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Mixed Martial Arts--- IFL Battleground Averages 0.7 Rating Through First 10 Episodes
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

With ten episodes of IFL Battleground having aired on the struggling broadcast television network MyNetworkTV, Battleground has also struggled to increase the audience that tuned in for its premiere, which drew an overall rating of 0.8.

Battleground has averaged an overall rating of 0.7 through its first ten episodes. This is actually equal to MyNetworkTV's primetime average from the network's inception in September 2006 through February 2007, which was the month before the IFL debuted on the network.

In the advertiser-coveted demographic of 18-to-34-year-old males, the first ten episodes of IFL Battleground have averaged a 0.7 rating, which is more than three times MyNetworkTV's previous primetime average of 0.2 in this demographic.

To that extent, IFL Battleground can be considered a ratings success. One of the primary reasons that MyNetworkTV picked up the show in the first place was to increase the network's anemic ratings in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic, and Battleground has done exactly that.

By just about any other measure, the show cannot be called a ratings success. An overall rating of 0.7 is not sustainable indefinitely – the ratings are going to have to increase eventually. Due to the boost that the show provides MyNetworkTV in the key demographic, the IFL will be given plenty of time by MyNetworkTV to demonstrate overall viewership growth.

IFL's Ratings Have Declined in Recent Weeks
The problem for the IFL in the past several weeks has been that the ratings have been moving in the opposite direction. Instead of gradually increasing over the course of the first couple months, as was the case with the ratings for The Ultimate Fighter when the UFC made its national TV debut on Spike TV, the ratings for IFL Battleground have been gradually decreasing.

The first three episodes of Battleground drew overall ratings of 0.8, 0.7, and 0.8. Episodes Four, Five, and Six each drew overall ratings of 0.7. Episodes Seven and Eight both drew overall ratings of 0.6.

On May 15th, the series bottomed out with a series-low rating of 0.5 for Episode Nine, which featured a combination of the "IFL Ring Card Girl Search" and a countdown of the IFL's greatest knockouts. Episode Ten on May 22nd rebounded slightly to an overall rating of 0.6.

Based on the overall ratings that MyNetworkTV was averaging in primetime before the IFL debuted on its airwaves, Battleground would need to draw ratings of 0.8 to increase the network's overall average, and it would need to draw ratings of 0.7 in order to at least not decrease the network's overall average. As it stands now, Battleground hasn't drawn an overall rating of 0.7 since April 23rd, and it hasn't drawn an overall rating of 0.8 since March 26th.

Even when IFL Battleground debuted on MyNetworkTV and drew much stronger ratings than the network previously drew on Monday nights, an article in Television Week noted that MyNetworkTV officials expected the IFL's ratings "to improve as more young men find the channel."

Through ten episodes, the IFL has averaged 998,000 viewers for each Monday night premiere episode of Battleground. In its first ten episodes on Spike TV, The Ultimate Fighter averaged 1,916,000 viewers for each of its Monday night premiere episodes. Like Battleground, the first season of TUF went head-to-head with a very competitive network sweeps period (February 2005 in the case of TUF; May 2007 in the case of Battleground).

MyNetworkTV's Continued Existence Provides Good News for IFL
There is some good news for the IFL in the face of its stagnant ratings. It was announced earlier this month that ill-fated Fox reality show "Paradise Hotel" is being revived and will start airing on MyNetworkTV in early 2008. Why is this good news for the IFL? Because it means that as plans stand right now, MyNetworkTV is still going to exist in early 2008, which had been a lingering question mark. The network has also ordered several other new shows, including a revival of the cancelled NBC reality series "Meet My Folks," a new Dr. Phil-backed reality show called "Divorce Wars," and several celebrity-themed specials produced by "Access Hollywood."

Throughout much of the 2006-2007 television season, which officially concluded last Wednesday night, it was widely believed within the television industry that MyNetworkTV might cease to exist before the 2007-2008 television season begins in September. The ratings were (and still are) low enough that many financially strapped local MyNetworkTV affiliates could conceivably draw better ratings with syndicated programming than they could draw with the national programming provided to them by MyNetworkTV.

In February, the network abandoned its disastrous initial strategy of having an all-telenovela format (airing original soap operas with new episodes every weeknight in primetime). In April, the network announced that it was discontinuing new episode production on all of its telenovelas and all other scripted programming, although it still plans to air previously-produced telenovelas on Wednesday nights for the next several months.

The network had been scheduled to bring back the novelas on Tuesday nights starting in early June, but those plans were scrapped. A recent article in Media Week stated, "[MyNetworkTV president Greg] Meidel said the decision to not bring the novelas back on Tuesday nights was made because its Monday International Fight League telecasts was not a compatible audience for driving viewers to the more female-skewing novelas the next night."

Still, the fact that MyNetworkTV is ordering production on shows that won't start airing until early 2008 is an encouraging sign for the future of the network, at least to the extent that we can be fairly confident that it will still be in business in early 2008.

However, Battleground will likely have to show some growth in its overall viewership in order to warrant a significant increase in the programming rights fee that MyNetworkTV pays the IFL for the rights to air its programming. Currently, MyNetworkTV is paying $50,000 for each original episode and $20,000 for each replay airing.

Labels: International Fight League (IFL) News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 10:58 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- IFL Battleground Ratings Down Slightly
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

Episode Four of IFL Battleground on MyNetworkTV drew an overall rating of 0.7 on Monday, April 9th. The show drew its smallest average audience to date, just 977,000 viewers, while also drawing its highest ratings to date in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic.

The four original episodes of IFL Battleground that have aired thus far have drawn overall ratings of 0.8, 0.7, 0.8, and 0.7. Although an improvement, this is not drastically different than MyNetworkTV's average of 0.5 overall on Monday nights in February before the IFL debuted on the network.

In the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic, which is the specific demographic that the IFL was brought in to draw for the struggling network, the first four episodes of IFL Battleground have drawn ratings of 0.7, 0.6, 0.8, and 0.8. This is a drastic increase from MyNetworkTV's previous average rating in the demographic, which was a paltry 0.2. With 18 episodes out of Battleground's 22-episode order yet to air, there is still plenty of time for potential ratings increases or decreases, depending on whether the show keeps its audience coming back for more each week.

Four days earlier in the same time slot (8:00 PM to 10:00 PM), albeit on a different night of the week, the live premiere of UFC Fight Night 9 drew an average of 1.6 million viewers on Spike TV, compared to 977,000 viewers for Episode Four of IFL Battleground.

In an attempt to further increase its ratings in April and especially in the May sweeps period, MyNetworkTV has ordered nine prime time specials to air in late April and May, including "Hawaiian Tropic International Beauty Pageant," "Ujena Bikini Jam," "Body Doubles: International Twins Search," "America's Trashiest Weddings," "Britney Spears: A Pop Idol Exposed" (no relation to the preceding special), "The Hooters Dream Girl Challenge," "Anna Nicole Smith: Centerfold Revisited," "Night of a Million Laughs: Comics Unleashed," and "Eddie Murphy: 25th Anniversary of 'Delirious.'"

The ratings success or failure of these specials, as well as IFL Battleground, could play a significant role in Fox's decision on whether to bring back MyNetworkTV for a second season this fall. If MyNetworkTV does come back in the fall, it is almost certain that the network would be interested in bringing back IFL Battleground for a second season.

Airing head-to-head with IFL Battleground on April 9th from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM, a 90-minute installment of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" was the most-watched show on television, as it drew a 12.2 overall rating for an episode that included a guest appearance by UFC fighter Randy Couture. Following Dancing with the Stars on ABC was a 90-minute installment of "The Bachelor," the first 30 minutes of which drew a 6.7 overall rating head-to-head with the IFL.

Coming in second place on the night was CBS, which struggled with the first half of its comedy block, as "How I Met Your Mother" drew a 5.0 overall rating and "The New Adventures of Old Christine" drew a 4.8 overall rating, but rebounded strongly with the second half of its comedy block, as "Two and a Half Men" drew an 8.4 overall rating and "King of Queens" drew an 8.6 overall rating. Coming in third place was Fox with a repeat of "House" (4.9 overall rating) and a new episode of "24" (7.2 overall rating). Coming in last place among the Big Four networks was NBC, as a new episode of "Deal or No Deal" drew a 6.8 overall rating and the premiere of "Thank God You're Here" drew a 5.8 overall rating in its first hour.

On Monday, April 2nd, the IFL chose to air a repeat episode of Battleground instead of a new episode, due to the fact that it had to go head-to-head with the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Finals on CBS. As it turned out, the Tournament Finals broadcast was the night's #1 show in the young adult male demographic, but it suffered a rare defeat in the overall ratings, with an 11.4 overall rating compared to Dancing with the Stars' 11.9 overall rating. The repeat airing of IFL Battleground drew a 0.7 overall rating on April 2nd, which is the same rating that a new episode of the series drew on April 9th.

Labels: International Fight League (IFL) News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:14 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- IFL Battleground Ratings Steady in Week Three
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The third installment of IFL Battleground on MyNetworkTV drew an overall rating of 0.8 on Monday, March 26th. The previous week's episode drew an overall rating of 0.7, while the series premiere two weeks earlier drew an overall rating of 0.8.

In the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic, the show drew a rating of 0.8, which is the series' highest rating yet and also broke all of MyNetworkTV's records for 18-to-34-year-old male viewership.

The premiere of IFL Battleground drew a 0.7 rating in this demographic, and the second episode drew a 0.6 rating in this demographic.

Prior to the IFL's debut, MyNetworkTV averaged an anemic 0.2 rating in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic.

IFL Pleased with Battleground's Ratings
The IFL has been pleased with Battleground's ratings thus far. Gareb Shamus, the co-founder of the IFL, tells MMAWeekly, "Our show is setting all kinds of records for [MyNetworkTV]. Their network has really been an all-female network. We're not only keeping the women, but we're increasing the number of males dramatically, especially 18 to 34 year olds."

Shamus continued, "[MyNetworkTV] needs to create 'tent-pole' shows that they can build around. That's what [IFL Battleground] is. Fox understands that they can't turn a network around overnight. They don't see us as a short-term play. They see us as long-term."

IFL Ratings vs. UFC Ratings
In the IFL's first three weeks with a consistent, national television timeslot, IFL Battleground has averaged 1.1 million viewers, 1.0 million viewers, and 1.1 million viewers, respectively.

In the UFC's first three weeks with a consistent, national television timeslot back in January 2006, the first three episodes of The Ultimate Fighter averaged 1.7 million viewers, 1.7 million viewers, and 1.8 million viewers, respectively.

Of course, The Ultimate Fighter had WWE Raw as its lead-in for those episodes, which was a big advantage for the UFC.

On the other hand, the IFL has a big advantage of its own in the sense that IFL Battleground airs on a broadcast TV network that is available in approximately 110 million U.S. households, whereas The Ultimate Fighter airs on a cable network that is available in approximately 90 million U.S. households.

The latest repeat airing of UFC Unleashed on Spike TV, which aired on March 27th from 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM, drew an average of approximately 900,000 viewers, compared to 1.1 million viewers for the episode of IFL Battleground that aired one night earlier on MyNetworkTV. The most recent live installment of UFC Fight Night, which aired on January 25th, drew an average of approximately 2.3 million viewers.

IFL Ratings vs. Previous MyNetworkTV Ratings
Compared to the dramas that aired on MyNetworkTV on Monday nights in February 2007, IFL Battleground has drawn 60% higher overall ratings and 250% higher ratings in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic. However, the significance of this is tempered by the fact that MyNetworkTV has struggled so much since it launched last September.

Based on everything we know about the situation and everything that has been reported in television industry trade journals, MyNetworkTV may or may not be in existence a year from now if the network's ratings don't improve in the coming weeks and months.

Compared to what the same stations that are now MyNetworkTV affiliates were drawing last year when they were UPN or WB affiliates, the ratings for MyNetworkTV's programming hasn't stacked up. The WB and UPN ended up merging to form The CW Network in part because both UPN and The WB were losing large amounts of money and were not sustainable over the long run with the ratings that they were drawing.

The struggles of MyNetworkTV are certainly not the IFL's fault, as IFL Battleground has been the lone bright spot on the network's line-up and has significantly increased the network's 18-to-34-year-old male averages.

If anything, the IFL is currently providing MyNetworkTV with the best chance it has to turn around its fortunes as a network. However, just the fact that the IFL's ratings are good by MyNetworkTV's standards isn't all that much of an accomplishment. While any number of other fledgling sports leagues would do anything to get the broadcast TV exposure that the IFL is getting, that doesn't change the fact that this particular broadcast network is struggling to survive.

IFL Ratings vs. UPN, WB, and CW Ratings
A more pertinent comparison would be the IFL's current ratings on MyNetworkTV (0.8 overall this week) vs. the ratings that the now-defunct/merged UPN & WB were drawing one year ago.

On the nearest Monday one year ago (March 27, 2006), The WB aired a new two-hour episode of Everwood, which averaged a 2.3 overall rating. On the same night, UPN averaged a 2.2 overall rating with a comedy block featuring One on One, All of Us, Girlfriends, and Half & Half.

The closest network to MyNetworkTV in the current TV landscape is the offspring of The WB and UPN: The CW Network. Both MyNetworkTV and The CW Network are broadcast networks in the sense that they are available in over 95% of U.S. households, regardless of whether or not those households have cable television. On the same night that IFL Battleground drew a 0.8 overall rating on MyNetworkTV (March 26, 2007), The CW Network averaged a 1.8 overall rating with a comedy block featuring Everybody Hates Chris, All of Us, Girlfriends, and The Game.

Head-to-Head Competition on the Big Four Networks
Shows on the Big Four broadcast networks that aired head-to-head with the March 26th installment of IFL Battleground included ABC's Dancing with the Stars, which drew a massive 12.4 overall rating for the first half of a two-hour episode. Also airing from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM was the first half of a two-hour Deal or No Deal on NBC, which drew a 7.0 overall rating. A new episode of Prison Break drew a 5.2 overall rating on Fox, while the last-place finisher among the Big Four networks was CBS, whose repeats of How I Met Your Mother and The New Adventures of Old Christine both drew 4.0 overall ratings.

Airing head-to-head with IFL Battleground in the 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM hour, the ratings for Dancing with the Stars on ABC increased even further, as the show drew a 13.6 overall rating in this hour. The second half of NBC's Deal or No Deal beat out Fox's 24 for second place by the narrow margin of 7.6 to 7.2. Bringing up the rear among the Big Four networks in this hour was CBS, as a repeat of the most-watched comedy on television, Two and a Half Men, drew a 6.6 overall rating, and a repeat of freshman comedy Rules of Engagement drew a 5.3 overall rating.

Labels: International Fight League (IFL) News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:29 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- More on Fertittas' Pride Buy-Out, Plus Two More Fights Announced
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

Two more fights have been announced for Pride 34: Kamikaze, which will take place on April 8th and will be the final Pride event held by Dream Stage Entertainment before the company's operations are turned over to a company owned by UFC majority owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta.

Veteran heavyweight Kazuyuki Fujita will face former UFC fighter Jeff Monson, and MMA legend Don Frye will face 185-pound Pride veteran Ikuhisa Minowa.

Don Frye, who exploded onto the MMA scene by winning the UFC 8 tournament in 1996, has had health problems with his neck and spine in recent years, but has continued to fight nonetheless and amassed an MMA record of 3-0-1 in 2006. The 41-year-old Frye is no longer under contract to fight for K-1 Hero's, thus enabling him to fight for Pride.

It's possible that Frye's contract to fight in Pride will only be a one-time deal since it's the last Pride show promoted by DSE. Frye is the coach of the Tucson Scorpions in the fledgling International Fight League (IFL), and Zuffa has made it clear in the past that it's not going to use any fighters who are coaches in the IFL.

This has been Zuffa's unofficial policy for the UFC itself, and UFC co-owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta may or may not have the same unofficial policy when their newly formed company, Pride FC Worldwide, assumes control of Pride's day-to-day operations after the April 8th event.

Leaving the IFL altogether would seemingly not be an option for Frye, as all of the coaches in the IFL have ownership stakes in the company that cannot be sold for a certain number of years.

Frye's opponent will be 31-year-old Ikuhisa Minowa, who has a career MMA record of 35-25-8. Minowa's MMA record in 2006 was 5-2, but several of his wins came in "freak show fights" where he was vastly outweighed by his lesser skilled opponent, including wins over Eric "Butterbean" Esch, Paulo "Giant" Silva, and Mike Plotcheck (aka, Bart Gunn in WWE).

While Frye is not a super-heavyweight like the aforementioned fighters, he is still going to outweigh Minowa by 30 to 50 pounds, which is the kind of size mismatch that will presumably not be allowed once Pride is run by the same people who own the UFC.

Since returning from K-1 Hero's to Pride in 2006, Fujita has gone 2-1, with a loss to Wanderlei Silva and victories over James Thompson and Eldari Kurtanidze.

Monson is a former UFC fighter who asked to be released from his UFC contract after his one-sided decision loss to Tim Sylvia last November, so that he could pursue opportunities in the BodogFight promotion. Monson was originally scheduled to face Fedor Emelianenko on BodogFight's April 14th pay-per-view event in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was later scheduled to face Fedor's brother, Aleksander Emelianenko, and then Roman Zentsov. Instead, Monson will be facing Fujita at Pride 34.

In addition to Frye vs. Minowa and Fujita vs. Monson, it was also reaffirmed today that Ricardo Arona will be fighting Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou on the April 8th card, and Shinya Aoki will be fighting Brian Lo-A-Njoe.

Wanderlei Silva is also tentatively scheduled to compete on the April 8th card (his opponent has not been announced), pending the approval of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Silva is medically suspended by the NSAC until April 11th as a result of his knockout loss to Dan Henderson at Pride 33.

When previously reached for comment on this issue by MMAWeekly, Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer said, "If Mr. Silva is cleared by a doctor there [in Japan], our doctor will look at the medical records and determine whether to lift the suspension three days early." If he is unable to get this clearance, Silva will not be fighting on the April 8th card.

After the April 8th card in Japan, the next planned show with the Pride brand name is scheduled to take place in Japan on May 20th, as the first round of a 16-man Lightweight Grand Prix is scheduled to take place on that date.

This had been scheduled to be a 160-pound tournament, but Pride is no longer scheduled to have a 160-pound weight class under the ownership of the Fertittas. With White saying in the Las Vegas Review Journal that Pride will have the same weight classes at the UFC, this means that Pride's 2006 Grand Prix would have to be changed to a 170-pound Grand Prix or a 155-pound Grand Prix.

The Fertitta-owned Pride also plans to run a few shows per year in the United States, possibly as soon as June, but these plans are complicated by former Pride USA president Ed Fishman's lawsuit against Dream Stage. With Fishman being the exclusive U.S. promoter of Pride events, the Fertitta-owned Pride may or may not be legally able to run shows in the United States until Fishman's lawsuit has worked its way through the court system, or until a financial settlement with Fishman can be reached.

Labels: International Fight League (IFL) News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Pride Fighting Championships News, UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:08 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Week Two of IFL on MyNetworkTV Draws 0.7 Rating
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The second episode of IFL Battleground on MyNetworkTV drew an overall rating of 0.7 on Monday, March 19th. This is down slightly from Episode One's overall rating of 0.8.

A ratings drop-off had been expected for the second episode, given the fact that the first episode was widely regarded as being so bad that it elicited an apology from IFL executives, due to its tasteless references such as, "Stay tuned because before the night is over, someone is leaving on a stretcher!"

While the overall rating dropped off from 0.8 to 0.7, the ratings were also down slightly in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic and the 18-to-49-year-old male demographic. In both of those demographics, the show's first episode drew a 0.7 rating, and the second episode drew a 0.6 rating in the same demographics

Comparisons to MyNetworkTV's Averages and Last Week's UFC Ratings
Episode Two's overall rating of 0.7 is horrible based on the usual network TV standards, but for the struggling MyNetworkTV, it's an improvement over the network's average overall rating of 0.5 on Monday nights during the February sweeps period.

In addition, IFL Battleground's Week Two rating of 0.6 in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic is still three times the network's average (0.2) in the advertiser-coveted demographic.

Two new episodes of UFC Unleashed aired on Tuesday, March 13th on Spike TV from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM. The first new episode of UFC Unleashed drew an overall rating of 0.7, and the second new episode of UFC Unleashed drew an overall rating of 1.1. The two-hour block averaged an overall rating of 0.9, which tops IFL Battleground's Week One average by 0.1 and its Week Two average by 0.2.

The Financial Aspects of the IFL's Deal with MyNetworkTV
According to the IFL's own financial documents, MyNetworkTV currently pays the IFL a rights fee of $50,000 for each new episode of IFL Battleground; plus $20,000 for each episode replay.

With 22 new episodes and 22 replays having been ordered for this season, that means MyNetworkTV is paying the IFL a total of $1,540,000 for the entire 22-episode season.

If MyNetworkTV is able to make that money back in commercial sales for IFL Battleground, it would be a win-win situation for the network.

If MyNetworkTV is not able to recoup the rights fees in commercial sales, it may or may not be considered worth it for the network to take a financial loss if the IFL can continue to boost MyNetworkTV's ratings averages and increase the network's profile in general.

To use an example on the complete opposite end of the financial spectrum, there is not a single network on television (CBS, NBC, Fox, or ESPN/ABC) that comes close to breaking even on the hundreds of millions of dollars that it costs for the rights to air NFL games, but it's still considered well worth it for those networks to broadcast NFL games because they can heavily advertise their other shows to a large audience during NFL broadcasts.

In the case of the IFL and MyNetworkTV, the ratings are a lot smaller and the rights fees are a lot lower, but the same general principle applies.

Head-to-Head Network Competition
As is always the case, MyNetworkTV came in last place in the network TV ratings on March 19th. Airing head-to-head with IFL Battleground's first hour from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM, the first half of Dancing with the Stars' season premiere on ABC drew a monster rating of 13.0. The first half of a two-hour episode of Deal or No Deal on NBC drew an 8.3 overall rating, holding up fairly well against Dancing with the Stars. Meanwhile, a new episode of Prison Break drew a 5.2 overall rating on Fox. New episodes of the CBS comedies How I Met Your Mother and The New Adventures of Old Christine drew overall ratings of 5.0 and 4.7, respectively.

Airing head-to-head with IFL Battleground's second hour from 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM, the viewership of both Dancing with the Stars and Deal or No Deal grew significantly as compared to their first hours. The second hour of Dancing with the Stars drew an overall rating of 14.4, while the second hour of Deal or No Deal drew a 9.2 overall rating. New episodes of the CBS comedies Two and a Half Men and Rules of Engagement drew overall ratings of 7.6 and 6.0, respectively, while a new episode of 24 on Fox drew a 7.1 overall rating.

Labels: International Fight League (IFL) News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:10 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- IFL's Debut on MyNetworkTV Draws 0.8 Rating
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The two-hour debut of IFL Battleground on MyNetworkTV drew an overall rating of 0.8 on March 12th. This falls far short of the ratings that the UFC has consistently drawn on Spike TV, but at the same time it's also considered a strong rating for MyNetworkTV.

Since its debut as a broadcast network last fall, MyNetworkTV has severely struggled in the ratings, with an average primetime rating of 0.7 overall. On Monday nights during February sweeps, the network averaged a 0.5 overall rating.

The IFL's overall rating of 0.8 is enough to bring MyNetworkTV's averages up slightly if it's maintained over time, but not by a huge margin.

Ratings in Young Adult Male Demographic are Lone Bright Spot
What the IFL will change for MyNetworkTV is the number of young adult males who are watching the network, and this is the primary reason that MyNetworkTV signed the IFL in the first place. Through all of its ratings struggles, the biggest one of all that has faced MyNetworkTV is the struggle to garner viewership in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-34-year-old male demographic.

The premiere of IFL Battleground drew a 0.7 rating in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic, which is a 250 percent increase over MyNetworkTV's average rating of 0.2 in this demographic. It was also the highest rating drawn by any show in MyNetworkTV's history in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic.

IFL's Ratings Nowhere Near UFC's Ratings
Compared to the UFC's averages for the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter, the premiere of IFL Battleground fell short, as TUF 4 averaged a 1.1 overall rating and IFL Battleground drew an overall rating of 0.8. IFL Battleground also fell short of TUF 4 in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic (0.7 to 2.0), and in the 18-to-49-year-old male demographic (0.7 to 1.6).

Compared to the UFC's most recent live fight special on Spike TV (the January 25th broadcast of UFC Fight Night), the premiere of IFL Battleground fell short in overall rating (0.8 to 1.7), 18-to-34-year-old males (0.7 to 2.3), and 18-to-49-year-old males (0.7 to 2.0).

Compared to the UFC's viewership level the very first time that it aired on Spike TV (with the series premiere of The Ultimate Fighter on January 17, 2005), IFL Battleground fell short in overall rating (0.8 to 1.4), 18-to-34-year-old males (0.8 to 1.5), and 18-to-49-year-old males (0.8 to 1.5).

IFL's Long-Term Viability on MyNetworkTV
As with any TV show, the key for IFL Battleground will be how it maintains its ratings over time. It's very apparent from the feedback that the majority of hardcore MMA fans did not like the show, to put it mildly. If a significant percentage of the non-MMA fans who were seeing MMA for the first time felt the same way, there could be a significant drop-off in the ratings for Episode Two.

If, on the other hand, the IFL can maintain a high level of viewership among young adult males, MyNetworkTV would likely be happy to keep IFL programming on its airwaves for a long time to come, as the show would be considerably increasing the network's average in this demographic.

Head-to-Head Network TV Competition
MyNetworkTV came in a distant last place in the network TV ratings on March 12th, just as the struggling network has every single night since its launch on September 5, 2006.

Airing head-to-head with the first hour of IFL Battleground, the first half of a two-hour episode of "Deal or No Deal" on NBC drew a 9.8 overall rating; a repeat of the Fox drama "House" drew a 6.3 overall rating; two new episodes of the CBS comedy "The New Adventures of Old Christine" drew overall ratings of 5.2 and 5.5, respectively; and a repeat of the ABC reality series "Wife Swap" drew a 4.5 overall rating.

Airing head-to-head with the second hour of IFL Battleground, the second half of NBC's two-hour "Deal or No Deal" drew a 10.5 overall rating, outgunning a new episode of the Fox drama "24," which drew an overall rating of 7.6. A repeat of the most-watched comedy on television, CBS' "Two and a Half Men," drew an 8.0 overall rating at 9:00 PM, while a new episode of the CBS comedy "Rules of Engagement" drew a 7.4 overall rating at 9:30 PM. The season finale of the reality series "Supernanny" drew a 5.1 overall rating on ABC.

Labels: International Fight League (IFL) News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 3:02 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- IFL Gets Weekly Fox Sports Net Timeslot in Addition to Weekly Slot on MyNetworkTV
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The IFL has announced the details surrounding the second part of its television schedule for the 2007 season. In addition to the previously announced weekly timeslot on the network television station MyNetworkTV, the IFL will also have a weekly timeslot on Fox Sports Net.

One-hour IFL broadcasts will air on Fox Sports Net every Friday night at 11:00 PM local time starting on February 23rd, with each of the IFL's 2007 events airing in the order in which they take place. This will continue throughout March and April, leading up to Friday, April 13th at 11:00 PM, when FSN will air an IFL event that will air on a tape delay of just a few hours.

The April 13th event will take place at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, after originally being scheduled for Lakeland, Florida and later considered for the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada (which is going to be the "home base" of sorts for the Zuffa-owned WEC events).

This will still leave the IFL with 16 remaining hours of FSN programming in 2007, as FSN's commitment to the IFL in 2007 is for 22 hour-long episodes (up significantly from FSN's 2006 commitment of 13 hours).

While it's far from an ideal timeslot, Fridays at 11:00 PM local time was specifically chosen because Friday is the least likely night for FSN affiliates to preempt FSN's national programming for local sports coverage.

In 2006, the IFL aired on FSN with a Sunday at 6:00 PM timeslot, but many FSN affiliates routinely air regional sports coverage on Sundays, so the IFL was preempted in many markets.

With the timeslot of Fridays at 11:00 PM timeslot, the IFL will be preempted by less local FSN affiliates, and will also be able to have a consistent weekly timeslot.

In the case of the February 23rd season premiere, it is scheduled to air on that date at 11:00 PM local time on every single FSN affiliate in the United States other than the two Comcast SportsNet co-branded affiliates (Comcast Philadelphia and Comcast Mid-Atlantic), which will have replays on a different day.

The weekly hour-long show on Fox Sports Net starting on February 23rd is in addition to the previously announced deal with upstart network television station MyNetworkTV, which is available in over 95% of U.S. households. The IFL's two-hour weekly show on MyNetworkTV will air every Monday night starting on March 12th from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM local time, with a weekly replay on Saturday nights from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM local time. MyNetworkTV's commitment to the IFL in 2007 is for 22 episodes, which adds up to 44 hours of original programming.

While nothing of the sort has been announced as of yet, it would come as a surprise to no one if Zuffa were to announce at some point in the coming weeks or months that replays of UFC programming are going to start airing on Spike TV more frequently on Monday and/or Friday nights, head-to-head with the IFL's new shows.

The reason that this would not be a surprise is because it has become the norm. Zuffa aired a multi-hour Best of UFC marathon on Spike TV head-to-head with the World Fighting Alliance's ill-fated pay-per-view on July 22, 2006. When Pride ran its first event in the U.S. on October 21, 2006, Zuffa ran another UFC marathon on Spike TV.

When EliteXC had its first event last Saturday night on Showtime, Zuffa not only aired a UFC marathon on Spike TV to go head-to-head with the live premiere of EliteXC, but they actually aired a second UFC marathon on Spike TV to go head-to-head with the West Coast feed of EliteXC on Showtime.

Based on all of this, it would actually be a surprise if the UFC didn't go head-to-head with the IFL at some point.

Labels: International Fight League (IFL) News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:21 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- UFC, Pride, and IFL Dates Revealed
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

MMAWeekly has learned the scheduled dates of several upcoming mixed martial arts events that have not yet been publicly announced.

As previously announced, Pride's next show in the United States will take place on February 24th, but Pride has also requested the venue of the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas for a third U.S. show on April 28th.

Meanwhile, Spike TV has confirmed that the live season finale of The Ultimate Fighter 5 (featuring BJ Penn vs. Jens Pulver) will take place on June 23rd.

Also, while not confirmed by Spike TV, MMAWeekly has learned that the next UFC Fight Night broadcast after the January 25th event is scheduled to take place on March 13th, and the next one after that will take place on April 5th as the lead-in to the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 5.

In addition, the previously open date in June on the IFL's previously announced 2007 season schedule now appears to have been filled, as the IFL has formally requested the date of June 17th for an event at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada.

Finally, though it was reported on MMAWeekly several months ago, it has now been officially confirmed that UFC 68 will be taking place on March 3rd at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The show is actually being referred to as "UFC 68: Ohio 1." There will already be a lot of visitors in the Columbus area on that weekend due to the Arnold Classic bodybuilding event, and many of those visitors may also purchase tickets to the UFC event.

You can always find the latest information on scheduled dates and rumored line-ups for upcoming MMA events in MMAWeekly's Rumors section, and you can find the specific TV or PPV listings for any particular event in our MMA Television Guide.

Labels: International Fight League (IFL) News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Pride Fighting Championships News, UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:06 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- IFL Announcement Raises New Questions
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

As has been speculated in MMAWeekly's Rumors section for over a week, the IFL has announced that the company's next two shows will take place on September 9th in Portland, Oregon, and on September 23rd in Moline, Illinois.

In addition, all of the teams in the IFL now have a team name that includes the city where the team is based. On September 9th in Portland, Oregon, the Matt Lindland-coached Portland Wolfpack will take on Maurice Smith's Seattle Tiger Sharks in a five-fight team series. On the same card, Bas Rutten's Los Angeles Anacondas will take on Antonio Inoki's Tokyo Dragons.

Two weeks after the Portland event, the IFL's next show will take place on September 23rd in Moline, Illinois. That show will feature a super-fight between Renzo Gracie and Pat Miletich, who will be fighting for the first time since 2002. On the same night, Pat Miletich's Quad City Silverbacks will be taking on Renzo Gracie's New York Pitbulls in a team series. Another team battle on September 23rd will pit two of the IFL's new teams against each other, as Mark Coleman's Columbus (Ohio) Razor Claws will take on Carlos Newton's Toronto Dragons.

Both of these shows are expected to air nationally on Fox Sports Net at some point, but the specific details and air dates have not yet been determined.

In addition to what the IFL did say, the company's official announcement has raised several interesting questions in what wasn't said. While the Gracie vs. Miletich super-fight was announced for the September 23rd card, there was no super-fight announced for the September 9th card. This might simply mean that there is no super-fight scheduled for the September 9th card (as it is, there will be ten fights on the card), but it could also mean that something is still in the works.

Among the coaches on the September 9th card in Portland, Maurice Smith and Antonio Inoki are not active MMA fighters, and Bas Rutten will be fighting on the WFA's July pay-per-view for the first time in seven years, so he's not likely to be fighting with such frequency that he would be back in the ring less than two months after his WFA fight.

That would presumably leave Matt Lindland to face someone who is not an IFL coach, if indeed there's going to be a super-fight on the Portland card. Lindland could face any number of opponents, but one possible opponent who immediately comes to mind is Jeremy Horn, given the fact that Horn's UFC contract just expired after he went 2-0 in the UFC's middleweight division.

Horn has not signed with the IFL as far as I'm aware, but it's a scenario that would make a lot of sense and would pit two of the world's top middleweights against each other. Horn, who is based in Salt Lake City, would also make a good coach in the IFL if the company decides to add more new coaches in the future.

Another question that has to be raised is whether Carlos Newton and/or Mark Coleman are going to have one or more super-fights in the IFL now that both are officially on-board as IFL coaches.

Carlos Newton hasn't fought since 2004, but the possibilities for match-ups with other IFL coaches are numerous. Newton vs. Miletich would be particularly intriguing given the fact that Newton is one of just six fighters who have beaten Miletich in his 40+ fight career.

Mark Coleman's last fight was in February of this year against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in Pride, a fight that ended when Shogun landed awkwardly and dislocated his elbow. One of Coleman's Hammer House pupils, Wes Sims, recently lost to Daniel Gracie in an IFL super-fight, so a follow-up match with Coleman vs. Daniel Gracie could be interesting.

With the announcement of the team cities and names in the IFL, several positive and negative factors arise. The key to live attendance in mixed martial arts is generating interest specifically in the local market. The Strikeforce promotion reiterated that point when it broke the all-time North American paid attendance record earlier this year, in great part by making its show feel like a must-see event to everyone who lives in San Jose.

A promotion can't just go into a new town and expect to draw money at the live gate right off the bat if there's no local tie-in, and the city/team names will almost certainly help with that. The hometown teams could also generate tremendous crowd heat during the shows, and might also increase the chances (or at least make the chances higher than zero) that someone from Portland, for example, might buy a t-shirt that says, "Portland Wolfpack."

The obvious downside to having teams with specific city designations is that it could turn off viewers who aren't from one of the host cities, and the IFL still needs to draw TV ratings. This is not unlike what professional sports leagues like the NBA have to face when the only teams left are Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks... ratings go through the roof in Miami and Dallas, but the ratings in the rest of the country rise or fall based on how much the public at large cares or doesn't care about the teams.

The interest level, and thus the ratings, for specific games during the NBA and NFL seasons are consistently determined on a week-by-week basis by these two questions: "How many people from these two local markets want to see their teams compete?" and "How many people who aren't from either of these two markets still care about these teams enough to want to see them compete?"

If the answer to the first question is that they are both small-market teams, and the answer to the second question is that not many people outside of those two markets care enough to want to see those two teams compete, that's how you get low ratings for Monday Night Football on a particular week. That's how you get the kind of low ratings for the NBA Finals that the match-up of the Detroit Pistons vs. the San Antonio Spurs produced in June of 2005.

It remains to be seen how the average TV viewer will react when he or she hears about the IFL's next FSN show or stumbles upon it while flipping channels. Only time will tell if viewers are going to see a team match-up such as the Seattle Tiger Sharks vs. the Portland Wolfpack and say, "I'm not from Portland or Seattle, so I don't really care," or whether they will still be interested in seeing the match-up based purely on the merits of the teams or an enjoyment of the sport in general.

For the viewers who are MMA fans in general, but who might look at the team match-ups and say, "I'm not from City A or City B, so I don't really care," the IFL needs to provide these viewers a reason to stick around by giving them some of the aforementioned super-fights, or other fights that would appeal to a broader audience.

Labels: International Fight League (IFL) News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 6:23 PM

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