Bellator Eyes Dayton on May 1st
April 5, 2009
Dann Stupp, the man behind MMAJunkie, broke some news in his Dayton Daily News column, with information that the Bellator Fighting Championships would bring their
Bellator Fighting Championships, the first mixed-martial-arts organization backed by ESPN, is heading to Dayton for a May 1 show, according to Hara Arena officials.
Bellator made their debut Saturday Night on ESPN Deportes. Deportes currently has a smaller carriage rate, but according to the Sports Business Journal, ESPN may be looking to boost the channels profile in a channel shuufle that would see ESPNU and ESPN Deportes see gains while ESPN Classic is downgraded. This point may be moot however. MMAPayout.com has viewed the investor summary for Bellator and the revenue projections presented are inconsistent with a long term home on Deportes. The initial season on Deportes reads more as a dry run, with a home in the future on ESPN or ESPN2 being probable. Some moves recently by ESPN, namely their moves to embrace the WAMMA rankings, could be read as a branching out of their vision for MMA beyond a strictly UFC view.
