they lose is out of pocket and not from reverse merger financing or some other structured financing protocol where they can play with monopoly money.
I predict Affliction after seeing the demise of Elite, how much they have lost so far, declining sales of their t-shirts, the economy we face, they will run not walk out of this business.
You can see it already…
first it’s the canceling of the event , then a supposed deal with golden boy, now it’s with m-1… every one is trying to use each other for something and at the end of the day someone has to foot the bill. The problem is with these things when the end of the day comes no one is ready to foot the bill and that’s when the press conferences stop
I will be surprised if there’s another affliction event.
I have seen so many of these “press conferences” and “press releases” of a new deal, of this of that, in every market and every niche only to see them disappear.
What pisses me off… is everyday it seems their is one less venue I can see Frank VS Ken. And that pisses me off to no avail :) LOL
You’ll get to see your dream fight.
A little birdie told me Dana is going to let Frank fight Ken and the winner gets to fight Tito Ortiz in the main event of UFC 100
Hmmm..
Is that before or after Dana White removes his fake face to reveal he was Jared Shaw all along?
people seem to think CBS is the savior for mma, but the problem is, CBS is also in trouble. They are laying off a ton of people and may possibly be selling some of their offshoots. The only mma that makes ANY sense, and it still isn’t a lot, is the UFC. They are the only ones that need no financial support from CBS.
Network viewership as a whole is down, and so is the ad revenue. I would be absolutely shocked if CBS went into any type of long-term partnership with a promotion.
http://eliotmarshall.com/
Agreed 100%
It’s unlikely CBS would purchase Affliction. My guess would be the EliteXC debacle scared them enough that they have no desire to invest in a fight promotion. CBS might still air fights, but it will have to be from an independent promoter. Affliction could pull it off if they sign Gina Carano and Kimbo, but it would be tough. The UFC would be a better fit because it has an established brand with fighters who are proven draws.
The real problem I see with a Affliction deal is that CBS would face a lot of the same problems they faced with ProElite. CBS would basically have to prop up another unstable company with a scary financial bottom line only with Affliction you get a organization that has had more big press conferences than actual events.
Yea with Zuffa CBS wouldn’t have the control they have with these type orgs but they wouldn’t have the headaches either and they wouldn’t be getting financially entangled with problem companies(something that is more appealing in tough financial times). The way Zuffa sells it’s shows has worked out pretty good for SpikeTV and we know even a event like Spike showed last weekend would do decent numbers on network tv.
I don’t think CBS minds paying only show expenses and receiving all the revenue to put on events for struggling organizations. They basically gave money to keep the org going in exchange for all revenue. CBS isn’t encumbered by Elite’s poor business practice. They just used their leverage to make it a win/win for themselves. I have a feeling they think they can use Affliction the same way. They also get first hand experience on what not to do from two high profile MMA league failures and any mistakes CBS makes will just be blamed on the promotions.
CBS corporation through Showtime owns 20% of ProElite. They had to pay for the last EliteXC show because that was the only way it was going to happen. They invested millions into the company and now they own 20% of a bankruptcy. Make no mistake it wasn’t a win/win for them at all, they have a significant investment they now have to write off as a loss on their own balance sheet and they have to go back to the drawing board to retool completly with a different company if they wish to continue to show MMA on their network.
If all the revenue doesn’t cover all of the expenses (which was the case for every show Elite ever ran), it’s not a win at all for CBS.
Who me is right, the only reason CBS picked up the tab for the last one was because CBS had already advertised and promoted it a little (and probably sold some ads) and if CBS didn’t pick up the tab, the show wasn’t going to happen. That would make the advertisers who did buy ads very upset.
The problem was Elite on CBS wasn’t generating enough revenue for anyone to keep things going the way they were.
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