IFL CEO JAY LARKIN POINTS TO TROUBLE FOR MMA INDUSTRY

Posted on | April 30, 2008 | No Comments

MMA411.COM’s Lotfi Sariahmed recently interviewed IFL CEO Jay Larkin and touched on multiple facets of the fight game in general, although much of the conversation naturally centered around mixed martial arts. Larkin, like Gary Shaw of EliteXC, has some boxing background and still moves in those circles in addition to his MMA responsibilities. For instance, Larkin actually had a hand in the deal making for the Calzaghe vs. Hopkins fight. Also like Shaw, Larkin has a great deal of experience with Showtime, more than 20 years working with celebrities and some of the best known boxers in the sport. He’s no stranger to making great fights happen, and yet the IFL’s recent SEC reports reveal the painful truth about the league’s struggles to find a niche in the marketplace. The company’s 10K report released earlier this month contained the following statement:

“As a result of our continued losses, our independent auditors have included an explanatory paragraph in our financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007, expressing doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern.”

The MMA 411 interview with Larkin goes into further detail, explaining the depth of the all out scramble for market share facing MMA organizations other than the UFC in what is now an over crowded marketplace. Larkin claims the antidote is more co-promotion efforts among the top competing leagues. Here’s an interesting snippet:

“Now as an executive in a public corporation that does this for a living you could argue that I should be a cheerleader. I should be saying it’s the greatest thing since cream cheese and it’s the new NBA and the fans are coming to us in droves. Well I’m also a very honest and pragmatic individual. I’ll never lie in an interview or certainly make a statement where I could be caught lying so easily. So it leaves me with the truth and the truth is this is a struggling industry. Much more so than a struggling business. There is another half a dozen companies that are struggling as well. I think that a lot of the action and proprietary nature of the UFC is hurting the industry. The unwillingness of MMA companies to work together and promote together is hurting MMA. There has to be pretty significant changes or pretty soon there will be one group left and they’ll be so inbred that their house of cards will cave in as well.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE MMA 411 JAY LARKIN INTERVIEW