Last week, the International Fight League announced their new plans to unveil a new concept that will likely impact the fights enough to possibly grab up some new viewership. Epinephrine shots between rounds? No, as great as that would be, the IFL is moving to use a hexagon-shaped ring instead of the standard square boxing ring that they are currently using. Will this have an impact on the fights in the IFL? More importantly, will it help save the IFL?
According to an article by Scott Holmes at Sherdog.com, Bas Rutten believes that “it’s more difficult to lock up your opponents in the corner, so you need more strategy”. Jay Larkin, the IFL’s CEO also adds that the six-sided ring will give the viewers a better vantage point of the action for both television viewers and the fans. Both quotes give us some insight into the thinking behind the new ring, but will the actual new angles and the fact that it’ll make fights a bit more strategic really matter?
Listen, I actually am a fan of some of the more recent IFL shows. New Blood, New Battles was probably one of the best shows that the IFL has put on in quite some time, and it showcased their upcoming talent perfectly with surprising finishes and solid matchups. Those are the kind of shows that the IFL must produce. The biggest problem is that HDNet, no matter how much Mark Cuban wants to tell you that it is widely available, isn’t a prime network to gain viewership on. The biggest problem for the IFL, in my opinion, will always be in securing viewership, and you can’t do that on a network like HDNet.
Secondly, the past history of the IFL certainly hasn’t helped its stock. The tape delayed events shown on FSN and myNetworkTV helped get the IFL on the map, but they should have aggressively sought a deal to air a few live events on those networks and made them widely available nationally. When the IFL finally wised up and aired some live coverage, I was unfortunately blacked out along with a good number of other viewers from the action. It’s hard enough getting fans to watch the IFL, but then having a fan who wanted to watch the event being forced to watch something else instead of some MMA action.
Unfortunately for the IFL, I don’t believe the new concept will help bring in new fans. Casual fans may associate the cage with the sport of MMA, but in the end, the IFL just doesn’t have the network deal to really put up any numbers. It’s unfortunate because I believe their current stable of fighters is truly beginning to show some talent and potential for growth. Hopefully a miracle happens in that someone with some entertainment industry know-how can buy the promotion and try to get the ship back on a network. I believe it’s the biggest key for the IFL. HDNet doesn’t produce the ratings they really need to get back into solid standing.
Maybe I don’t understand the big picture here, but if their New Blood, New Battles card couldn’t intrigue some of the MMA fans out there, I don’t know how much better the IFL can really do.