Bellator president Scott Coker feels the sky’s the limit when it comes to the new DAZN deal.
Earlier this week, Bellator held a press conference in New York City. The promotion announced the reported Sept. 29 card featuring Gegard Mousasi vs. Rory MacDonald and Quinton Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva IV. A major partnership with sports streaming service DAZN was also announced.
DAZN will be available in the United States before Bellator’s Sept. 29 event. There’s no word on its price point. Bellator did reveal that anyone who has a DAZN subscription will be able to see all Bellator events live. It’s a solution to The Paramount Network’s history of airing overseas cards on tape-delay.
Coker told the media that he’s optimistic about the future of Bellator on DAZN (via MMAJunkie.com):
“With the DAZN investment, it gives us even more opportunity to pursue the right fighters for Bellator. We will be aggressive. We will be smart. Some fighters will fit; some fighters won’t. Keep in mind, at the end of the day, it’s the fans that give us our report card. At the end of the day, we’re going to put on the fights that the fans want to see. I promise you, this is going to continue to grow.”
The Sept. 29 event will air exclusively on DAZN. Fight fans who normally don’t dive into subscriptions will have to treat Mousasi vs. MacDonald/”Rampage” vs. Silva as a pay-per-view purchase if they wish to watch the show legally. Of course the hope is to turn those short-term subscribers into long-term consumers. Time will tell if the deal is as successful as Bellator hopes.
One thing is for sure, the Bellator president is enamored with the move and promises high-level cards exclusively on DAZN. With declining ratings on The Paramount Network, it’ll be interesting to see if putting content behind a paywall does any better.
Do you think you’ll be getting a subscription to DAZN?
