Quote of the Day: DREAM.6 Fallout

by Luke Thomas on Sep 24, 2008 9:33 PM EDT in News Comment 16 comments

"Every MMA site went out of their way to cover the DREAM 6 event as if it was a big deal, and yet when the bad TV ratings predictably were released, none of these sites are talking about the fallout. I am curious as to why…"

-- Zach Arnold, asking a very good question. The terrible DREAM.6 ratings here.

The truth is DREAM (and Sengoku) is something of a sideshow for hardcore MMA fans. It's a bonus set of high level fights in a world only privvy to the dedicated fan. Moreover, there is something of an ignorant assumption floating among fans that MMA in Japan can never really suffer in the long run. Amidst turmoil and change, they expect high-level Japanese MMA organizations to find a way to gut through. After all, it's Japan, right? The home of some of the largest, biggest, most widely attended MMA shows in history, right? Nothing could happen, could it? Even with the purchase of PRIDE and the yakuza scandal, there is the expectation that Japan's highest level organization will be the perpetual phoenix rising from the ashes. We shall see.

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In between DREAM.5 and 6, and after the last Sengoku, everybody ran around like Chicken Little, wondering when the sky was finally gonna fall on Japanese MMA. Then we got the news of Don Quijote backing WVR and that seemed to leave folks sated – all the doom and gloom talk died down, and Japanese MMA was safe forever. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but not a lot of MMA bloggers or journalists have easy access to insider info for the Pacific Rim scene. Hell, it doesn’t seem like many MMA bloggers and journalists IN JAPAN have access to much insider info where DREAM and WVR (or even DEEP and Shooto) are concerned. So we speculate, and yes, sometimes things get lost in translation – it’s just the way of teh interwebz, I suppose.

But the bottom line is – no one reports the abysmal TV ratings for Japanese MMA because it doesn’t affect us at all and thus no one really cares. We’re just gonna see it online or on HDNet. Or not at all, because even half the hardcore audience doesn’t really give a shit about the Japanese promotions. Just look at the # of responses about Japanese shows on this site compared to any given post involving Brock Lesnar.

As for Zach’s question about why everyone was covering DREAM.6 like it was a big deal… I guess probably because it was? Sure it didn’t pan out the way many wanted it to, but it was a star-loaded, top-tier show pretty much from top to bottom, the likes of which we only see usually see in Japan around NYE. Plus, it wasn’t really competing with much for news space.

Wow, kinda got off on a ramble there, hah. Thanks for the info, Luke – I actually hadn’t even seen the ratings yet.

by Chris Nelson on Sep 24, 2008 10:07 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Just look at the # of responses about Japanese shows on this site compared to any given post involving Brock Lesnar.

So we don’t hate Japanese MMA enough? I’m confused. :-)

Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ. -- TangleBones

by jemaleddin on Sep 25, 2008 9:29 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I hate Japanese MMA enough for everyone.

Da Blog

by Richard Wade on Sep 25, 2008 10:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

But the bottom line is – no one reports the abysmal TV ratings for Japanese MMA because it doesn’t affect us at all and thus no one really cares

1. It affects us because the organization relies on it to stick around.

2. Most of us care because we want it to stick around.

by banter on Sep 24, 2008 10:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeah sorry I should clarify – fans will obviously care after the fact if/when the bad ratings eventually lead to FEG not being able to hold anymore high-level cards. (Though I think we can agree that those fans are relatively few and far between.) But for instance, the bad ratings of the first five DREAM shows led to this card being delayed on both free TV and PPV, and that didn’t affect us in the least. In fact, it was a boon for us because FEG stacked this show to the rafters with stars who they thought could draw. (Though obviously they didn’t.)

I don’t know. I think I’m sad and maybe in denial a little bit. DREAM is probably my favorite thing about MMA right now and the prospects of them sticking around and not just reverting back to mixed K-1/MMA “Dynamite!” shows once or twice per year are looking increasingly gloomy. :(

by Chris Nelson on Sep 24, 2008 10:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

There’s always Shooto, and they put on some of the best lower weight class fights anywhere.

by D.Capitated on Sep 24, 2008 10:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I hear ya CN.

by banter on Sep 24, 2008 10:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Exactly

I personally am not interested in the days of the UFC being the whole only show in town it limits the News, Viewers and it limits the amount of MMA I can watch in a month.

I want 3 or 4 organizations to fight for my interests every month, because they all compete to gain our interest and put on the best fights for us to see.

by Narcisist from URdirt on Sep 24, 2008 11:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

We covered it

Hell its not up to us to decide if News is good or not, its the News its just up to us to report it. In all honestly to Zack we didnt know they were bad until he said so. We put up Videos. posters, Highlights and everything we could to make our regular fans buy into Dream.

The truth is the more MMA companies that come out and flop just confuse main stream fans. There is nothing we can do about it at all but attempt to convince the mthe show and organization is good.

We covered it because its News and we don’t decide whether its good news or not we let the Fans decide that. We just post it.

Narcisist URDirt.com

by Narcisist from URdirt on Sep 24, 2008 11:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

This is why I just can’t take Zach Arnold seriously when push comes to shove. Can you see SI.com, NBCSports.com, Yahoo or whoever wasting their time on Japanese television ratings? Let’s see, what are people going to click on … A Brock Lesnar story, or the Japanese TV ratings story? Maybe if they were trying to tank their page views they’d pick the latter.

by andherewego on Sep 25, 2008 12:17 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The sports TV outlets rarely spend time on ratings for anything outside of major events, and those are hardly front page news. Could you imagine where ESPN would be if they spent the same amount of time covering the ad buys, TV ratings, and network afterthoughts of major events like the Daytona 500, Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, and so on as they would the events themselves? ESPN would be gone in under a year.

by D.Capitated on Sep 25, 2008 8:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fair enough, but the ratings for this event are relevant. DREAM is arguably the most high profile MMA organization in Japan whose operators warned that poor ratings could mean the demise of the organization. Given that this event also got poor ratings, it seems worthwhile enough to note.

Your larger point, though, is well taken. Covering Japanese television ratings consistently is a gigantic waste of time.

by Luke Thomas on Sep 25, 2008 8:33 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Which brings us to what Zach said, of course.

and yet when the bad TV ratings predictably were released, none of these sites are talking about the fallout.

First of all, there is no fallout yet. Nothing has happened. Secondly, the bad ratings were apparently “predictable”. In other words, something is expected to happen and it will have negative side effects (it is believed), and that something has happened but the negative side effects are, as of yet, undetermined. Finally, Zach’s own analysis basically has DREAM and WVR being molded into one organization and run by K-1’s old boss. Not exactly doomsday.

by D.Capitated on Sep 25, 2008 9:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Attendance was high

I don’t know attendance figures for the event. But watching it on HDNet, it looked to be a great turnout/live gate. How can a promotion that can put 12K spectators in the seats be failing?

" Tell me something Steve, How does a guy from Puerto Rico loose a ball in the Sun? "

by aaronb on Sep 25, 2008 10:18 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The hard numbers don’t matter, its the comparisons.

Dream didn’t fill the stadium, that’s bad. The ratings, compared to TUF look great, but that doesn’t matter, what matters is how it compared to other network TV shows in Japan.

by Phildo on Sep 25, 2008 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

How much were the tickets? Ten bucks apiece? Won’t be succeeding like that.

We don’t know how high the tickets were priced. We DO know that if they couldn’t fill half the stadium, the tickets were probably priced low and still nobody came, because given the same revenue between high prices and low turnout, and low prices high turnout, you’d want the high turnout. Having poor turnout is a disaster sign.

Look at it this way: they drew less than 15 thousand fans in a region of 35 million people.

by Michaelthebox on Sep 25, 2008 1:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs