MMAWeekly reports:

Strikeforce is quickly putting the pieces together for its next year of MMA programming on Showtime and CBS. It's been a frantic month for CEO Scott Coker and his small staff as they zero in on dates, venues, and fighters for a possible 16 shows over the next 12 months.
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With up to 48 shows to book, that's a lot of work. But according to another source with knowledge of the negotiations between Strikeforce, ProElite, Showtime, and CBS, the deal will prove very lucrative to the San Jose, Calif. promotion.

The source, who chose to remain anonymous, said Strikeforce stands to make $25 million dollars in license fees over the course of its three-year deal with the broadcast network and its premium channel sibling.

A portion of that revenue, first disclosed by an SEC filing by ProElite on Feb. 11 and, according to the source, put in the neighborhood of five percent, will be paid to ProElite Inc. as consideration for the sale of its assets to Strikeforce. The total revenue coming into ProElite coffers could total up to $1.25 million.

Since the sale, the Los Angeles-based company has been mostly silent about its future in MMA promotion. CEO Chuck Champion told SI.com that the company had an existing TV deal with Fox Sports, and planned to nurture its relationship with the remaining active promotion under its umbrella, King of the Cage. But how that relationship would develop, and what shape the restructured company would take, remained unclear.

MMAConvert gives its own take on the deal, and says it is not as lucrative as it sounds:

At first glance, $25 million sounds like a lot of money, but is it really? But, much like the "six-figure" TUF contract, it sounds great until you see it’s spread out over three years.

For argument’s sake, let’s assume a) the information is accurate, and b) they run all 48 shows and receive the full $25 million in license fees. Subtract $1.25 million off the top and you end up with $23.75 million divided by 48 events, which comes out to right under $500k/event. Now, not every show is created equal. A large portion of the 48 events will be smaller shows similar to the ShoXC series that will likely cost less than $500k to run, however, the bigger events, such as the one on April 11 will likely cost much more. All of a sudden, it doesn’t appear so "lucrative," does it?

TotalMMA gives its own perspective on the deal, and discredits MMAConvert's POV:

So someone has leaked info about the Strikeforce TV deal and the internet is abuzz. Unfortunately, it is not abuzz with anything intelligent being said. To further explain, Strikeforce is getting roughly the average of $500,000 a show for 3 years to produce 40 shows. Some will be big shows. Some will be small shows. To compare how they’re paid compared to, say, everything else in combat sports, some numbers:

IFL on FSN  - $20,000/show

ESPN2 Friday Night Fights - $30,000/show

Solo Boxeo Tecate on Telefutura - $90,000/show

Showtime Championship Boxing - $300,000/show

HBO World Championship Boxing - $anywhere from 150K - 1.2 million, depending on the fight

In short, Strikeforce is being paid more than boxing promoters are for costlier world title fights in boxing by the same network to run events. Noticably more. This, by the way, does not prevent Strikeforce from running a PPV. How bad a deal does that sound for a company with next to no debt? That hasn’t blown their wad buying small organizations for 5 times their actual value? That made money running on networks nobody watched for piddly money? As long as they continue along the same path as before and can repeat some of the ratings successes, Strikeforce has a license to print money.

So, if the numbers are correct at around 500K/show, Strikeforce is looking at a bright future ahead.  Many have criticized Network deals and said it was the last nail in the coffin for any organization that would sign them.  Most in the MMA field shared that same sentiment, pointing to the extinction of the IFL and EliteXC as their main examples.  Now, it appears that Scott Coker has negotiated the right deal for an MMA promotion to move forward with in the future. A deal that could benefit Strikeforce and MMA in general for the next 3 years, and open the door for other Networks and promotions to negotiate TV deals that would benefit both parties.

One can now understand why it took so long for Strikeforce, ProElite, CBS, and Showtime to come go an agreement, with the ProElite asset purchase being key in all other deals. The deal Chuck Champion pieced together is so good, that ProElite managed to get 5% of Strikeforce's revenue from CBS/Showtime. The total revenue coming into ProElite coffers could total up to $1.25 million, which will greatly benefit KOTC and all other promotions still under the ProElite umbrella. The complexity of such a deal was underestimated by many, and thought impossible by most.  The hard work and diligence of Chuck Champion, Scott Coker, Showtime, and CBS will benefit MMA and its fans for years to come.