The troubles of EliteXC have been well documented so I'm not going to rehash all of that information. However, the most important question is will EliteXC be able to beat their initial foray(ratings wise) with their 3rd installment on CBS this Saturday night? They have a lot of things going for them in that their two biggest 'stars' will be fighting on the card in Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano. As well as one of MMA's biggest names in Ken Shamrock who always seems to drag a bunch of eyeballs to the TV whenever he fights. However, there are some things that could be going against them as well...let's take a look.
- Where Is Ken Shamrock? He's the master at promoting a fight...regardless of if he'll be competitive or not. I haven't seen many instances of him promoting this fight..if at all.
- This card takes place in Florida...the FSU/Miami game is the same day in Florida...5 hours earlier...with both teams struggling...it's lost some of it's luster...but it's still a huge rivalry game that a lot of people in Florida are interested in.
- The promotion for this card as a whole hasn't been close to what the initial card featured
- No momentum...there are 2 1/2 months between this card and the last one
- UFC 86 being aired as counter-programming
So you have all that and them some...not to mention Kimbo's last performance. However, maybe that 2 1/2 month time span is enough that people forgot it? The second show had much better pacing than the initial show, but it seems like EliteXC may stretch this show out as long as possible.
According to Robert Joyner:
Committing to show all five fights almost ensures that they are going to go into time overages, going past the 11 o’clock cut-off into the news hour. This should lead to a generally inflated number, as was much the case with their 5/31 show. Such time over runs are generally frowned upon by local affiliates, and this was the case with the May card. EliteXC is less vulnerable to the affiliates displeasure this time, because without a strong number to boost their stock they won’t be around on CBS to face the affiliate backlash. If they go over and are able to put up a big rating, they will be more than happy to take the heat because it will mean they are still viable on the Network.
So I suppose they are hoping that the longer this show goes on...the more people will tune in which is possible as that happened with the initial show. With EliteXC's back against the wall there really isn't a significant buzz for this weekends event like you would think. Maybe they will increase their promotion for the card as the week goes on, as it's only Tuesday.
What rating do you think this event will have?
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