Bellator's Bjorn Rebney: Not all MMA Fans Are NFL Fans

by Jonathan Snowden on Sep 1, 2010 2:00 PM EDT in Bellator News

Next week Bellator will do the unthinkable. The fledgling MMA promotion will challenge the mighty National Football League. On the same night the NFL opens its season at the Superdome as the New Orleans Saints host the Minnesotta Vikings, Bellator will be down the road at the Mahalia Jackson Theater.

Many media critics are all over Rebney for the move. But, as he explained to the MMA Torch, things may not be as bad as they seem:

"We have a great event with great fights scheduled and this was the one date on the schedule where our venue partners could bring us to New Orleans," Rebney said in a statement issued to MMATorch. "Also, not all MMA fans are NFL fans and in a football crazed city, our nationally televised World championship tournament event provides a tremendous world class alternative to the NFL."

Bellator 28, featuring UFC vet and New Orleans native Rich Clementi will air on Fox Sports.

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I’d say about 75% of the American MMA fans are football fans. This is gonna hurt ticket sales bad.

by kanodogg on Sep 1, 2010 2:04 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

doesnt make a difference for me

most of the time Bellator doesn’t air til like 2 AM on CSN Bay area :(. But this si a real blunder on Bellator’s part though for those who actually get to watch it at it’s intended time slot.

by espino on Sep 1, 2010 2:04 PM EDT reply actions

I would choose NFL and I would probably choose staying home to watch it on TV

over paying to see a live MMA show.

by truck on Sep 1, 2010 2:05 PM EDT reply actions

If the Saints are playing the Lions then that theatre would still be empty. But they’re playing the Vikings on opening day. I hope they can find someone to take money at the door. WHO DAT!

by DayGeaux on Sep 1, 2010 2:06 PM EDT reply actions

I'm no NFL fan, in fact I find it hilariously bad.

by grein on Sep 1, 2010 2:09 PM EDT reply actions

Do you live in New Orleans?

by Steve4192 on Sep 1, 2010 5:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Hey its not like

the Saints did anything last year and its not like the game will be broadcast on TV versus a opponent with any name value.

Wait…they won the Super Bowl, its the first game of the year on NBC, and its versus Brett Favre and the Vikings ( a rematch of the NFC championship game)

naa nothing to worry about Bellator

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by ultmma on Sep 1, 2010 2:10 PM EDT reply actions

Rebney completely misses the point

The point is not that the fanbase is the same. It’s that indigenous New Orleans sports media won’t give a shit or have the resources to cover the Bellator event. He’ll have to rely on national MMA-specific media, which quite frankly will add maybe 200 people to the show.

The main avenue of promotion and publicity is sports media, particularly for a show like this. Going up against the defending Super Bowl champions as they make their home opener is an incredibly bad calculation. Rebney is a smart guy, but he whiffed here. Hard.

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by Luke Thomas on Sep 1, 2010 2:12 PM EDT reply actions 4 recs

It’s also the same audience, no matter how much they deny it. STRIKE TWO REBNEY!

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by Jonathan Snowden on Sep 1, 2010 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions

And I was going to write just that but I was genuinely curious as to what their reasoning was for booking this event. It was ill advised either way but I gave him a chance to tell his side. Don’t know that it helped at all.

by Jamie Penick on Sep 1, 2010 2:17 PM EDT up reply actions

If your name isn’t LSU or the Saints then you will not get coverage. It’s football season. It’s crazy around here. People have been talking about football for months. That’s all that will be plastered on TV/news papers. The UFC would have trouble getting coverage in N.O. right now. If you asked me when the worst possible time to do an event in Louisiana I would tell you anytime during football season (even high school games are big events.) But Bellator doesn’t just do it during the season; they decide to do it on opening night, against the Vikings, on NBC.

by DayGeaux on Sep 1, 2010 2:25 PM EDT up reply actions

It’s not just that they’re the defending champs, but the Saints are a cultural institutuion here. Even when they couldn’t put together a winning season, people down here still loved them. Now that they’re winning, you have the fair-weather fans along with the hardcores. Seriously, how can you compete with a fanbase that second-lines outside the opposing teams’s dome?

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
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by Scott C. Broussard on Sep 1, 2010 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Hahahah, I think we’re the only 3 coon asses on this freaking site. My wife has tickets for us to go to this, but I’d rather go to Bellator. F!

No to mention, Saints game traffic will make getting to Mahalia Jackson a bitch. _ Good night to take the bike out if I end up there instead of tailgating all day.

by wrxdonkey on Sep 1, 2010 10:43 PM EDT up reply actions

There is a couple more.

by DayGeaux on Sep 2, 2010 8:13 AM EDT up reply actions

I bet this is just damage control and they didn’t realize when they originally booked the event that the NOS would be having their home opener on the same weekend.

If they did know that the NOS were gonna be opening this weekend and put on the show anyways, then they are just overestimating their brand power and are going to suffer immensely for this poor decision.

by DirtyML on Sep 1, 2010 2:22 PM EDT reply actions

There's no way to spin that for the positive

He done goof’d.

by menckenstein on Sep 1, 2010 2:27 PM EDT reply actions

This is stupid

Bellator is going to regret this decision. And considering this is still the time of season where FSN affiliates pre-empt their show for baseball they’ll bomb in the ratings too.

Mo Johnston is what John Schneider could be in 4 years.

by SSreporters on Sep 1, 2010 2:27 PM EDT reply actions

fooble?

yaaaaaaaaaaaawn

(I am probably the only heterosexual male in the state with that opinion)

http://fightdrinker.blogspot.com

by some schmuck in texas on Sep 1, 2010 2:54 PM EDT reply actions

I agree with Bjorn. If you don’t like football, you will find MMA to be at least equally as boring. So in that sense, it is a great alternative to NFL.

by smoogy2 on Sep 1, 2010 3:22 PM EDT reply actions

I don’t follow non combat sports, but I imagine others do quite a bit.

I am free because I choose to be so-Me

by Kefka on Sep 1, 2010 4:02 PM EDT reply actions

Technically speaking...

he is correct that not all MMA fans are football fans. I personally cannot stand football, but give me a break this is America, and Americans love them some football. Bjorn screwed up and is just trying to spin it as best as possible.

by logic_101 on Sep 1, 2010 6:36 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

im not a NFL fan but

doing this is insanely stupid

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by MaZZacare on Sep 1, 2010 7:33 PM EDT reply actions

I don’t understand how so many businessmen trying to make it in this sport can’t grasp such a simple concept. The UFC makes money because of the regular sports fan. They make money from the people that think the sport is Ultimate Fighting. They make money off the affliction wearing maniac pumping his fist at the bar.

Yes, there is a separate group of mma fans that aren’t even really sports fans, but those people have not, can not, and will not generate enough money to be successful. there are mma fans who aren’t mma fans, but probably not enough to fill an arena in New Orleans, on opening night. Definitely not for a bellator caliber card.

Now, this isn’t a major issue for them because they get venue fees, and don’t rely on ticket sales, but an empty arena looks shitty on tv, and an empty arena isn’t going to help those venue fees in the future.

by Phildo on Sep 1, 2010 8:54 PM EDT reply actions