A Market Worth Fighting For

Gareb Shamus keeps coming up with new ways to reach big-spending, early-adopting, first-in-line 18- to 34-year-old males. His latest is a doozy.

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The fervor was precisely what Gareb Shamus had come to see: fans standing on their seats, screaming, whistling, trying to be heard above the din. Shamus prides himself on spotting trends early, and in this packed arena, he was as excited by the fans' behavior as they were by the main event. This was not some hot, new musical act; this was fighting in a steel cage at the Boardwalk Hall arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the audience was predominantly young men, 18 to 34, a demographic Shamus knows well.

As the founder of Wizard Entertainment Group, a publisher of five magazines for fans of comic books, games, toys, and collectibles, and the host of pop culture festivals-cum-conventions across the country, Shamus has been targeting this market for 15 years, constantly finding new things to sell in it and new ways to pitch it to advertisers. Brought to his first live fight by a friend, Kurt Otto, a martial arts enthusiast, Shamus was happy to confirm his highest hopes: The Atlantic City audience was almost identical to those at his conventions. "It reinforced all my perceptions," says Shamus. "You see the action, feel the action, it is very evident that the people love it, and that is what gets me excited. It really hits you, no pun intended."

Mixed martial arts, or MMA, may not roll off the tongue like soccer or skiing, but if you're a teenage or twentysomething male, you probably know all about it. The sport was basically created to solve the age-old adolescent debate, Who would win a fight between the best boxer and the best karate guy? Or the best judo expert and the best wrestler? MMA fights are contested in a ring like boxing or a cage like pro wrestling, but they mix all fighting disciplines, pitting specialists in judo, jujitsu, wrestling, boxing, karate, and other martial arts against one another. It is hugely popular in Japan and Brazil, and it has existed as a sport in the U.S. for about 10 years, most visibly through the privately held Ultimate Fighting Championship, which hosts large-arena events that are also shown on pay per view and, only recently, on Spike TV. The next biggest promoter is the Pride Fighting Championships, which is based in Japan. Pride and UFC function like boxing's major title organizations, the WBA, WBC, and IBF, and as a result, MMA events are held on an irregularly scheduled, standalone basis with little connection between one bout and another. Shamus's idea is to take a leadership position in MMA by doing what no one else has done: formatting it as a sports league, in the style of the NBA, NFL, or NHL.

The International Fight League debuts this month with a mini-tournament designed to introduce the league and the sport. The first four teams will fight on April 29 in two back-to-back matches at Donald Trump's Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. About five weeks later, on June 3, the two winning teams will face each other for the first IFL championship. Then, if all goes well, the full league will kick off a six-month season in the fall, followed by a two-month postseason. The league will consist of eight to 10 teams, each named for a fierce animal--Tiger Sharks, Anacondas, Pit Bulls--and all featuring five fighters in five weight classes. Each week two teams will clash, with every team fighting once every six weeks. International teams are already being lined up to take the IFL global.

Most matches will be held in casino venues, including Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and Connecticut, but, says Shamus, "ultimately, TV is the biggest driver." He is negotiating with several networks and, through his magazine relationships, has a number of sponsors lined up. Unlike most MMA competitions, the IFL will be shown on free TV, rather than premium channels or pay per view, because Shamus wants to maximize his audience. He expects a deal to be signed before the Atlantic City launch but is taking no chances and will have his own film crew produce a show regardless. "The event is going to happen no matter what," he says, "and we're taping it because it is going to be on TV no matter what. I have lots of stations interested, but right now I am holding out for a major network."

Who would win a fight between a boxer and a wrestler? One goal of mixed martial arts--and the IFL--is to answer those kinds of adolescent debates.

Obviously, this venture is a huge gamble and a huge leap beyond anything Shamus has ever done. While he has built a nice little publishing empire out of his comic book magazine, he is hardly a household name. And while his privately held company has annual revenue that he places in "the low to mid eight figures," he calls the IFL, without irony and without blushing, his "billion-dollar idea." The potential he sees in the IFL comes from delivering the right fans to advertisers--which is something he already does on a smaller scale through his magazines and conventions and which is why his leap into fighting might not be as audacious as it seems. But it's still pretty audacious.

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