MMA on CBS, What Does It All Mean?

Some very astute analysis  of the implications of the CBS/Elite XC show from the "new guy" at MMA Payout, Andrew Falzon:

Unlike pay per view or even Spike TV, the CBS EliteXC broadcast will reach virtually every home in America with a television. According to SNL Kagan, that number is over 112-million homes. Consider that the UFC does between 400,000-600,000 pay per view buys, and you get an idea of how big of a stage CBS provides.

If the UFC had that stage, it would go about business as usual, protect its market dominance and mention only its brand of mixed martial arts. Since that is the believed to be among the very reasons the UFC did not get a network deal, what will surprise UFC fans most about Saturday night's CBS coverage of EliteXC is its openness.

CBS play-by-play personality Gus Johnson says he has not been approached by anyone, at EliteXC or CBS, about ground rules for the broadcast, or making it an “EliteXC-only” show.

He told MMAPayout.com, "We’re not going to pretend that the UFC doesn’t exist. The UFC has some of the best fighters in the world. We’re going to sell what we have to sell, but we’re not going to the cheat the fans and pretend like that fighters in another company don’t exist. Eventually we want to get to a situation where the best fighters fight the best fighters.”

That open coverage of the event will lead to more open coverage in the sport.