MMA Junkie reports that the ratings for Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine earned an average of 344,000 viewers on Showtime. In addtion, Strikeforce salaries were released with Robbie Lawler topping the salary roster.
Strikeforce Saturday night earned a 0.93 household rating. It is the second-lowest rated Showtime-Strikeforce show for 2011-2012 out of 9 shows during the period. The low ratings occurred despite a free preview weekend on Showtime. It did compete with the NFL’s Saints vs. Lions game. But, its a disappointing 2012 debut for Strikeforce under the new Zuffa-Strikeforce contract.
The salary payroll totaled $566,000 with Lawler receiving $150,000 with no win bonus. Main event winner Luke Rockhold received $90,000.
Via MMA Junkie:
Luke Rockhold: $90,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus)
def. Keith Jardine: $30,000
Robbie Lawler: $150,000 (no win bonus)
def. Adlan Amagov: $10,000
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal: $95,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. Lorenz Larkin: $17,000
Tyron Woodley: $60,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)
def. Jordan Mein: $9,000
Tarec Saffiedine: $31,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
def. Tyler Stinson: $4,000
Nah-Shon Burrell: $8,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus)
def. James Terry: $9,000
Gian Villante: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Trevor Smith: $4,000
Ricky Legere: $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
def. Chris Spang: $6,000
Estevan Payan: $8,000 (includes $4,000 win bonus)
def. Alonzo Martinez: $5,000
Payout Perspective:
It will be interesting what Showtime will do to attract more viewers to its product. The ratings are disappointing considering the free preview allowed more viewers the opportunity to watch. A Tate-Rousey fight will be huge for the promotion (on many levels) in March. Unless we missed it, there were no Fight of the Night, Sub or KO of the Night bonuses. We’ll see if salaries will escalate for Strikeforce stars like Lawal and Melendez to compensate for not being able to jump to the UFC. Zuffa could offer its “locker room” bonuses to those stars as its form of compensation.
I suppose the rating is reasonable considering who was on the card. If anything we learned in 2011, the business of MMA is trending downwards. 2012 looks to be a rebuilding year for the Zuffa. Perhaps they can start to try to build more stars, not an easy task.
@MMA Guru and Diego – I agree. This may be a time to recalibrate what’s a disappointing rating. We will see how March does and if there’s any buildup on Showtime with “Showtime 360”-type features. If you are Melendez or Lawal, and you see Chad Griggs getting a shot in the UFC. It has to make your blood boil.
Shocking, Zuffa guts the promotion and now no one wants to watch anymore. Who could have predicted that?
In an era of increased competition for MMA eyeballs where even UFC cards are competing with one another for customers I don’t see any big ratings in the future for Strikeforce. And there’s not much Showtime can do about it. I can only hope that Showtime did not overpay for the privilege of broadcasting fights from a promotion that hovers somewhere between being a UFC feeder league and a UFC has-been league. We can safely assume that we won’t be seeing SF on CBS ever again.
The problem with building stars in a feeder league is that it’s too easy for fans not to watch. Since the top guys are going to wind up in the UFC anyway why bother tuning in on a regular basis? Catch the Melendez fights, catch the final of the HWGP, and that’s pretty much all the value SF has these days. I wish they would just shut it down, bring Melendez, Cormier, Barnett, Jacare, Kennedy, Rockhold, Mousassi, OSP, and a few others to the UFC and I can save the $10/mo that Showtime is costing me. Dexter is good, but it ain’t that good.
Strikeforce – the place where future and past UFCers fight.
It just proves how little actual brand value Strikeforce ever had. It sold on special attractions like Hershel Walker, Fedor and Gina Carano. I agree that it will be very difficult for the promotion to build stars if no one is watching in the first place. It’s a lesser product than it was in 2010/2011 and consumers will respond accordingly. You’ve really got to feel bad for fighters like King Mo who have the skills and charisma to fight in the UFC; his brand is wasted and the rest of his career may very well consist of “treading water” in the LHW division. Sure he signed a contract, but that’s only because the one he wanted was out of reach and the Japanese scene is questionable in regards to compensation.
MV,
I”m not sure this shows how little brand value SF had. It shows how quickly a brand can be eroded when there is no substance behind it. If the UFC were to lose it’s entire HW division, and then lose it’s top 3-4 fighters in every other division, PPVs and ratings would fall through the floor. We’re already seeing that even within the UFC brand there is a huge disparity between PPVs and ratings depending on who is fighting.
I don’t see how you can assume that Tate-Rousey will be “huge,” on conjecture alone. Carano-Cyborg had major promotion behind it, based on network television exposure for both athletes. Do you really think that Rousey and Tate have pierced the MMA fan bubble and garnered mainstream attention? And if you do, prove it.
Furthermore, Zuffa has demonstrated that they are only willing to do the barest amount of promotion for these Strikeforce shows, such that they make a profit on them, but Showtime doesn’t see outsized value above and beyond the lowball cost to them for each show. 350K viewers is more than enough.
This is a strange situation. Guys like Melendez & King Mo are likely stuck with SF with no other options. Once their contracts are done, what are their options? If the UFC won’t sign them due to needing SOME star power/decent fighters in SF, where else can they turn? They will basically be forced to re-sign with SF at whatever Zuffa is willing to pay, maybe even having to take a pay cut (remember, a lot of these contracts are probably hold-overs from before Zuffa bought SF. No way Robbie Lawler makes $150k/fight if he’s in the UFC or has to renegotiate with Zuffa).