http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=Aj...unkie&type=lgns Strikeforce is in advanced discussions with NBC to bring live fights to the Peacock Network.
The popular West Coast promotion struck a paid programming deal with NBC earlier this year, featuring 30-minute, weekly shows with fights from past Strikeforce events. Extending that agreement to live, primetime shows would be a major boast for Strikeforce as it looks to generate additional exposure for its brand and expand nationally.
“It’s been signed off on at many levels (at NBC) already, and I think we’re at the final stages,” Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “By the first quarter of ‘09, we’ll probably have some fights going on. We would need that time frame any way to book the right fights and do it properly.”
Serious talks between Strikeforce and the network have been ongoing for the past couple of months, and Coker says the dialogue is continuing. Approval at the senior most programming levels at NBC is the only hurdle left to clear to bring live MMA to a second U.S. broadcast network.
NBC programming brass was closely watching the ratings produced by EliteXC’s debut on CBS in May. And, despite a significant ratings slide for the second network EliteXC show in July, the 4.5 million viewers who tuned in to “Saturday Night Fights” on Oct. 4 on CBS suggests that MMA can draw a considerable and sustained network television audience.
Ratings for the taped “Strikeforce on NBC,” which, depending on market clearance, airs late Friday night/early Saturday morning have been decent. The broadcasts typically net a few hundred thousand viewers. One of the highest rated shows in the series drew 949,000 viewers on May 9.
The goal of the series always has been more about whetting NBC’s appetite for live fights, as opposed to drawing huge ratings.
Middleweight Cung Le would be the obvious headliner for the first Strikeforce live show on NBC, but the marketable fighter is currently filming Pandorum, a science-fiction thriller, starring Dennis Quaid.
Le isn’t expected to be ready to get back in the cage until the second quarter of 2009.
Steve Sievert is the lead staff writer and business columnist for MMAjunkie.com. He is also the former MMA beat writer and lead blogger for the Houston Chronicle.
