There Is No Marketing for Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock

by Luke Thomas on Sep 4, 2008 12:15 PM EDT in News

EliteXC’s debut show on CBS was much better off from the start. Why? Because they actually marketed the event. Advertisements for the show started during March Madness, more than two months before the event was even happening. Yet here we are one month away from Slice’s biggest test to date and the only spots promoting the event can be found online.

Even if CBS were to start airing commercials tomorrow, EliteXC still has obstacles to overcome. It’s 30 days before the event and the fight card isn’t even finalized. That’s expectant of smaller organizations with heavy turnover rates, not a major promotion that is about to put together a show for the entire world to see.

Bringing Kimbo Slice back to his home state of Florida was a good move. The arena should easily sell out then, right? I mean the crowd for Slice vs. Tank Abbott in February was up on their feet for just about the entire night.

Not necessarily. All signs currently indicate that a large number of tickets are still available for the event. Plus, EliteXC officials expecting a late push should also take note that the University of Miami plays Florida State at Dolphins Stadium that same night. (Thanks Zach)

According to EliteXC’s recent SEC filings, the organization only has enough funds to last until the end of the year without outside help. So why aren’t they going balls to the wall in trying to make this show their most successful to date? A lack of money? A lack of motivation? It’s hard to say.

Before I even started writing this, I asked myself, why it is that every time that write a piece on EliteXC, it turns out to be negative? I pinpointed it to failed potential.

With a network television contract, private funding, two cable television deals, and a slew of other resources, they had a legitimate chance to show the MMA world that the sport is bigger than the UFC. That the sport has the ability to become something other than just one organization ruling over everyone else. And so far, they’ve failed.

They still have one month to save themselves from their imminent demise. Can they do it? There’s potential…

And the wheels of the UFC machine turn round and round...

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University of Miami plays Florida State at Dolphins Stadium that same night

Ouch. That is some piss poor planning.

by Chris Nelson on Sep 4, 2008 12:36 PM EDT 0 recs

Indeed

I’m a FSU fan.

http://mma4real.net/

by Tha Realness on Sep 4, 2008 1:00 PM EDT up 0 recs

Luckily for them the U and Florida State both suck this year.

Intentional Blog on Balls

by Richard on Sep 4, 2008 4:10 PM EDT up 0 recs

As a resident of South Florida, Miami vs FSU trumps Kimbo Slice every time. Hell i bet Kimbo has the game on in the dressing room. Go CANES!!

by nitro on Sep 4, 2008 12:41 PM EDT 0 recs

A number of people have wondered how the possible demise of EliteXC (and maybe ProElite) would affect all those smaller, regional organizations they purchased. Out here in Hawaii, I’ve heard ICON will continue, kind of business as usual, should things sour further for EliteXC et al. What about the other organizations across the U.S., or even Cage Rage in the U.K.?

by dmayeda on Sep 4, 2008 12:45 PM EDT 0 recs

UFC and CBS

I’m hearing if Zuffa doesnt get a network deal that works for them with fox they are discussing running PPV reruns on CBS.

It will be less expensive for this programming than live events for CBS to purchase and more exposure for the UFC without increased operating costs.

The Deal will be short term (yearly) as the UFC doesn’t want to lock out their options in the future for live events on a different network.

by mmalogic on Sep 4, 2008 1:05 PM EDT 0 recs

Yikes

Miami vs. FSU might not hurt the T.V. ratings as much – but for as for the local sports fans, Elite XC will lose a significant portion of live ticket sales to that event. Miami vs. FSU is almost always an exciting event and a must attend for fans of either team. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that if the fans of either team could only attend one game for the year, this would probably be the one.

by Fight Genius on Sep 4, 2008 1:20 PM EDT up 0 recs

Yep, FSU/Miami is the only FSU game I’m getting a chance to go to and there is no way I’m going to miss it. I can’t believe that EliteXC scheduled their show on the same day as FSU/Miami. I come from a family of harcore Canes fans so I’ve been to a ton of their games and Miami are not the greatest at coming to games, I’ve been too games where the stadium was half empty even against good teams, but the FSU game it’s always packed. I don’t understand why they didn’t have the event on a different week, it’s almost like their trying to fail. Plus, Ohio State and USC have games on around the same time the show will start so those will hurt their TV ratings as well.

by Romdawg88 on Sep 4, 2008 2:15 PM EDT up 0 recs

If EXC goes out of business...

does that mean ShoXC and KOTC go out of business too?

by steveoc24 on Sep 4, 2008 1:15 PM EDT 0 recs

shoXc yes that pretty much is Elite Xc as for the other smaller orgs they will probably sell them back to a buyer fro what they paid or even cheaper, If its a public company which I don’t think they are they would sell the stock back for even or at a loss before they go under to try to soak up evey cent they can. So if the smaller orgs want to stay going if Elite goes under they can if they want and I think they will. There will always be a buyer for those kind of smaller shows.

by Shocbomb on Sep 4, 2008 5:40 PM EDT up 0 recs

I’ve always felt that college football will have a significant impact on ratings. Then, there’s also the chance of having to go up against the MLB playoffs that night. It would seem to me that EXC needs a lot of the people who’ll tune into the numerous other sporting events to watch their event. EXC is very much dependent on CBS/Showtime at this point for funding and marketing, and the TV execs seem to have mostly given up on the venture.

by Cannon Jacques on Sep 4, 2008 1:49 PM EDT 0 recs

That's the thing...

When you go heads up against a huge college football show you are basically conceding an entire region. For example you’re conceding that a lot of the state of Florida will skip out on Kimbo/Ken because FSU/UofMiami is a huge thing in the state.

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Sep 4, 2008 2:12 PM EDT up 0 recs

Oct. is a terrible time of year for competing with college football, too. If the EXC show were to go off this weekend for instance, the amount of rivalry and meaningful conference games would be much less than on Oct. 4. I’m not sure, but I’m thinking that EXC will have to go head up with a college game on ABC that night. Don’t hold me to that. Of course, the ESPN and FSN families will probably have games going on. FOX itself could have the MLB at that time. I’m being a little redundant here, but it just looks like a lot of competition. There certainly wasn’t a dynamic like this in effect during the May event.

by Cannon Jacques on Sep 4, 2008 2:27 PM EDT up 0 recs

It’s hard to predict all that stuff very far out in advance, especially when you’re talking about the MLB playoffs. But the NCAA football schedule has been set for a while, it’s just piss poor planning to have an event in Florida the day of the Miami/FSU game.

Maybe elite gets lucky and they both choke in the next few weeks and get a noon start, but that rivarly might be good enough for a 4 o clock start no matter what the records, and possibly the night game depending on how things work out.

by Phildo on Sep 4, 2008 2:31 PM EDT up 0 recs

College football would be their best bet for TV ads, but I think the best anywhere, would be the NFL. Of course, no NFL on CBS. If I was Dana, and I was looking for a network deal, I would be looking where the NFL is. The idea of reruns of ppv on network TV is not bad, but i would think they would need a relatively long amount of time after the ppv, for instance, not the following week.

"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"

by BJJDenver on Sep 4, 2008 2:03 PM EDT 0 recs

What do you mean no NFL on CBS?

CBS has the AFC games, or did I misunderstand what you’re saying?

by Cannon Jacques on Sep 4, 2008 2:07 PM EDT up 0 recs

whoops, meant abc. I think, lol. damnitt I have a head cold!

"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"

by BJJDenver on Sep 4, 2008 3:18 PM EDT up 0 recs

I think if you had a thirty day lag period, that might be enough.

You basically don’t want your customers to be up-to-date on everything in the fighting world if they choose to watch nothing but the freebies. Dana would rather have us watch UFC for free than not watch at all, obviously, but the balancing act comes into play when determining how much time you can make people wait, and how long people are willing to wait before they don’t care.

If you had a three event lag period, people wouldn’t bother watching. But if it was only one, or occasionally two events you were behind, it would probably be ok. At least that’s how I feel about television episodes.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 4, 2008 2:08 PM EDT up 0 recs

It depends on how many events their deal is for. CBS might not want to have an event every month.

Coinciding a big event’s replay with its release onto DVD would, I imagine, give the sales a push.

by Baudelaire on Sep 4, 2008 2:12 PM EDT up 0 recs

Hadn't thought about coordinating with DVD release.

There would definitely have to be an established pattern there, that’s for sure.

And sure, if the deal calls for fewer events, then you give fewer events and space them out further.

I love the idea of doing ‘scraps,’ from the prelims and making shows out of those. Or doing fighter histories for a few guys. There’s plenty of opportunity for narrative on these guys..who they train with, where they train, when they made changes. Showing three or four of a guy’s fights in one night would be an excellent format, and an incredibly effective way to create new stars.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 4, 2008 2:17 PM EDT up 0 recs

ppv reruns will be about a month later

by mmalogic on Sep 4, 2008 2:52 PM EDT up 0 recs

over a month I should say

by mmalogic on Sep 4, 2008 2:53 PM EDT up 0 recs

Or, one idea, would be to have a ppv rerun relative to the next weekends ppv.

For instance, last weekend would have been a ppv featuring a big Liddell fight, leading into this weekend’s ppv.

I still think the UFC should just have their own network, featuring the programming on Spike/VS, some new original programming, and reruns pf past UFC, WEC and Pride cards, as well as TUFs, etc. Just buy out Spike so I dont have to watch anymore Seagal or Van Damme movies.

"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"

by BJJDenver on Sep 4, 2008 3:21 PM EDT up 0 recs

CBS has all but given up on Elite XC…

Things started going downhill once the media producers started to resist their MMA and wanted little to do with it after being made fools of (espn, etc…).

Don’t be surprised if all you see from CBS is a listing for elite xc on that time slot in your tv guide :)

Zuffa doesn’t want to go live with CBS as they hurt their brand big time with the first show… and Zuffa wants a fresh start.

They will settle for ppv replays if the fox deal falls through.

by mmalogic on Sep 4, 2008 2:57 PM EDT 0 recs

“CBS has all but given up on Elite XC…”

That is also the feeling I am getting, but I’m not really sure why they would do that. It seems they would at least want to promote the next card and see if it duplicates the ratings from their first show.

I can’t help but feel, that mma belongs somewhere on high end cable, like ESPN, rather than network TV.

"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"

by BJJDenver on Sep 4, 2008 3:23 PM EDT up 0 recs

Simple CBS realized the blind date they were on was actually promising and now regret coming with clothes they bought from kmart and shoes they got from payless…

(read my analysis on a comment titled something like: “CBS lose lose”.)

by mmalogic on Sep 4, 2008 4:33 PM EDT up 0 recs

The last show did well all because of the hype in the last week. It’s not alarming yet.

by Michael Rome on Sep 4, 2008 3:43 PM EDT 0 recs

Not to mention you’ve already got Kimbo getting face time on national TV with these (goofy) Facebreaker ad spots. I agree they probably won’t get as big of a push from CBS as the first go-around, but it is a little early to draw any conclusions. Similar concerns were brought up about the first Affliction show, but in the weeks leading up to the show, they ended up putting together some very nice publicity, such as Trump hyping the event up on Stern, and Fedor making the main splash of ESPN.com

by smoogy on Sep 4, 2008 4:07 PM EDT up 0 recs

EXC is really in a tough spot

The 1st show got terrific ratings and was far and away the most watched MMA event in history. Yet all the bloggers bitched and moaned that it was a freakshow.
The 2nd show was their best guys going. Diaz/Shields/Bigfoot/Lawler. This is the fight that should have please the hardcore audience. Yet the lack of promotion doomed the card to crap ratings.
So basically whatever they do, people will be unhappy. Hardcores root against them because they aren’t Zuffa. And unfortunately most hardcores are fucking idiots. And the casual viewers aren’t being flagged in with commericals promoting the event and Kimbo/Carano.

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

by aaronb on Sep 4, 2008 3:44 PM EDT 0 recs

I don’t know if most hardcores are “fucking idiots,” but I guess, depending on your judging criteria, you could probably say that most people watching TV are idiots. Whatever the case, I refuse to believe that any one group of people has significant culpability in EXC’s potential demise except the small group running the show there. Zuffa’s product is good enough to appeal to casual and hardcore fans. EXC really can’t rally either group, because their overall promotional effort isn’t where it needs to be to compete at the UFC’s level. The bottom line is that EXC put themselves in this difficult position all by themselves. We’ll have to see if they can get themselves out. I don’t think the odds are in their favor.

by Cannon Jacques on Sep 4, 2008 7:13 PM EDT up 0 recs

Maybe my wording is too strong. And I am a Zuffa fan as far as the shows they put on. I just can’t help but be dumbfounded by the large section of people that root for everything non-zuffa to fail. Overall I think Pro-elite has put on some really entertaining shows. Easily the 2nd best north american production. Yet all I read from my fellow fans is how terrible that they and affliction are. Usually the reasoning is that they aren’t the UFC. However you can’t argue that the presence of these promotions has upped the anti for everyone. It’s simple economics. Yet people cannot grasp the concept.

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

by aaronb on Sep 4, 2008 8:30 PM EDT up 0 recs

I get what you're saying.

EliteXC has some really good fighters. Their depth doesn’t rival the Zuffa brands, but they’ve got a few of the top guys and girls. I never liked Gary Shaw although I think the people running the show now are probably less competent than he was. He does have a lot of promotional experience. Anyway, EXC pissed the hardcore base off with the Kimbo craziness. They just went too far in touting his abilities. I don’t have anything against Kimbo; he’s just not a top heavyweight at this point. In short, I’ve been critical of ProElite, because I’m not fond of the way they attempt to do business. I’m certainly not afraid of Zuffa domination. If competitors can organically emerge, that’s great. If not, I’m not going to personally subsidize a product that I don’t really care for just for the sake of competition.

by Cannon Jacques on Sep 4, 2008 9:23 PM EDT up 0 recs

When did hardcores start rooting against companies that aren’t Zuffa? I could have sworn the online community of hardcores almost without exception rooted for Zuffa to fail.

Intentional Blog on Balls

by Richard on Sep 4, 2008 9:35 PM EDT up 0 recs

The truth is Elite XC didn’t respect MMA.

Ex.

Gary Shaw: “If your fighter and can stand and bang I’m intersted, but if you want roll around on the floor and make love go somewhere else”.

The 20 second stand up rule.

Gary Shaw’s son screaming at the ref to stand the fight up when thompson got Kimbo down.

The shoving of Kimbo down our throats as the most dangerous fighter out their…

etc…

so when you don’t respect MMA, MMA dont respect you.

In reality Zuffa needs these guys as the hardcores wouldnt be as grateful to them if they don’t see the alternative every now and then.

by mmalogic on Sep 5, 2008 1:36 AM EDT 0 recs

Good points around.

It’s hard breaking into a new market, that’s for sure, especially when your competition has had a decade or so to build their business and you’ve literally got nothing. But that doesn’t mean you should trash the current marketplace just to get attention.

That said, I really doubt that contributed very heavily to their current predicament. I think they simply bit off more than they could chew, not knowing how big of a hole they’d have to dig before they could begin moving back in the right direction.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 5, 2008 6:46 AM EDT up 0 recs