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http://mmajunkie.com/news/21336/bellator-exec-blasts-reports-of-impending-demise-says-new-tv-deal-official-soon.mma
To say that Bjorn Rebney disagrees with a recent report describing the alleged impending demise of his fight promotion would be a slight understatement.
In fact, the Bellator Fighting Championships founder and CEO said the report is lacking one vastly important factor: the truth.
"Usually, when you see rumors that are completely ridiculous, they're coupled with something that's true,In this instance, it's false on top of false on top of completely ridiculous on top of completely unfounded."
A weekend report on MiddleEasy.com outlined a series of rumored issues Rebney and Bellator were said to be facing. Among the concerns were the lack of a television deal, angered investors looking to "pull the plug" on the promotion, and a desperate need to arrange a long-discussed bout between Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and his Strikeforce counterpart Gilbert Melendez as a last-ditch effort to save the company.
Wrong on all accounts, said Rebney.
"Either it's someone just starting rumors for the sake of starting rumors, or it's just the most ridiculous type of amateurish nonsense," Rebney said of the report. "I don't even like to call it journalism because it has no connection to reality.
"That blog, whoever that is that wrote that, is just so filled with nonsense. It's completely, unequivocally untrue on every front they wrote. It's literally as if someone stepped out and just said, 'I'm going to create whichever fantasy I choose to create, and I'm going to write it.' There wasn't even the slightest hint of accuracy or truth in anything that showed up on that blog.
"It's the downside and the negativity of the Internet. Any idiot can write any ridiculous, completely unfounded nonsense thing, and it can gain traction."
Failed negotiations?
The report started by outlining an alleged failed broadcast deal between Bellator and G4, an eight-year-old cable channel owned by G4 media, a subsidiary of Comcast. Rebney finds the report laughable and insisted he's never even been in introductory dialogue with cable-station executives.
"We have never spoken to, never met with, never had any form of communication with G4," Rebney said. "When I say never, I mean we've never had a conversation, never had any type of interplay with them and Bellator. There's never been a letter sent, there's never been an email, and there's never been any form of meeting. There's no conceivable connection to us in any way, shape or form."
While G4 never was in the mix, according to Rebney, Bellator feverishly has been working to secure another broadcast deal. Although he declined to offer specifics, Rebney said a new agreement has been reached in principle, and he hopes to make an official announcement before the end of the month.
"We've finalized a new deal, and we're in the process right now of getting everything out," Rebney said. "Everything that needs to get done has not been done yet in order to make an announcement, but we're in a position right now where I'm very hopeful that either immediately before or immediately after Thanksgiving we'll make an announcement relative to where we're going to be moving forward. That's in a great spot. That's been a lot of hard work and effort on a lot of people's part."
Bellator's second and third seasons aired on FOX Sports Net, but many fans complained of the difficulty of tuning in on a weekly basis. Other programs frequently preempted the shows, and from market to market, made it difficult to know exactly when to watch. Rebney said the new deal will eliminate those issues.
"The issues that we've faced in the last two seasons with preemption and delay will no longer be an issue with fans wanting to watch Bellator," Rebney said. "We've eliminated some of the problems that occurred based on preemption and delay that were problematic.
"You want to know that if you put away the time on a Thursday night at 10 p.m., what you put away time to watch is actually going to be there and not get preempted by a Brewers game or a Clippers game or whatever. There's been an awful lot of effort that's gone into curing that problem, which we've now successfully done."
"Our investors are thrilled"
MiddleEasy.com's report also dove into the ownership structure of Bellator and claimed Rebney "has given away a substantial portion of his share in Bellator to investors." Again, Rebney said the claim is untrue.
"Our initial investment happened over two years ago," Rebney explained. "There's been no further dilution or additional shares issued."
Rebney also said Bellator's investors are comfortable with the progress of the fight promotion.
"Our investors are thrilled," Rebney said. "They've backed us as strong as any investment I've ever seen in sports entertainment. They're thrilled with where we're going. They're wildly excited about our future, and they've stepped up in a huge way.
"We're in an incredibly stable spot right now, and we're on the cusp of making announcements that our current investment group is thrilled with."
With 20 years of experience in the combat-sports business, Rebney said he and his partners took a fiscally responsible approach into the MMA-promotion world that was based upon careful of study of past failed promotions.
"As EliteXC and Affliction and Bodog have shown, there are a lot of ways to do it wrong, and there are really just a couple of ways to do it right," Rebney said. "And to do it right, just like any other business you're opening up – whether it's a technology company or a bakery in the local community – there has to be investment capital. You've got to have a business plan, and you've got to have projected revenues and projected expenses. You've got to go into that business model knowing exactly what those expenses will prospectively be and what those revenues will potentially be.
"Because EliteXC and the IFL were publicly traded, I was able to look at their models and look at their business plans, and they were poorly constructed. My team and I wrote an analysis of EliteXC's business model and projected seven months in advance of their failure within 30 days of when they would fail."
Armed with an idea of what not to do, Rebney said his promotion has used its investment capital wisely. And while his company was said to be losing six figures with each weekly event, Rebney said Bellator actually is on the verge of profitability.
"We've absolutely hit our numbers," Rebney said. "The reason our investors are comfortable and happy where we are is that what we projected we were going to lose to get to this point, we have lost, and what we projected we were going to make to get to the next stage – and the dates under which we projected we would hit cash flow break even – we've hit. A lot of people say, 'They've lost money.' Well, we haven't lost money. What we've done is utilized the invested capital we were given exactly as we said we would use it.
"The key to a good business plan is you project certain things are going to occur, be they revenue or be they expense, and you hit them. That's what we've done. We've got a very comfortable and satisfied investment group who's moving forward with us and is happy to be moving forward with us. Under two years into our growth, we're at a cash flow break-even perspective, which is a total anomaly in not just our space but most businesses. We're exactly where we projected we would be."
"We're going to be here for a really long time"
The final claim of the weekend report was that a much-discussed bout between Alvarez and Melendez was becoming a real necessity for Bellator to "not only garnish interest for Bellator, but if Eddie defeats Gilbert, Bjorn can then use that as leverage for his investors."
Rebney believes there is a massive misunderstanding as to his motives for trying to co-promote with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker. After all, it's Melendez who prompted the discussion during an appearance on HDNet's "Inside MMA" program. Rebney saw that as an opportunity for his lightweight champion potentially to earn some much-deserved recognition.
"People forget Gilbert got on national television and called out Eddie Alvarez," Rebney said. "When Gilbert called him out, Eddie called me and said, 'What do you think?' I said, 'Let's pursue it. I think you win that fight nine out of 10 times. Let's go.' So we pursued it, and we never got a 'no' from Scott.
"We pursued it, and it didn't work. We didn't pursue it for financial gain. I can speak to that directly because I said probably two dozen times in the media, 'We'll do it on Showtime, and we'll do it in San Jose.' If I was trying to do it to make it a financial windfall for Bellator, I sure wouldn't say, 'Why don't you produce it and do it in your own backyard?' It was just a great fight to get Eddie where he belongs in the consensus opinion of lightweights. There wasn't a need for it from an economic perspective. It just looked like a great fight, and we tried to make it happen."
In the end, Rebney said he's somewhat understanding of why MMA fans and pundits seem to have his organization on deathwatch. After all, beyond the UFC, fans haven't seen much success from rival organizations.
"Look at the history of the space," Rebney said. "There's the UFC, which has done tremendously well, and then what else do you have to look at? You've got EliteXC, the IFL, Bodog, Affliction and now the WEC. Every group that we as fans have turned to – to put our trust in, to follow – has failed, other than the UFC.
"The reality is, as a fan of the game, you assume based on previous experience. It doesn't surprise me that there would be an assumption that there's a higher likelihood of failure than there is success."
That said, Rebney insisted his company is doing just fine, and he hopes much of the chatter will subside heading into the promotion's fourth season.
"All I would ask, and all I look forward to, is that when we make our next announcement relative to our long-term alliance and where we're heading, fans just watch our events, and that these conversations cease," Rebney said. "Focus on what we do. Focus on the shows you watch. Focus on the fighters we have fighting for us moving forward because we're going to be here for a really long time."
And Rebney hopes future reports regarding his company will contain more fact than fiction.
"Reports like this are offensive on a lot of fronts because our sport is becoming bigger and bigger, and it generates tens of millions of dollars on a lot of different fronts," Rebney said. "It's offensive to the MMAjunkies and Sherdogs of the world who actually take this thing seriously and try to write honestly, talk to people and do research. It demeans the entirety of our business."
To say that Bjorn Rebney disagrees with a recent report describing the alleged impending demise of his fight promotion would be a slight understatement.
In fact, the Bellator Fighting Championships founder and CEO said the report is lacking one vastly important factor: the truth.
"Usually, when you see rumors that are completely ridiculous, they're coupled with something that's true,In this instance, it's false on top of false on top of completely ridiculous on top of completely unfounded."
A weekend report on MiddleEasy.com outlined a series of rumored issues Rebney and Bellator were said to be facing. Among the concerns were the lack of a television deal, angered investors looking to "pull the plug" on the promotion, and a desperate need to arrange a long-discussed bout between Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and his Strikeforce counterpart Gilbert Melendez as a last-ditch effort to save the company.
Wrong on all accounts, said Rebney.
"Either it's someone just starting rumors for the sake of starting rumors, or it's just the most ridiculous type of amateurish nonsense," Rebney said of the report. "I don't even like to call it journalism because it has no connection to reality.
"That blog, whoever that is that wrote that, is just so filled with nonsense. It's completely, unequivocally untrue on every front they wrote. It's literally as if someone stepped out and just said, 'I'm going to create whichever fantasy I choose to create, and I'm going to write it.' There wasn't even the slightest hint of accuracy or truth in anything that showed up on that blog.
"It's the downside and the negativity of the Internet. Any idiot can write any ridiculous, completely unfounded nonsense thing, and it can gain traction."
Failed negotiations?
The report started by outlining an alleged failed broadcast deal between Bellator and G4, an eight-year-old cable channel owned by G4 media, a subsidiary of Comcast. Rebney finds the report laughable and insisted he's never even been in introductory dialogue with cable-station executives.
"We have never spoken to, never met with, never had any form of communication with G4," Rebney said. "When I say never, I mean we've never had a conversation, never had any type of interplay with them and Bellator. There's never been a letter sent, there's never been an email, and there's never been any form of meeting. There's no conceivable connection to us in any way, shape or form."
While G4 never was in the mix, according to Rebney, Bellator feverishly has been working to secure another broadcast deal. Although he declined to offer specifics, Rebney said a new agreement has been reached in principle, and he hopes to make an official announcement before the end of the month.
"We've finalized a new deal, and we're in the process right now of getting everything out," Rebney said. "Everything that needs to get done has not been done yet in order to make an announcement, but we're in a position right now where I'm very hopeful that either immediately before or immediately after Thanksgiving we'll make an announcement relative to where we're going to be moving forward. That's in a great spot. That's been a lot of hard work and effort on a lot of people's part."
Bellator's second and third seasons aired on FOX Sports Net, but many fans complained of the difficulty of tuning in on a weekly basis. Other programs frequently preempted the shows, and from market to market, made it difficult to know exactly when to watch. Rebney said the new deal will eliminate those issues.
"The issues that we've faced in the last two seasons with preemption and delay will no longer be an issue with fans wanting to watch Bellator," Rebney said. "We've eliminated some of the problems that occurred based on preemption and delay that were problematic.
"You want to know that if you put away the time on a Thursday night at 10 p.m., what you put away time to watch is actually going to be there and not get preempted by a Brewers game or a Clippers game or whatever. There's been an awful lot of effort that's gone into curing that problem, which we've now successfully done."
"Our investors are thrilled"
MiddleEasy.com's report also dove into the ownership structure of Bellator and claimed Rebney "has given away a substantial portion of his share in Bellator to investors." Again, Rebney said the claim is untrue.
"Our initial investment happened over two years ago," Rebney explained. "There's been no further dilution or additional shares issued."
Rebney also said Bellator's investors are comfortable with the progress of the fight promotion.
"Our investors are thrilled," Rebney said. "They've backed us as strong as any investment I've ever seen in sports entertainment. They're thrilled with where we're going. They're wildly excited about our future, and they've stepped up in a huge way.
"We're in an incredibly stable spot right now, and we're on the cusp of making announcements that our current investment group is thrilled with."
With 20 years of experience in the combat-sports business, Rebney said he and his partners took a fiscally responsible approach into the MMA-promotion world that was based upon careful of study of past failed promotions.
"As EliteXC and Affliction and Bodog have shown, there are a lot of ways to do it wrong, and there are really just a couple of ways to do it right," Rebney said. "And to do it right, just like any other business you're opening up – whether it's a technology company or a bakery in the local community – there has to be investment capital. You've got to have a business plan, and you've got to have projected revenues and projected expenses. You've got to go into that business model knowing exactly what those expenses will prospectively be and what those revenues will potentially be.
"Because EliteXC and the IFL were publicly traded, I was able to look at their models and look at their business plans, and they were poorly constructed. My team and I wrote an analysis of EliteXC's business model and projected seven months in advance of their failure within 30 days of when they would fail."
Armed with an idea of what not to do, Rebney said his promotion has used its investment capital wisely. And while his company was said to be losing six figures with each weekly event, Rebney said Bellator actually is on the verge of profitability.
"We've absolutely hit our numbers," Rebney said. "The reason our investors are comfortable and happy where we are is that what we projected we were going to lose to get to this point, we have lost, and what we projected we were going to make to get to the next stage – and the dates under which we projected we would hit cash flow break even – we've hit. A lot of people say, 'They've lost money.' Well, we haven't lost money. What we've done is utilized the invested capital we were given exactly as we said we would use it.
"The key to a good business plan is you project certain things are going to occur, be they revenue or be they expense, and you hit them. That's what we've done. We've got a very comfortable and satisfied investment group who's moving forward with us and is happy to be moving forward with us. Under two years into our growth, we're at a cash flow break-even perspective, which is a total anomaly in not just our space but most businesses. We're exactly where we projected we would be."
"We're going to be here for a really long time"
The final claim of the weekend report was that a much-discussed bout between Alvarez and Melendez was becoming a real necessity for Bellator to "not only garnish interest for Bellator, but if Eddie defeats Gilbert, Bjorn can then use that as leverage for his investors."
Rebney believes there is a massive misunderstanding as to his motives for trying to co-promote with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker. After all, it's Melendez who prompted the discussion during an appearance on HDNet's "Inside MMA" program. Rebney saw that as an opportunity for his lightweight champion potentially to earn some much-deserved recognition.
"People forget Gilbert got on national television and called out Eddie Alvarez," Rebney said. "When Gilbert called him out, Eddie called me and said, 'What do you think?' I said, 'Let's pursue it. I think you win that fight nine out of 10 times. Let's go.' So we pursued it, and we never got a 'no' from Scott.
"We pursued it, and it didn't work. We didn't pursue it for financial gain. I can speak to that directly because I said probably two dozen times in the media, 'We'll do it on Showtime, and we'll do it in San Jose.' If I was trying to do it to make it a financial windfall for Bellator, I sure wouldn't say, 'Why don't you produce it and do it in your own backyard?' It was just a great fight to get Eddie where he belongs in the consensus opinion of lightweights. There wasn't a need for it from an economic perspective. It just looked like a great fight, and we tried to make it happen."
In the end, Rebney said he's somewhat understanding of why MMA fans and pundits seem to have his organization on deathwatch. After all, beyond the UFC, fans haven't seen much success from rival organizations.
"Look at the history of the space," Rebney said. "There's the UFC, which has done tremendously well, and then what else do you have to look at? You've got EliteXC, the IFL, Bodog, Affliction and now the WEC. Every group that we as fans have turned to – to put our trust in, to follow – has failed, other than the UFC.
"The reality is, as a fan of the game, you assume based on previous experience. It doesn't surprise me that there would be an assumption that there's a higher likelihood of failure than there is success."
That said, Rebney insisted his company is doing just fine, and he hopes much of the chatter will subside heading into the promotion's fourth season.
"All I would ask, and all I look forward to, is that when we make our next announcement relative to our long-term alliance and where we're heading, fans just watch our events, and that these conversations cease," Rebney said. "Focus on what we do. Focus on the shows you watch. Focus on the fighters we have fighting for us moving forward because we're going to be here for a really long time."
And Rebney hopes future reports regarding his company will contain more fact than fiction.
"Reports like this are offensive on a lot of fronts because our sport is becoming bigger and bigger, and it generates tens of millions of dollars on a lot of different fronts," Rebney said. "It's offensive to the MMAjunkies and Sherdogs of the world who actually take this thing seriously and try to write honestly, talk to people and do research. It demeans the entirety of our business."
