Agreement brings 4 nationally televised Bellator events to Kansas City Power & Light District
CHICAGO (February 4, 2010) — Bellator Fighting Championships — a first-of-its-kind mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion airing on FOX Sports Net, NBC and Telemundo — has finalized a groundbreaking agreement to bring four of its high-energy, nationally televised MMA events to the heart of downtown Kansas City in 2010.
Under the terms of the agreement, four Bellator MMA events will be staged at the highly popular Kansas City Power & Light District, which is owned and managed by The Cordish Company, a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate known for its tremendously successful development of mixed-use entertainment districts in high-profile destinations throughout the country including Baltimore, Houston, Louisville, Ky., Atlantic City, N.J., Hollywood, Fla., and Charleston, S.C.
The Bellator/Cordish alliance represents the first time The Cordish Company has partnered with a sports organization to host large-scale nationally televised live sports events at any of their state-of-the-art, open-air, mixed-use entertainment venues. The Kansas City Power & Light District encompasses multiple square blocks in the heart of Kansas City’s downtown area and features an exciting blend of restaurants, nightlife, and leading national retail stores, welcoming in excess of 4 million visitors annually.
Dates for the Kansas City events are as follows:
– April 29, 2010 – Bellator XVI
– June 24, 2010 – Bellator XXIV
– August 26, 2010 – Bellator XXVII
– October 14, 2010 – Bellator XXXIV
Bellator and The Cordish Company are also engaged in continued discussions on expanding their alliance to include other Cordish properties throughout the U.S.
“This Cordish Company partnership allows us to create a one-of-a-kind fan experience combining the unparalleled excitement of a live, nationally televised MMA event with the energized, dynamic environment that the Cordish Company’s Kansas City Power & Light District has created,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “If you’ve ever been there, you know that these events are going to be an experience that cannot be missed.”
Said Reed Cordish, vice president of The Cordish Company: “The partnership between Bellator and The Cordish Company represents a brand new approach to nationally televised sports viewing. This is a true marriage of sports and entertainment.”
Each of the four Bellator events being held at Cordish Company properties (as well as the 20 additional Bellator Season 2 and 3 events) will be distributed live in prime time to 92 million homes by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates. In addition, top moments from each week’s live events will then be condensed into an action-packed 30-minute highlight show broadcast every successive Saturday night, late night, on NBC. A one-hour Saturday night highlight show will air nationwide in Spanish on Telemundo.
Bellator Fighting Championships’ nationally televised events feature a combination of tournament and non-tournament bouts. There will be four simultaneous tournaments taking place in each season in the featherweight (145 lbs.), lightweight (155 lbs.), welterweight (170 lbs.) and middleweight (185 lbs.) divisions. Winners of this year’s tournaments will be declared No. 1 contenders to Bellator’s current roster of champions.
Ticketing information for the Kansas City events will be announced over the coming weeks.
For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator.