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Bellator Partners Up With Madison Square Garden
 (PRESS
RELEASE) -- Madison Square Garden has formed a co-promotional
agreement with Bellator Fighting Championships to bring a total of
four nationally televised Bellator events to two of the most
historic and prestigious theaters in the United States, the Chicago
Theatre and the Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre in Boston.
The events -- which will be broadcast on FOX Sports Net, NBC and
Telemundo -- will be staged at the legendary Chicago Theatre and the
famed Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre in Boston, the same
grand and majestic venues that, over the years, have hosted a
collection of the world’s top entertainers including Frank Sinatra,
Prince, Beyonce, Kanye West, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Neil
Young, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin,
Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and countless others.
“The Madison Square Garden name is synonymous with the greatest
sports and entertainment events in U.S. history,” said Bellator
founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Moreover, these MSG venues, the
Chicago Theatre and the Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre,
are synonymous with the history and culture of their respective
cities. We are thrilled to be aligning Bellator with these
magnificent brands to bring world class, nationally televised mixed
martial arts to Chicago, Boston, and the entire country.”
Dates for the four events of the series are as follows:
- April 15, 2010 – Bellator XIV – The Chicago Theatre
- May 6, 2010 – Bellator XVII – Citi Performing Arts Center Wang
Theatre Boston
- August 19, 2010 – Bellator XXVI – The Chicago Theatre
- October 21, 2010 – Bellator XXXV – Site To Be Announced (Boston or
Chicago)
“Madison Square Garden is excited to bring the world’s
fastest-growing sport to these historic venues,” said Joel Fisher,
Madison Square Garden’s Executive Vice President of Sports Bookings
and Arena Renovation. “We look forward to four great nights of
action-packed fights in these legendary locations for the thousands
who will be in attendance and the millions watching on FOX Sports
Net, NBC, and Telemundo around the country.”
Each of Bellator’s 24 fights during Seasons 2 and 3 will be
distributed live in primetime on Thursday nights on FOX Sports Net
and its regional sports network affiliates. The top moments from
each week’s live events will then be condensed into an action-packed
30-minute highlight show, broadcast every Saturday night, late
night, on NBC. A one-hour highlight show will air in Spanish on
Telemundo every Saturday night from midnight to 1 a.m.
Tickets for Bellator XIV at the Chicago Theatre, priced at $200,
$150, $100, $65 and $35 will be on presale beginning Thursday, Feb.
25 at 10 a.m., and will go on sale to the general public on
Saturday, Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. Tickets will be available at all
Ticketmaster locations, thechicagotheatre.com, The Chicago Theatre
Box Office, or by calling 1-800-745-3000. For more presale
information, and to become a Chicago Theatre Insider, log onto
www.thechicagotheatre.com/insider.
Presale and on-sale dates for the remaining events will be announced
at a later date.
For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter
@BellatorMMA, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator.
About Bellator Fighting Championships
Bellator Fighting Championships is a Mixed Martial Arts promotional
company with offices in Los Angeles and Chicago. Bellator’s
founder/CEO, Bjorn Rebney, is an experienced fighting sports and
entertainment professional with a deep commitment to the purity and
integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes. Bellator Fighting
Championships’ executive team is comprised of top industry
professionals in the areas of live event production, television
production, fighter relations, venue procurement, sponsorship
creation/development, international licensing, marketing,
advertising, publicity and commission relations.
About Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden is a fully-integrated sports, entertainment
and media business. The company is comprised of three business
segments: MSG Sports, MSG Entertainment and MSG Media, which are
strategically aligned to work together to drive its overall
business, and built on a foundation of iconic venues and compelling
content that MSG creates, produces, presents and/or distributes
through its programming networks and other media assets. MSG Sports
consists of the New York Knicks (NBA), the New York Rangers (NHL),
the New York Liberty (WNBA), and the Hartford Wolf Pack (American
Hockey League). MSG Entertainment is a leader in managing and
creating concerts and events at Madison Square Garden, Radio City
Music Hall, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, the Beacon
Theatre, the legendary Chicago Theatre, has a Booking Agreement with
the Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre in Boston, and produces
the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Radio City
Rockettes. MSG Media is comprised of leading television networks
MSG, MSG Plus, MSG HD and MSG Plus HD, as well as MSG Interactive,
which oversees all company wireless and online initiatives, and Fuse
and Fuse HD, the national television network dedicated exclusively
to music. The company owns and operates the Madison Square Garden
arena complex located in the heart of the New York metropolitan
area. More information is available at www.msg.com.
About The Chicago Theatre
The Chicago Theatre, a 3,600-seat venue located on State Street in
the North Loop Theatre District of Chicago, was built in 1921 and
designed in the French Baroque style by architects Cornelius W. Rapp
and George L. Rapp. It is the oldest surviving example of this
architectural style in Chicago today. Built as a flagship in a
series of opulent motion picture houses, it quickly became known as
“The Wonder Theatre of the World.” The illustrious “C-H-I-C-A-G-O”
marquee, at nearly six stories high, is one of the few such signs in
existence today. Designated a Chicago Landmark building in 1983 by
the Mayor of Chicago and the Chicago City Council, The Chicago
Theatre has become a destination for unforgettable concerts and
events. Most notable for presenting some of the biggest names in
music, the theatre has hosted such musicians as Frank Sinatra, Neil
Young, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Conick, JR., Prince,
Diana Ross and Christina Aguilera. The Chicago Theatre has also
served host to some of the biggest movie premieres including Kinsey
with Liam Neeson, The Kite Runner with Marc Forster, and Dr. T and
His Women with Richard Gere. Broadway tours hosted at the venue
include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Dreamgirls.
About The Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre
The Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre, a 3,600-seat venue,
opened in 1925 and is one of the five largest stages in the country.
It was originally called The Metropolitan or "The Met," and was
developed by Max Shoolman and designed by Clarence Blackall, a
leading American theater architect. At the time, The Metropolitan
was hailed as a magnificent movie "cathedral," reminiscent of the
splendor of a Louis XIV palace and was considered historically the
most important Boston landmark of "the Roaring Twenties." In 1980,
the theatre converted to a not-for-profit organization known as The
Metropolitan Center and renovations to the stage and backstage
attracted Broadway shows Sweeney Todd with Angela Lansbury, Peter
Pan with Sandy Duncan and My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison. An
extraordinary gift in 1983 from Dr. An Wang, founder of Wang
Laboratories, ushered in the era of The Wang Center for the
Performing Arts and the Wang Theatre. Most notably, the venue hosted
record-breaking performances of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular
in 2004 and 2006, and prior to that the Theatre broke box office
records with musicals such as Les Miserables and The Phantom of the
Opera, and has presented productions such as Riverdance-The Show,
The Kirov Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Whitney
Houston, Harry Connick Jr., Dave Matthews, and Lady Gaga
Additionally, the theatre has ventured into new areas of
programming, including the family shows Arthur's Live Adventure and
Blues Clues Live!, non-traditional theatrical events such as Burn
the Floor and the North American premiere of Blast!, as well as
producing the popular holiday production of White Christmas. The
Theatre, along with the Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre
are part of Citi Performing Arts CenterSM one of the nation's
foremost nonprofit performing arts institutions honoring all aspects
of performing arts. Through its numerous community outreach
educational efforts, collaborations and partnerships, including with
the Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera, Celebrity Series of Boston
and Commonwealth Shakespeare, Citi Performing Arts Center strives to
educate and inspire greater appreciation for the performing arts as
an essential component to the fabric of our society. The Citi
Performing Arts Center is also an investor in various Theatrical
Productions, including the Broadway smash hit The Addams Family
through its founding participation in Elephant Eye Theatricals.
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