Thursday, December 2, 2010

FEG Looking for Buyers, Dynamite!! Off Network TV; All Signs Point to Panic

We've been holding off on ringing the alarms when it comes to FEG's financial situation until we gathered up enough information and were comfortable posting it, but there comes a time when you realize that officials within the company are not going to give out the information and that the sources within the company (who remain anonymous to protect them) cannot make a public statement, so you have to run with what you have.
Head Kick Legend has been alerted over the past few days that the situation within FEG is possibly dire, as we've seen over the past few weeks, there are massive problems with Dynamite!! 2010. Dynamite!! will happen, that much is clear. It looks like at the K-1World Grand Prix on December 11 we'll start hearing more information as to what will happen with the show. All reports have been that PPV will most likely be the Japanese home for Dynamite!! and HDnet will air it live as well, other than that, nothing. Consider this a blackout, as Japanese PPV is hardly widespread and this event has a long history of being free on New Year's Eve.
What we have been alerted to is that FEG is looking for buyers. This comes from a reliable source within the company who wished to remain anonymous due to loyalty to the company, but even then, this employee is extremely frustrated and concerned about their future. Ishii has always stated that DREAM would be the first to go if need be, but this source explicitly mentioned K-1.
The PUJI deal is confusing, to say the least. PUJI has $30 million invested in a Japanese sports company and $10 million in a world leading Japanese TV broadcaster, but no one is willing to say if the $30 million will end up going to FEG, which is alarming. If you think back, PUJI had promised a $230 million investment in FEG to help them become "global" over the next three years. There is a possibility that their money went elsewhere, or that it could be with someone within the company who is waiting to branch off, away from FEG and Ishii. This has happened before and is how Japan works. FEG's DREAM is a weird mix of former DSE employees and K-1 employees, remember that.
Ishii has accumulated a ton of enemies and pushed everyone else in the fight game out of the loop, effectively making FEG the only game in town (if you aren't familiar with the long history, think back to SRC becoming as small as it is, and last year's mysterious NYE show that never happened). The problem was his debt, which wasn't being paid for out of his own pockets, but FEG's, as well as many other factors that aren't worth speculating over.
Expect more information as it becomes available, as of last night FEG USA's Mike Kogan was not aware of any sort of pending sale, but did not say that it was impossible.
UPDATE: FightersOnly has more information regarding some of the problems that FEG had with PUJI which led to the collapse of the deal. Apparently, PUJI recommended leadership changes (as any good investment bank would) and FEG protested, instead choosing its demise.
Props: K-1 Official site

2 comments:

  1. This article was on HKL the other day.

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  2. The article has been on several sites man. We did not write the article. We gave props to the site we took it from if you did read the full article.

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