MMAPredictions

Today the International Fight League held a conference call with the mixed martial arts media to announce that the IFL has secured a relationship with MyNetworkTV to televise the IFL Grand Prix Semifinals which take place November 3rd in Chicago’s Sears Center. The network has given the IFL one hour to broadcast some of its fights live that evening.

The IFL’s ability to reach fans in real time with live events is a crucial step forward for the promotion. After working hard to break down early hesitation among the media and fans about the team-based MMA format, the IFL has slowly gained acceptance since its first show in March 2006. Since then, naysayers have questioned whether the league would be able to gather enough income to defray its expenses and survive.

As a public company the IFL has been open to relentless scrutiny from commentators on its financial health. With a stock price (ticker symbol OTC:IFLI) that’s been below two dollars per share since June of this year, some have predicted a near-term demise for the IFL. In the meantime the IFL has continued to work hard to garner fan support on a broad scale by producing events with high production value that were only to be broadcast days after the event. This lack of free live television was claimed by many to be the key ingredient that the IFL needed to remain viable.

Rolles Gracie in his preliminary-bout victory during the IFL World Championships last week. Photo courtesy IFL.

Jay Larkin, a new arrival in the IFL executive team is seen to be a key ingredient in the IFL’s securing a live television deal. On September 21st the International Fight League announced that they had brought on Larkin to be their Chief Operating Officer, a television veteran with more than twenty years experience working at premium cable channel Showtime. Here’s a blurb from the original IFL press release about Larkin’s combat sports work:

…the Brooklyn, N.Y., native also oversaw [Showtime’s] entrance into boxing, beginning in 1986 with Marvelous Marvin Hagler’s middleweight title defense against John Mugabi, thus creating the powerhouse Showtime Championship Boxing. He negotiated the deals and was the executive producer of some of boxing’s most legendary matchups of the last quarter century, including numerous Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Julio Cesar Chavez fights. Larkin also was one of the key negotiators for what was the biggest money fight in history, the 2002 heavyweight championship bout between Lennox Lewis and Tyson that happened because of a landmark deal between Showtime (Tyson’s network) and rival HBO (Lewis’ network).

While the IFL would not disclose which of the fights from the first round of the Grand Prix will be televised, it is not unlikely that the fights between its more well-known fighters will be featured. Undefeated IFL heavyweight Ben Rothwell’s bout against Roy Nelson would probably be shown, as well as Canadian lightweight Chris Horodecki’s fight against Bart Palaszewski.

I asked Otto what would happen if a live fight is not finished but the one hour slot had elapsed, and whether MyNetworkTV would air the fight until its end. Otto responded that he wasn’t sure of the mechanics of that scenario, so we will have to see how things shake out there.

Regarding long term plans for live broadcasts, there are currently no fixed plans to offer anything beyond the Grand Prix Semifinals. However Otto offered that he is confident that the December 29th Grand Prix finals will be televised live.

Other tidbits from the call:

• Otto reinforced that there will be coaching changes in the coming season. Ian Freeman will head up a UK team, as will Mario Sperry.
• The IFL will be holding tryouts for open spots on IFL teams. Tryouts will take place in October in Costa Mesa CA, Chicago IL , and Mamaroneck NY in conjunction with LA Fitness.
• Due to the broken nose that Mike Ciesnolevicz suffered in his bout against Andre Gusmao at the IFL World Championships, there have been some modifications to the light heavyweight bouts on the Grand Prix semifinals. Check the IFL Grand Prix Semifinals fight card for details.

- Caleb

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