Steven Marrocco of MMAWeekly.com is reporting that Strikeforce will return to CBS for its second show with the network in April of next year.
CBS Primetime Senior Executive Vice President Kelly Kahl on Tuesday confirmed exclusively to MMAWeekly.com that the network was planning to broadcast a second card with the San Jose, Calif.-based promotion in April on a date yet to be announced.“We’re looking at a few different dates and there are venue considerations,” said Kahl.
The card will air in its usual Saturday at 9 p.m. ET slot, with a tape-delayed broadcast on the West Coast.
Kahl said prized Strikeforce heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko will appear on the card against an opponent to be determined. In October, the promotion’s current heavyweight champion, Alistair Overeem, called the Russian out for an April meeting.
Also due to appear is recent signee Dan Henderson, who left the UFC this month in a highly publicized move. Henderson’s opponent is also TBA, though Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told Steve Cofield of Yahoo! Sports that Henderson’s first opponent was likely current middleweight champion Jake Shields. Shields’ manager/father, Jack Shields, declined comment on the match-up.
Payout Perspective:
Strikeforce on CBS in April is certainly good news for fight fans, but it will also be an important litmus test for the organization. The results of the television ratings and advertising sales for this event will go a long way towards determining whether Strikeforce has a future on the network.
The recent signings should ensure that lack of talent is not an issue for the organization. They’ll have Fedor and Hendo for the April CBS show, but may also be able to fit a few of Mousasi, Jacare, Aoki, and Manhoef into the mix, along with some of their other mainstays. Then, if CBS considers a third show in the summer, you’ve got to think the network will try to fit Carano onto the card as well.
First things first, however, and they must shore up the production and scheduling of these CBS shows. The camera angles, switching, and overall commentary were not at the elite level for the last show. They also had to cancel a bout between Deray Davis and Mark Miller just minutes before it was set to hit the cage, because of time constraints.
Glad to see Strikeforce is getting another CBS show, but at first blush I think they really need a bigger presence between CBS shows to really gain traction. I know they have the Showtime events, which are often very good and I am really looking forward to Saturdays show, but to me Showtime doesn’t have enough homes to make a major impact.
To a casual fan it’s going to be about 4-5 months off between significant events and that might come off more of a novelty than an organization that runs regular shows.
I agree Stan. The biggest problem with Strikeforce gaining traction in the casual fan’s eye (and perhaps in the eyes of hardcore fans as well) is consistency of exposure. It’s unfortunate that many of their shows, such as this Saturday’s Evolution, are only broadcast on Showtime and will probably have less than a million viewers. Their scant number of major shows per year (do the Challenger Series shows really count as MAJOR shows?) make it hard to take them seriously as a world class MMA organization when the UFC tends to have multiple offerings each month. Strikeforce had 10 shows in 2009, but 5 of those were Challenger Series events that did not have big name draws, and it is important to recognize that their first show, held on April 11, 2009 was FOUR AND A HALF MONTHS after their previous show, held on Nov. 21, 2008. Now the ProElite acquisition may have been the cause of this delay, but it certainly does not help Strikeforce to create brand awareness when their product isn’t anywhere to be seen for a third of the calendar year. Also, all these shows but one were on Showtime, which will never be a platform that will allow them to grow (I am a a hardcore fan and I like Strikeforce, but even I will not spend hundreds of dollars to subscribe to see 9 shows a year). They need to change their TV deal unless CBS is willing to broadcast A LOT more of their events on the network. Problem: Showtime is owned by CBS, so to me it looks grim for Strikeforce in the exposure department. We saw what happened to Affliction. No one I ever talked to seemed to know they were anything but a clothing brand, and fewer knew they had anything to do with MMA, and even taht was only because they had seen their shirts on UFC telecasts/PPVs.