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Mike
25-04-2006, 21:05
over de IFL en het eerste toernooi http://www.inc.com/magazine/20060401/worth-fighting-for.html

Shamus's idea is to take a leadership position in MMA by doing what no one else has done: formatting it as a sports league, in the style of the NBA, NFL, or NHL.


Mixed martial arts, or MMA, may not roll off the tongue like soccer or skiing, but if you're a teenage or twentysomething male, you probably know all about it. The sport was basically created to solve the age-old adolescent debate, Who would win a fight between the best boxer and the best karate guy? Or the best judo expert and the best wrestler? MMA fights are contested in a ring like boxing or a cage like pro wrestling, but they mix all fighting disciplines, pitting specialists in judo, jujitsu, wrestling, boxing, karate, and other martial arts against one another. It is hugely popular in Japan and Brazil, and it has existed as a sport in the U.S. for about 10 years, most visibly through the privately held Ultimate Fighting Championship, which hosts large-arena events that are also shown on pay per view and, only recently, on Spike TV. The next biggest promoter is the Pride Fighting Championships, which is based in Japan. Pride and UFC function like boxing's major title organizations, the WBA, WBC, and IBF, and as a result, MMA events are held on an irregularly scheduled, standalone basis with little connection between one bout and another. Shamus's idea is to take a leadership position in MMA by doing what no one else has done: formatting it as a sports league, in the style of the NBA, NFL, or NHL.

The International Fight League debuts this month with a mini-tournament designed to introduce the league and the sport. The first four teams will fight on April 29 in two back-to-back matches at Donald Trump's Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. About five weeks later, on June 3, the two winning teams will face each other for the first IFL championship. Then, if all goes well, the full league will kick off a six-month season in the fall, followed by a two-month postseason. The league will consist of eight to 10 teams, each named for a fierce animal--Tiger Sharks, Anacondas, Pit Bulls--and all featuring five fighters in five weight classes. Each week two teams will clash, with every team fighting once every six weeks. International teams are already being lined up to take the IFL global.

Most matches will be held in casino venues, including Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and Connecticut, but, says Shamus, "ultimately, TV is the biggest driver." He is negotiating with several networks and, through his magazine relationships, has a number of sponsors lined up. Unlike most MMA competitions, the IFL will be shown on free TV, rather than premium channels or pay per view, because Shamus wants to maximize his audience. He expects a deal to be signed before the Atlantic City launch but is taking no chances and will have his own film crew produce a show regardless. "The event is going to happen no matter what," he says, "and we're taping it because it is going to be on TV no matter what. I have lots of stations interested, but right now I am holding out for a major network."

Real-Life Superheroes
Unlike most major professional sports leagues, the teams do not have separate owners. They are all owned by the IFL, which means they are all owned by Shamus and Otto, who are the league's majority owners. Shamus declines to say how much of his own cash he has invested, but he does say it's "substantial"--although he's following his two rules about new ventures. The amount is not so substantial that a failure would jeopardize Wizard, and he's going to keep an eye on those metrics (even if he won't identify them publicly).

Where Shamus has resisted taking outside financing in the past, this time he sought it. Finding investors, Shamus says, was not at all difficult. He prepared a PowerPoint presentation and showed it to several people he knew, and while a few opted out (including Bernie Tenenbaum, who wasn't confident in his own knowledge of fighting), as he got further along in the planning process and started to sign coaches and build a tangible framework, he quickly found enough investors to produce the several million dollars he was seeking.

Michael Kelman is an analyst who follows World Wrestling Entertainment for Susquehanna International, an institutional research, brokerage, and trading firm. The WWE is on a big upsurge right now, its stock climbing 50 percent in the past 12 months. Last year the WWE took in $366 million in revenue, including $79 million in tickets to live events, $80 million in merchandise, and $86 million in pay-per-view fees. It has attracted more than 100 major sponsors and advertisers in North America, including Nike, AT&T, Sony, and Gatorade. While the WWE differs from MMA in that it is entertainment and not a real sporting competition, it is the only publicly traded "fighting" entity, and there are clear similarities--especially in the markets they target. "There is definitely demand for this kind of product," says Kelman. "You can get WWE product online, on free TV, pay per view, in books, magazines, stores. But with the WWE, it's not just the fighting, it's the characters, the entertainment, the story line. Whether the IFL can succeed depends upon the content."

"The WWE and UFC have proven that there is a definite demand for this kind of programming," says Robert G. Routh, an analyst who follows the WWE for Jeffries & Co. "The difference is that with wrestling, at the end of the day, no one gets hurt. That's the differentiator between the WWE and the UFC and its other competitors. Will the audience mind the violence? There could be a public outcry. I know for a fact that this affects advertising and marketing. Fighting is similar to adult entertainment, and not everyone thinks that two people beating the hell out of each other should be broadcast. Even now it is mainly on pay TV."

Shamus and Otto argue that boxing has long been part of American culture, has always been accepted on broadcast TV, and in fact is historically much more dangerous than MMA, whose fights often end with submission holds rather than knockouts. Still, they are offering a sanitized version of martial arts combat. The league will ban the most violent moves, like elbow strikes and head butts. It will have rounds, like boxing matches. It will conduct drug testing, and it will advocate governmental oversight. It has also done away with the octagonal steel cage that is the trademark of rival UFC in favor of a traditional boxing ring.

Outside of its owners, investors, and fighters, no one wants to see the IFL succeed more than Joel Gold, founder and publisher of Full Contact Fighter, the leading publication covering the world of MMA--pretty much the Wizard magazine of its market. "My sales used to grow at about 20 percent a year," says Gold, who also owns the leading MMA apparel brand (also known as Full Contact Fighter). "But for the past three years it has been over 100 percent. Over the years I have seen a lot of guys come in with plans, and nothing ever comes of it. Gareb and Kurt are the first guys in five years that I have sat down and talked to who really make sense. I think it is a great plan, and it is nice that they have real money behind it."

"They are visionaries," says Pat Miletich. "They see where this sport can go when no one else has. They have put together a team that from top to bottom is the best." "They are visionaries," says Pat Miletich, who is coach of the IFL's Silverbacks and whose Champions Fitness Center in Iowa attracts hundreds of top MMA fighters from as far away as Japan and Thailand. "They have put together a team that from top to bottom is the best in the business at what it does. It is rock solid and when you have a great organization like that, it is hard to fail."

But, of course, it's still possible. Only time will tell if the league is the next NFL, or if it goes the way of the USFL and XFL, two failed upstart football leagues with a lot of money and marketing behind them. But unlike those leagues, the IFL has little established competition and is at a threshold moment in a sport that by all accounts is growing in popularity, here and abroad. "We are going to create a billion-dollar marketplace," says Shamus. "We will make these guys global superstars. I've been in the superhero business my whole life and these guys are real-life superheroes, guys who have an extraordinary power and ability that separate them from everybody else."

Perhaps the best reason for optimism is this: According to Shamus and Otto's research, there are currently some 30,000 martial arts schools in this country alone, with about four million students.

en als je echt niks te doen hebt kan je hier t hele artikel lezen
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20060401/worth-fighting-for.html

ze geloven er iig wel in die IFL , het lijkt mij ook wel cool , ik ben voor het team van El Guapo!

Ronald
25-04-2006, 21:40
Ik ben erg benieuwd naar de IFL. Hebben ze de financiering nou rond? Wel apart als ze nu nog niet 100% zeker weten wie en wat gaat uitzenden. Welke talenten komen eruit rollen? Hoe houden ze die vast als er voor hen aantrekkelijke aanbiedingen uitkomen van andere organisaties? Hebben ze mogelijkheden om grote jongens binnen te halen? Moeten we het vooral zien als een kweekvijver? Is Mixfight uberhaupt wel geschikt voor een competitievorm?
Kortom, ik ben erg benieuwd... :)

Chico
28-04-2006, 22:27
Als dit goed uitpakt wordt dit concept misschien in nederland toegepast...

zie je het voor je.. elke week teams van verschillende nederlandse gyms tegen elkaar (evt gemengd mma en kickboks)..

lijkt me wel wat :mrgreen:

Tkid
30-04-2006, 15:39
IFL Legends Championship 2006 Results
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey

Anacondas (Bas Rutten) vs. Silverbacks (Pat Miletich)

LW - Bart Palaszewski (Silverbacks) def. John Shackleford (Anacondas) by referee stoppage (strikes) in the second round.

HW - Ben Rothwell (Silverbacks) def. Krysztof Soszynski (Anacondas) by referee stoppage (strikes) in the first round.

LHW - Alex Schoenauer (Anacondas)def. Travis Wiuff (Silverbacks) by heel hook submission in the second round.

MW - Ryan McGivern (Silverbacks) def. Amir Rahnavardi (Anacondas) by unanimous decision.

WW - Rory Markham (Silverbacks) def. Mike Pyle (Anacondas) by KO in the first round.

Superfight

LW - Jens Pulver def. Cole Escovedo by KO in the first round.

Pitbulls (Renzo Gracie) vs. Tiger Sharks (Maurice Smith)

LW - Erik Owings (Pitbulls) def. Justin Jones (Tiger Sharks) by guillotine choke submission in the first round.

WW - Brad Blackburn (Tiger Sharks) def. Gustavo "Ximu" Machado (Pitbulls) by split decision.

MW - Dennis Hallman (Tiger Sharks) def. Delson Heleno (Pitbulls) by disqualification in the first round.

LHW - Jamal Patterson (Pitbulls) def. Matt Horwich (Tiger Sharks) by rear naked choke submission in the first round.

HW - Devin Cole (Tiger Sharks) def. Carlos Cline (Pitbulls) by unanimous decision.


bron: http://www.mmafighting.com/results/2006/ifl_060429.html

Jeru
30-04-2006, 15:57
Leuk maar wie hoort nou bij welk team welk team heeft er dus gewonnen?

Chico
30-04-2006, 16:36
http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=4385

Miletisch gewonnen van Rutten (4-1)

en het is 3-2 geworden tussen Gracie en Smith.. maar ik kan niet echt zien wie er nou gewonnen heeft...


At the post-fight presser Shamus announced that Coca-Cola had signed on as a sponsor.
dit is wel ill...

Tkid
30-04-2006, 16:50
Ik heb me post veranderd. De team voor welke vechter uitkomt, staat nu achter zijn naam.
Als je meer wilt weten, check dan http://www.ifl.tv/Index.aspx.

The Bulldog
30-04-2006, 22:55
Zekersssssssss...

erg goed nieuws voor de sport..
bruggen worden gebouwd....

Ronald
01-05-2006, 16:53
Helaas nog niets op de tracker te vinden. Iemand anders die al filmpjes heeft? Gooi ze anders ff in het MMF.