Fight Opinion’s Zach Arnold reports that the Bellator public relations staff sent word of the results of Bellator’s fights Saturday night prior to its airing on the West Coast. It was the organization’s season premiere and its debut on MTV2.
Via Fight Opinion:
Both the Bellator & Strikeforce telecasts aired on tape delay for the West Coast. Bellator’s PR staff had already e-mailed out event results before the show started to air on MTV2 for those in the Pacific time zone. Oops.
Payout Perspective:
MMA Payout has sent an email to Bellator PR requesting comment. As of this writing we have not received a response but will update you once we receive word.
It is hard not to think that this was an error by Bellator PR staff. Perhaps the results were to be embargoed to those receiving the release. Or, the results were sent to avoid other entities from revealing the information.
Regardless, opening opposite a Strikeforce event was bad luck. The good thing about Bellator, is that it is on each week and can improve on its start.
I had to hide their feed on my Facebook account. They were posting results real time. I live in San Diego so I didn’t get the fights until 9pm.
Way more troubling to me if true is that Bellator may have to bury some of their fights for being to bloody as ME (I know) is claiming. If a fight in real time turns to messy does Bellator get punted to the middle of the night or dropped because of the demographic?
http://middleeasy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4013:waachiim-spiritwolf-talks-about-his-bellator-35-fight-that-may-be-too-bloody-to-air-on-mtv2&catid=34:organizations
Bellator should be more careful, but results are always posted for cards that air the same time ET/PT. The UFC used to do this and I always thought it was kind of bush league that I would be watching UFC Fight Night “Live” even though I knew the event was over. They stopped this for the most part, but Bellator is in a tougher spot with less leverage in their TV contract. Apart from making sure to not release the results firsthand, there’s not much Bellator can do. The onus is sadly on the fans to make sure and shield themselves from the results until they have aired on TV in their respective locations. I seriously doubt MTV 2 will let them shuffle their West coast time-slots anytime soon.
EAST COAST REPRESENT!
No such problems in New York.
But on a serious note, since I DVR most fights on network TV (except for big cards) I’m used to shunning sports media until I’m able to spend some quality time with my remote. I didn’t watch Bellator until Sunday morning and it was all news to me.