The Score, a sports television network in Canada, has reached an agreement to televise seven World Extreme Cagefighting events next year:
TORONTO, Dec. 17 /CNW/ – Score Media Inc. (TSX: SCR) today announced that it has inked an exclusive Canadian multi-platform partnership agreement with World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC(R)), one of the world’s leading mixed martial arts (MMA) sports organizations. The deal, which kicks off in January 2010, brings seven live WEC fights, online content and exclusive features to The Score.
“WEC has attracted millions of fans around the world, and in Canada specifically. By adding this franchise to our existing line up of comprehensive MMA content, The Score strengthens its reputation as a destination for hardcore MMA fans,” says Benjie Levy, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Score Media Inc.
Adding the WEC to The Score’s mix of in-depth, multi-platform, original MMA content – headed up by Mauro Ranallo, one of North America’s renowned MMA authorities – showcases The Score’s commitment to continued investment in building a superior destination for MMA content.
“We are excited to have The Score as the official partner of World Extreme Cagefighting in Canada,” says WEC Vice President, Peter Dropick. “As a dedicated supporter of MMA, The Score is the perfect choice to help us build the WEC franchise in the Canadian market.”
On December 18th at 10pm ET, The Score will be kicking off its exciting WEC line up with WEC Best of 2009, a look back at WEC’s most exciting fights of the past year.
And to catch the first live WEC fight of 2010, tune in on January 10th at 9pm ET.
Payout Perspective:
The WEC had previously partnered with TSN in Canada, but that agreement expires at the end of the year. This new agreement with The Score looks to be the replacement.
How does it stack up? It depends on how you look at it. The Score has promised to provide a host of additional support for the WEC, including live broadcasts and internet content (something TSN didn’t do). However, the organization is taking a significant step down in network quality, reach, and reputation by moving from TSN to The Score. TSN is Canada’s most respected sports network – the ESPN of Canada. The Score, on the other hand, is more or less only known as a 24 hrs. sports highlights and infomercial channel.
Oh man, this just made my day.
I’ve been emailing the WEC begging them not to give the contract to TSN or for that matter any network that doesn’t plan on airing the events live. Who cares about watching a live event once the results have been plastered everywhere? Sure I would still watch it (from a more timely source), but it loses some of the excitement that a live event generates.
I doubt I had any affect on the decision to give the contract to the score but I still got what I wanted: Great fights–LIVE AND FREE!
Also there is a free preview of Superchannel on Shaw cable systems and if the article on here is correct the Strikeforce event this weekend should be available for free in Canada. 🙂
An unfortunate move by the WEC. Decisions like this will prevent the WEC from any sort of growth as an organization, though many have doubted the heights that the WEC could reach anyway given the obvious lack of emphasis that Zuffa has placed on it. In my opinion interest in the WEC peaked with WEC 34: Faber vs Pulver I, mostly due to the superb promotion that that card received, and has never reached that point again. The biggest problem the WEC had was Faber losing two fights to Mike Brown, but with Brown out of the title picture for now, it is time to try and set up a Faber vs Aldo match, which is really the only mega fight that the WEC has left other than a Varner vs Henderson (debatable if this is a mega fight from a promotional standpoint) and Torres vs Bowles rematch (hopefully this will happen down the road). With so few marketable stars in the WEC (Faber, Cerrone, Torres, Aldo, Pulver, and now perhaps Ben Henderson), it will be increasingly difficult for the WEC to put together fights that will get the casual fan interested. Jamie Varner and Brian Bowles are great fighters, but they seem to lack that “it” factor that makes stars popular. The WEC should really try and push the compelling story behind Jose Aldo. He may not speak English, but he has shown to have a lot of personality with his post fight celebratory antics in the cage, and his fighting style is suited for even the most fickle of fans who expect spectacular finishes from champions.However, WEC 34 may have been a ceiling for the promotion in terms of media and fan interest. Even WEC 41 didn’t quite measure up.
I love this move. Yes, TSN is a ‘bigger’ network up here but WEC was always a hit or miss on that station. Tomorrow it’s on TSN2 but if there’s any other programming, TSN wouldn’t hesitate to rerun it 3 or 4 days later rather than do it live. And like it matters, I have both stations on HD so again, I love it!!
actually this is a great move…while the score might not be an extremely popular channel, I watch it and include it in my sport surfing channel list. The toronto raptors games used to be mostly broadcasted on the score which i would watch all the time.
they are not known for infomercials, LOL, but are known to give you up to date stats on games 24/7 which is better than the other channels. i watch it and will definitely watch the WEC live fights! good move for wec as the score is probably the canadian sports version of spikeTV
Tune into The Score anytime between 12-6am, and tell me what you get.
Hardcore MMA fans will watch the sport regardless of where it’s shown. But in terms of growing the sport it’s tough to look at this deal and say that it improves the reach or growth opportunities for the WEC.
The difference here is that The Score is going to proudly broadcast these events whereas TSN was rather indifferent and could care less about airing it between curling and dart reruns despite the fact that they had THREE channels to put it on.
While this deal may not be exposing a whole bunch of new fans to the sport it at least provides an outlet for the established fans in Canada, who up to this point have been shut out of free MMA other than SpikeUFC. SHOStrikeforce until just recently with Superchannel, was previously only available for $45 PPV and VersusWEC which was unavailable period.
Sure I’ll watch it regardless of where it is shown but I think there is little dispute as to what is more exciting: a week old event that you’ve likely found out the results to already or watching a live event unfold as it happens after following the media building up to the event.