For the last few years a host of sports marketers have looked toward the relatively new sport of Mixed Martial Arts with an interested by skeptical eye. However the sport, which combines no less than five disciplines and has enjoyed great box office and pay per view success with the UFC, threw a pair of punches that may move the sport tword the mainstream. First.EliteXC announced a series of events to be seen live in primetime on CBS (the first time the sport will be seen on a major broadcast network in prime time), and then the UFC announced the much-anticipated addition of Anheuser Busch (the Bud Light brand) as its newest sponsor (Darren Rovell's blog has a good look at the deal). The two moves, on the same day, will give the sport a nice boost of visibility (check out Adam Swift's MMA Business blog for a nice macro look of th.CBS deal) and give the sport a chance, if they can drive ratings and attract more sponsors, of succeeding. Of course both moves were met with some skepticism, the best of which was Tom Hoffrath's L.A. Daily News piece, while Yahoo's Dave Meltzer's Yahoo Sports piece gives good balance to the Elite-CBS move.Dew Tour, the AFL, the Crocs AVP Tour and even the NHL to cut through the clutter and advance past its core base, it was a great day.
Speaking of the other sports looking to break through, USA Today has a nice piece on the opening of the AFL season this weekend, whil. the LA Daily News has a nice wrapup piece on the Crocs AVP Tour's Hot Winter Nights tour. Lastly, Neil Best's media watchdog takes a look at a unique TicTac promotion tonight at Columbia University and tomorrow at Wagner College.
