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Leagues and Governing Bodies

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney Talks Growth Of MMA, And Move To Spike

Bellator Fighting Championships is holding an event Friday night in Bossier City, La., and Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney noted the promotion is "far ahead of where we were a year ago." He said, "You could really classify it as night and day. The progress that has happened in terms of the relationship and the acquisition by Viacom has been enormous." He added the ability to leverage the "expertise on a day-to-day basis that exists underneath that Spike banner with people who really wrote the book in terms of televised mixed martial arts." The promotion's deal with Viacom has its product currently airing on MTV2, but will move to Spike in nine months. Rebney said, "Spike Network has created more mixed martial arts stars over the last number of years than the combination of any other network in the world." Meanwhile, Rebney said of the company's growth since forming in '08, "We’ve got a lot of full-time employees in our Chicago office that handle everything from PR to marketing to talent relations, operations, travel and legal, etc. ... There are about 85 people on the road every week making this show happen" ("Gross Point Blank MMA Podcast,” ESPN.com, 3/12). In Louisiana, Roy Lang III notes Rebney "fully admits his dream wouldn't have been possible without" UFC. Rebney and Bellator have stayed out of UFC President Dana White's "line of fire over the years; and that's not easy." White has "often gone on offense against ill-fated so-called competitors, but for the most part is quiet when it comes to Bellator." Rebney's approach "includes not making idle threats to the UFC like other ill-fated organizations" (SHREVEPORT TIMES, 3/16).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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