Bellator
Bjorn Rebney unconcerned with declining ratings for Bellator on MTV2
Mar 31, 2011 - 11:10:09 AM Bjorn Rebney unconcerned with declining ratings for Bellator on MTV2

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Bellator Fighting Championships has seen ratings dip over the last couple of weeks with fluctuating start times due to the UFC running events on consecutive weekends, but despite the drop, Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney isn't expressing any concern.

"What we're doing in terms of building out this brand and this partnership with MTV2 and MTV networks, this is a marathon – this is not a sprint," Rebney said this week (transcribed by MMAJunkie.com).

"What I'm getting drawn up in is improving the quality of our production, increasing the quality of our fights, and trying to make this bigger and better. The fights we've got coming up over the next four weeks are just blistering, so I'm looking forward to seeing what happens and what kind of impact that has both in terms of live event attendance and the ratings we do."

This weekend sees Bellator bring their first title fight of season four, with Eddie Alvarez finally making the first defense of the title he captured by winning the season one lightweight tournament. With his bout with Pat Curran in the main event, along with two tournament semifinal bouts, Rebney hopes ratings can bounce back unopposed this Saturday, though it is not a "make or break" event by any means.

"I'm just hoping this Saturday night comes close to being what the last three weeks have been, and I'm hopeful about next week, when we get to watch champions and superfights and other semifinal fights," Rebney said. "I don't know that it has that more significance to us as a company, but it has an enormous amount of significance to the gentlemen on this call and 16 other fighters who are getting ready for Saturday."

Penick's Analysis: Rebney never expresses pessimism in public comments about the product, so I'm not surprised to hear this sentiment from him at all. That said, Saturday nights were not a good night to run for the organization. With them moving time slots due to UFC events the fluctuations aren't good for keeping fans coming back week in and week out and building that audience. They may bump up this week because of Alvarez and the fact that they have no competition on Saturday night, but they are still going to see declines from being on this day of the week.