Bellator Fighting Championships is moving its events from from Saturday to Friday nights beginning with the sixth season, which kicks off March 2.
USAToday.com's Sergio Non first reported the news.
According to Bellator chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney, several factors prompted the move. Most obvious, of course, is avoiding going head-to-head with UFC events and other high-profile sports programming.
As with recent seasons, the sixth season airs on MTV2 (and the organization ultimately moves to Spike TV in 2013). Officials haven't determined an exact start time; the recently concluded fifth season usually aired at 9 p.m. ET/PT but sometimes began at 7 p.m. ET/PT on UFC event weekends. (Prelims stream live on both coasts via Spike.com.)
"We didn't really dig into the analysis and try to assess who was one, who was two and who was three, or what we were trying to avoid the most," Rebney said. "It just kind of came down to an analysis of, is there a night where all the factors made it to where we can maximize live-event attendance, where we can reach the largest audience from an television perspective, to give MMA fans an opportunity to really make a night for themselves with Bellator."
Back in October, Rebney first told MMAjunkie.com the promotion was considering a move away from Saturdays. And while the selection of Friday nights allows Bellator officials to avoid going up against major UFC events, they're not completely out of the woods.
In addition to possible Strikeforce shows and regional events on HDNet (Titan Fighting Championships, Xtreme Fighting Championships, etc.), the UFC is hosting a revamped version of its long-running reality series, "The Ultimate Fighters," on FX on Fridays.
The series, which leaves Spike TV for the first time since it launched there in 2005, will have a live-fight element to it. Each Friday episode will recap that week's drama in the house, and then "TUF" fights will be shown live at each episode's conclusion. Bellator likely will find itself going head-to-head with those episodes.
Bellator's 11 season-five events averaged a total of 186,300 viewers per show. Bellator's three monthly "Summer Series" events averaged 229,300 viewers. Season four, which took place earlier this year, averaged 204,000 viewers.
USAToday.com's Sergio Non first reported the news.
According to Bellator chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney, several factors prompted the move. Most obvious, of course, is avoiding going head-to-head with UFC events and other high-profile sports programming.
As with recent seasons, the sixth season airs on MTV2 (and the organization ultimately moves to Spike TV in 2013). Officials haven't determined an exact start time; the recently concluded fifth season usually aired at 9 p.m. ET/PT but sometimes began at 7 p.m. ET/PT on UFC event weekends. (Prelims stream live on both coasts via Spike.com.)
"We didn't really dig into the analysis and try to assess who was one, who was two and who was three, or what we were trying to avoid the most," Rebney said. "It just kind of came down to an analysis of, is there a night where all the factors made it to where we can maximize live-event attendance, where we can reach the largest audience from an television perspective, to give MMA fans an opportunity to really make a night for themselves with Bellator."
Back in October, Rebney first told MMAjunkie.com the promotion was considering a move away from Saturdays. And while the selection of Friday nights allows Bellator officials to avoid going up against major UFC events, they're not completely out of the woods.
In addition to possible Strikeforce shows and regional events on HDNet (Titan Fighting Championships, Xtreme Fighting Championships, etc.), the UFC is hosting a revamped version of its long-running reality series, "The Ultimate Fighters," on FX on Fridays.
The series, which leaves Spike TV for the first time since it launched there in 2005, will have a live-fight element to it. Each Friday episode will recap that week's drama in the house, and then "TUF" fights will be shown live at each episode's conclusion. Bellator likely will find itself going head-to-head with those episodes.
Bellator's 11 season-five events averaged a total of 186,300 viewers per show. Bellator's three monthly "Summer Series" events averaged 229,300 viewers. Season four, which took place earlier this year, averaged 204,000 viewers.