Bellator MMA has announced that it will hold events outside of the United States in 2016. The company announced that it will be going to London, Tel Aviv and Italy in a press release sent out on Tuesday.
It will be the first time that Bellator MMA will hold events outside of North America.
The London event will be held at the O2 arena and broadcast live on Channel 5 in the UK and Spike UK will broadcast the prelims live in the UK. Spike TV in the US will air the main card on tape delay.
According to the press release, live Bellator events are average 872,000 viewers in 2015 with a 17% increase in the M18-49 demo over last year.
Payout Perpsective:
The announcement marks the first time that Bellator will attempt to expand its footprint globally. The events should help with the visibility of its product abroad as it will seek to extend its broadcast reach. We will see if one or more of these events end up being a tentpole feature. One might suspect the London show to be big.
Waste of money. Coker must be setting up the sale of Bellator to the UFC.