MMA Fighting reports that kickboxing organization GLORY has signed a multi-fight television deal with the CBS Sports Network. Two GLORY events will be aired on the network starting with an event on April 21st.
Via MMA Fighting:
GLORY 7 from Milan, headlined by Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Hafid El Boustati, will air via tape delay on the network on Sunday, April 21 at 1:00 a.m. ET.
CBS Sports Network will also air GLORY 8 via tape delay from Tokyo on May 5, which will feature a one-night, single-elimination featherweight (143 pounds) tournament.
Payout Perspective:
The GLORY signing continues the trend of networks looking to combat sports as a way to supply its content. Spike TV looked to K-1 to fill the UFC void but low viewership nixed the deal before it really began. It will be interesting to see how GLORY will do on CBS Sports Network and how much patience it will have with the programming choice if it does not produce ratings with the first two events. The day and timing of the airing of the first GLORY doesn’t really help with ratings and we will see how much CBS Sports Network will do to promote it.
Not really a good move imo, they would be better off on Spike. Spike would get behind them and probably give them a decent timeslot. Better than 1am. Plus Spike is in double the homes and has TNA and Bellator which they can promote kickboxing events during.
I did see someone on another site said they will be on Spike for some NYC show after these two events. Its possible cause it saysa multi fight deal not a multi year deal so this doesnt seem like a long term move, just a few events.
Sounds good to me. I’ll set up my DVR to record. More free fights – bring it on.