One of the biggest MMA promotion in the world could very well be opening a new chapter of the company.
According to recent reports from ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Bellator’s last show on Paramount Network will be the September 12th card headlined by Juan Archuleta vs Patrick Mix for the vacant bantamweight title. After this event, Bellator will move on to their new broadcasting partners CBS Sports Network.
Bellator’s final show on Paramount Network will be on Sept. 12, sources say. That’s the card headlined by Archuleta x Mix.
They will then move over to CBS Sports Network. Debut date for CBSN is TBD. Prelims + main card there. Bellator first aired on Spike/Paramount in Jan. ’13.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) August 21, 2020
Future could lead to big CBS/Showtime events but that's not planned yet.
All sources I’ve talked to expressed excitement over the move. Feeling was Paramount was not a great fit. They’d prefer to be on a sports channel and will get promoted more there.
My 2 cents: I agree.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) August 21, 2020
Bellator and Paramount Network are longtime partners. The promotion has been broadcasted on Paramount ever since 2013. Bellator ratings have notoriously been low over the last few years, especially since Spike TV rebranded itself as Paramount Network.
The hope for Bellator would be that the move to CBS helps them regain their past audience but it doesn’t seem likely. CBS isn’t a giant of the market as their only major deals are with the UEFA Champions League and lower-level football games.
An important part of the conversation is Bellator’s deal with DAZN, which is still ongoing. DAZN has been breaking a lot of broadcasting deals in recent months due to financial issues and their deal with Bellator could also be in jeopardy.
Techinically, there is one year left on the DAZN deal, but their future isn’t 100%, so that is TBD, too.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) August 21, 2020
This move could be a way for Bellator to close the gap with the UFC in the MMA market in North America. But another failure would be a devastating blow to Scott Coker and his team.