CBS Managing Expectations

CBS' Kelly Kahl Pre-Fight Strikeforce Interview (via ArielHelwani)

Ariel Helwani of MMA Fanhouse interviewed Kelly Kahl of CBS about Strikeforce: Emelianenko vs. Rogers in order to ascertain the network's position going into the fight. After the interview it is clear that CBS is trying to lower expectations.

The money quotes are below,

"The good news is you know we’ve sold out all the advertising time and uh you know the bar for success on a Saturday night really isn’t all that high so if we can improve say our male demographics a little bit that will be a success."

"Again, we just you know we try to do a little better than our typical Saturday night average. Uh, yeah, it’s a real question mark. I I I we hope for high ratings. I think the potential here is we should really have every MMA fan in the country watching this, uh, on the other hand you know the question is we don’t know how many people know about Fedor, uh, outside the MMA hardcore fans so um if we can peak a little interest hopefully we can make that into you know a slightly bigger audience than just MMA fans but um that’s the goal and we’ll see what happens."

WKR already talked about the rating metrics CBS will be examining in the aftermath of Strikeforce: Emelianenko vs. Rogers.

Since Saturday night is usually the wasteland of network television, CBS doesn't need to pull in huge numbers but they absolutely have to beat EltieXC's Lawler vs. Smith event in order to call Strikeforce a success.

Kahl also made a very interesting comment regarding the hardcore MMA fanbase, "I think the potential here is we should really have every MMA fan in the country watching this."

If Kahl is correct then Strikeforce: Emelianenko vs. Rogers will be the metric to determine how many MMA, as oppose to UFC, fans exist within the United States. If the numbers are poor then it would indicate a real weakness within the MMA community and perhaps show that MMA as a whole is nowhere near ready to be considered mainstream.